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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 30, 1991                   TAG: 9103300368
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

JUDGE ACCEPTS FAULT IN SUSPECT'S FATAL VAN CRASH

A Richmond judge accepted responsibility for allowing a murder suspect to remain free on $3,000 bond - 10 times less than originally set - nine days before police say the man stole a minivan and fatally injured a woman in a wreck.

Police continued to search early today for Thomas A. Nixon, 29. They believe he may have been injured in the crash Thursday before climbing from the wreckage and running away.

Nixon was wanted for a probation violation stemming from a previous homicide arrest. Now police have a murder warrant charging him in the death of Susan K. Deaton, Richmond Police Lt. Michael Rollston said Friday night.

Nixon was arrested hours after the Feb. 28 shooting death of Carlos DeJesus. His bond was set at $30,000, but erroneously recorded as $3,000. Nixon made that bond a few days later.

During a March 19 hearing a prosecutor noticed the error and asked the original bond be restored. But Richmond General District Judge Ralph B. Robertson kept it at $3,000 because Nixon had showed up for court and met other conditions of his bond.

Robertson waved aside questions Friday of how the clerical error occurred. "I accept full responsibility," he said. "I had a chance to change it and didn't do so."

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB