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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 27, 1990                   TAG: 9006270349
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: PEARISBURG                                 LENGTH: Short

SHERIFF'S SON RULED NOT GUILTY

A special judge ruled Tuesday that James E. Falls, son of Giles County Sheriff Larry Falls, was not guilty of driving under the influence or refusing to take a blood alcohol test.

Judge Ray Grubbs, who normally sits in Christiansburg and Radford, and Willard Lester, commonwealth's attorney for Bland County, handled the 9 a.m. trial for James Falls, 23, of Pearisburg.

General District Judge Thomas Frith disqualified himself from hearing the case, and Giles County Commonwealth's Attorney James Hartley disqualified himself from serving as prosecutor.

Falls was charged in April with driving under the influence after a town officer said Falls crossed the center of an unlined road several times, according to defense attorney Dutton Olinger of Christiansburg.

Falls was taken to the magistrate's office, where he requested a breathalyzer test. But the state police officer on duty wasn't licensed to give such a test, Olinger said.

He was then asked to take a blood test, but refused. He was charged for refusing to take the test.

"By law, you're supposed to be given a choice," Olinger said. Lester said there was insufficient evidence of intoxication.

by CNB