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

DATE: TUESDAY, January 14, 1992                   TAG: 9201140288
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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SLAYER GETS TERM FOR POKER KILLING

A Roanoke man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Monday for fatally stabbing a friend who interrupted his poker game.

Vernon M. Shortt, 57, received the maximum sentence for the second-degree murder of his drinking buddy, 42-year-old Lawrence J. Okon.

Witnesses at Shortt's trial last year testified that Okon was stabbed twice for interrupting a poker game last August at a Patterson Avenue boarding home. After he staggered out of the house and collapsed nearby, Okon was left to die as the card game resumed.

Citing the "callousness involved by all parties," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Hill asked Judge Clifford Weckstein to impose the maximum sentence.

But Assistant Public Defender Roger Dalton asked for more lenient treatment, noting that Shortt is not likely to be paroled soon because of a prior criminal record that includes 10 felony convictions.

As he did at his trial, Shortt continued Monday to maintain his innocence.

However, witnesses have testified that Shortt used a dagger to stab Okon after the man, who was not involved in the card game, began to jump onto the table, sneaking looks at player's hands and knocking cards to the floor.

Another tenant at the home testified the Shortt told her as he mopped blood from the floor that he had stabbed Okon. Asked where his friend was, the woman said, Shortt replied: "I guess he went off somewhere to die."

Keywords:
ROMUR

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