Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 10, 1992 TAG: 9201100186
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
FIRST LOADED-GUN CASE DISMISSED
The region's first test of a new law intended to prosecute adults who leave loaded handguns within reach of small children failed to materialize Thursday when a prosecutor declined to call a 7-year-old boy to testify against his father.Without the child's testimony, Franklin County General District Judge William Alexander II dismissed a misdemeanor charge against George Arthur English, 27, of Red Valley.
"I have no choice," Alexander told English. "There is no evidence against you at this point."
English was believed to be the first person in Southwest Virginia charged under a state law that went into effect July 1. The law makes it illegal for gun owners to leave a loaded firearm where it endangers children under 14. Investigators contend that English left a loaded .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol in a closet of his trailer off Virginia 116.
The boy told authorities he found the gun loaded on the night of Nov. 26 and accidentally shot his 4-year-old brother in the arm. The younger child was not seriously injured.
English said Thursday that the ammunition clip was not in the gun when he stored it on the top shelf of the closet.
Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood sought to introduce the boy's statement, but Alexander ruled that the child would have to appear in court to testify.
Outside the courtroom, Hapgood said he decided not to subpoena the boy because he did not want to put the child in a position of testifying against his father.
Hapgood said he was torn between his responsibility to prosecute the defendant and his obligation to consider the well-being of a young witness.
"There are a couple of policy considerations colliding in the law. It's hard to decide. I don't know what the General Assembly's intent was."
The 1991 legislature passed the loaded-gun law in response to several highly publicized fatal shootings involving small children playing with loaded guns. The maximum fine is $500.