
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990                   TAG: 9005170272
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SLASHING PLEA REJECTED

A Roanoke judge rejected an agreement Wednesday in which a man would have received a 60-day jail term for slashing 41 car tires in Old Southwest.

An attorney for Donald Lewis Harris, 25, had arranged an agreement with prosecutors under which Lewis would plead guilty to 41 counts of property damage and receive a 12-month sentence with all but 60 days suspended.

The sentence would be applied to each charge, but would run concurrently.

However, General District Judge Richard Pattisall was concerned because the suspended sentence might not provide adequate time for Harris to pay restitution - more than $3,000 - to the people whose tires were slashed.

In an unusual move, Pattisall refused to accept the agreement, leaving attorneys to work out a new deal or to proceed with trying the case. A new court date was set for later this month.

Harris, of Marshall Avenue Southwest, was arrested April 25 and charged with a series of tire slashings the previous weekend.

Many of the cars, parked in residential areas, had more than one tire damaged.

by CNB