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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 24, 1992                   TAG: 9203240430
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ACCUSATIONS ABOUT A SLAIN VICTIM

I CONTINUALLY become upset when I see the news media overshadow a person's death by writing accusations about the victim when he cannot defend himself.

In the March 12 news article, "Capital murder charged," Terry Wayne Anderson is pictured as a junkie who was making a drug deal. Am I supposed to ignore the fact that an innocent man allegedly was murdered in broad daylight by someone accused of being a drug dealer?

The fact remains that someone was killed, regardless of whether a drug deal was taking place. Who were the witnesses? Fellow drug dealers? They sure make credible witnesses, don't they?

Also, did you mention whether an autopsy showed any drug in the victim's body? If you did, I must've missed it. Enough is enough. Print the facts, please, not suggestions. RHEA COX WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.

by CNB