Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 21, 1991 TAG: 9103210425
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roscoe Marvin Wilson, who prosecutors say urged at least two other men to join the attack, pleaded no contest to a charge of malicious wounding. He will be sentenced after Roanoke Circuit Judge Diane Strickland reviews his background record.
Wilson, 25, is the last of three men to be convicted in the case.
He and two others were arrested in August after Jack Boder, whose wife worked at the mission's family shelter, was attacked and beaten with a blunt object in an alley behind the Tazewell Avenue building.
Boder testified at an earlier hearing that he and his wife were preparing to move into the shelter, where they planned to work for a week. As he drove a pickup truck loaded with their belongings down the alley, he was confronted by a group of men who cursed him and demanded to know why he was there.
"They told me that if they ever saw me back in Southeast, they would kill me," Boder testified earlier. "It was like a scare tactic."
Boder said more than three people attacked him as he sat in the pickup, but he has been able to identify only three of the assailants. Although he could not tell what was being used to hit him, Boder said he had seen a crowbar in the hands of one of the men.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Alice Ekirch said there appeared to be no motive for the beating except meanness. "They were just out looking for trouble," she said.
Boder, also a volunteer rescue worker, was beaten so badly that he was not recognized by one of his fellow rescue workers who answered the call and took him to Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
It took 90 stitches to close cuts to his face; injuries to his nose required reconstructive surgery.
Of the three people charged, Wilson was the most involved, Ekirch said. He struck the most blows, she said, while urging others to join the attack.
The group also smashed the headlights of Boder's truck and dented the sides, causing more than $1,600 in damage. His personal belongings were taken from the back of the truck.
Authorities had charged Wilson and two others with robbery, but those charges were dropped in plea agreements.
Anthony Ray Hagy, 18, and John Douglas Hodge, 22, already have been convicted of malicious wounding in the case. Hodge, who prosecutors say was least involved, recently was sentenced to seven years in prison. Hagy is awaiting sentencing.
Partly because of his prior criminal record, Wilson was remanded to jail Wednesday to await sentencing.
by CNB