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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 11, 1990                   TAG: 9007110466
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Short

JUDGE RAPS DELEGATE FOR TRIAL DELAY

Judge Thomas S. Shadrick scolded Robinson for attending a fund-raising gala at a posh resort when he should have been in court defending a client.

Robinson had told Shadrick on June 26 that he could not defend a client in a grand larceny case the next day because of legislative business in Hot Springs.

That business turned out to be a political fund-raiser for the Democratic caucus featuring golf, tennis, bridge tournaments and a black-tie reception, dinner and dance.

The use of the privilege of postponing trials has been a sore point among lawyers, judges, victims and witnesses for years.

Lawyers can ask for postponements to get more evidence or prepare a case, but members of the General Assembly can get postponements under a privilege, known as legislative prerogative, when the General Assembly is in session.

"I feel confident that it will not happen again," Shadrick told Robinson in court. "If it happens in my court again, sanctions will be imposed." - Associated Press