Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 31, 1992 TAG: 9203310396
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
After moving Dennis West's new trial Monday from Roanoke to Loudoun County because of the publicity it has drawn, Judge Clifford Weckstein scheduled it to begin on the earliest available date - Dec. 7.
By then, West already would have become eligible for parole on the 20-year sentence he began serving in 1989.
West was convicted of killing his wife, Barbara, during a custody dispute over their three sons in March 1988.
But in August, the Virginia Court of Appeals overturned the conviction - ruling that the jury heard improper hearsay testimony from witnesses who told of death threats by West against his wife - and ordered a new trial.
Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell, who is serving as a special prosecutor in the case, said West would become eligible for parole in November.
However, the Parole Board is not expected to consider West's case because he technically is being held without bond pending his retrial - the 20-year sentence having been vacated by the appellate court.
But should West be convicted again, the time he already has served would be credited to whatever sentence he might receive.
With the maximum punishment he faces being the 20 years he already has received for second-degree murder, West - if convicted again - would in effect instantly become eligible for parole.
More at stake in the case will be the principle, with West maintaining his innocence while prosecutors prepare new evidence against him.
First-time offenders in Virginia usually become eligible for parole after serving about one-sixth of their sentences, Caldwell said. But in many cases - especially a murder - there is no guarantee the defendant will be released on his first hearing before the Parole Board.
Still, Caldwell said it's unusual for his office to be trying a man for murder so close to his parole date.
"In a commonwealth's attorney's postion, as advocates for victims and their families, certainly the sentencing guidelines and the parole system are two of the biggest frustrations that we face," he said.
West's new trial, which was scheduled to begin Monday, already has been continued twice.
The 40-year-old former owner of West Heritage Companies in Salem chose to wait in jail in order to have his case heard by an out-of-town jury.
At a 1989 trial, witnesses testified that the Wests were separated and involved in a custody fight in the weeks before Barbara West's body was found at their Union Street home.
She had been stabbed with a butcher knife, strangled with a jump rope and beaten with a fireplace poker.
At an earlier hearing, defense attorney Richard Lawrence had asked that the trial be moved out of town, citing the extensive publicity it drew. Although details tentatively had been arranged earlier, Weckstein granted the motion Monday.
The trial, which is scheduled to last two weeks, will be heard by a Loudoun County judge. Court officials had sought an earlier trial date, but were unable to find a courthouse that could accommodate such a lengthy trial any sooner.
Keywords:
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by CNB