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

DATE: TUESDAY, June 5, 1990                   TAG: 9006050195
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                  LENGTH: Medium

INTERROGATIONS IMPROPER, EATON'S ATTORNEY ARGUES

Dennis Wayne Eaton, sentenced to death for the slaying of a state trooper, should receive a new trial because police improperly obtained statements from him that were used to convict him, Eaton's attorney told the Virginia Supreme Court on Monday.

Thomas Blaylock said Eaton, 34, of Shenandoah County, was fiercely interrogated three days after he had refused to comment to investigators piecing together details of four slayings, including that of state Trooper Jerry Hines.

A detective "concluded [Eaton] was willing to waive his rights by the way the defendant looked him in the eye," Blaylock said, referring to police records.

During the 45-minute interrogation, Eaton asked five times about his right to counsel and never agreed to waive that right, Blaylock said.

Eaton, nevertheless, made statements that were used at his trial to suggest that he, not his girlfriend, was the person who fired on Hines.

Judy McDonald, the girlfriend, was the last person killed by Eaton.

Hines stopped McDonald and Eaton near Lexington as the couple fled south from Shenandoah County on Feb. 20. The trooper was unaware that Eaton already had killed two men, Walter Custer and Ripley Marston, when he pulled over McDonald, who was driving, for suspicion of drunken driving.

Moments later Hines lay dead on the roadside.

Assistant Attorney General Leah Darron told the state's highest court that Eaton's statements were obtained legally, that Eaton was merely seeking a clarification of laws guaranteeing his right to counsel, not the immediate services of a lawyer.

"He never requested counsel," she said.

Blaylock said Eaton's statements became crucial at trial because the only other evidence against him in Hines' death were the statements of a cellmate to whom Eaton allegedly confessed. Hines' slaying was the only one of the four to which Eaton pleaded innocent.

Forensic evidence showed powder burns on McDonald's hands and only McDonald's voice could be heard on a police radio immediately prior to the moment Hines was shot.

Eaton was sentenced to life terms for the slayings of Marston, Custer and McDonald.

by CNB