Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 2, 1990 TAG: 9005020626
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B5 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PETERSBURG LENGTH: Short
Judge Oliver A. Pollard Jr. ruled Tuesday on the case of Barry C. Johnson. The ruling came 18 months after the state Supreme Court directed the judge to "enforce specifically" a controversial 1985 plea agreement that promised Barry C. Johnson would serve no prison time nor forfeit parole if he pleaded guilty to an involuntary manslaughter charge.
The charge arose from a February 1984 traffic accident, in which Johnson, 49, struck H. Hugh Moore. Moore, a former newspaper reporter and editor, died several days after the accident.
At the time, Johnson was on parole for the 1965 murder of a Gloucester County woman.
Originally sentenced to death, Johnson spent nearly a decade on death row and then was resentenced to life in prison in 1972, after the Supreme Court ruled Virginia's death penalty unconstitutional.
Johnson was paroled from that sentence in 1982.
After the 1984 traffic death, the state Parole Board ordered Johnson's parole revoked and returned him to prison to serve the remainder of his life term.
Johnson, who is black, has consistently claimed innocence in the Gloucester County case. He was tried by an all-white, all-male jury.
The ruling Tuesday collapses the state's argument that the plea agreement was never enforceable.
by CNB