Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 6, 1993 TAG: 9303060074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
PAROLE DENIED FOR WEST
Dennis West, a former Salem businessman and civic leader twice convicted of killing his wife, will spend at least one more year in prison.West was denied parole this week by the Virginia Parole Board, which cited the "serious nature of the offense." West's estranged wife, Barbara, was stabbed in the back, strangled with a jump rope and beaten with a fireplace poker five years ago in their Salem home.
"We did not think he had served adequate time for the offense," board Chairman Clarence Jackson said Friday.
In making the decision, board members were given a foot-thick stack of documents that included "considerable community input," Jackson said.
Despite the many letters urging that West remain where he is at the Bland Correctional Center, Jackson said public sentiment was not a major factor because board members had essentially already decided he would not walk free on his first parole eligibility date.
"He was not going to be paroled, period," he said.
West's case was unusual because he became eligible for parole immediately after he was convicted last December of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
He had received a new trial in Loudoun County after the Virginia Court of Appeals threw out his first conviction by a Roanoke jury in 1989. The appeals court ruled a judge should not have allowed hearsay testimony that West had threatened to kill his wife if she left him or gained custody of their children.
West has spent nearly four years incarcerated, either serving his first 20-year sentence or being held without bond pending his second trial.
Although most first-time offenders such as West end up serving only a sixth of their sentence, it is unusual for the Parole Board to release violent offenders the first time they come up for parole.
West, 40, must now wait a year before he is considered again for release.
Testimony has shown that Barbara West was killed during a bitter divorce fight with her husband. Prosecutors described West as a man consumed with hate during a divorce that threatened to take everything he cherished: his home, custody of his three sons, and his status as a successful merchant, civic leader and family man.
West, who once ran a record store on Main Street and was president of the Salem Kiwanis Club, has said he hopes to be reunited with his sons, who now live with his parents in Vinton.