SODOMY, BREAK-IN CONVICTIONS BRING 80-YEAR SENTENCE

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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 13, 1993                   TAG: 9303130175
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
SODOMY, BREAK-IN CONVICTIONS BRING 80-YEAR SENTENCE
A Blacksburg man was sentenced to 80 years in prison Friday for sodomizing his 11-year-old nephew in July 1992 and breaking into a neighbor's home the boy had run to for help.
The sentence imposed in Montgomery County Circuit Court by Judge Kenneth Devore was the same a jury had set in January after deliberating about two hours.
Formal sentencing was delayed until a background report was prepared on Johnny Dawson, but no additional evidence was presented Friday.
The maximum punishment Dawson could have received was life in prison for sodomy and 20 years for breaking and entering.
Dawson was accused of sodomizing the boy, who was visiting his father, on July 6, 1992. The boy's father was at work. The two men lived together in a local trailer park.
Two charges of attempted sodomy against Dawson involving the same boy were not prosecuted. Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith told Devore the boy's family was happy with the 80-year sentence and did not desire to proceed on the other charges.
The boy, who does not live in the New River Valley, testified in January that he was playing the piano when his uncle came into the room, took him by the hand and led him to his bedroom. He said his uncle laid "nasty magazines" on the bed, then sodomized him.
"I was screaming," said the boy, who is now 12. "I was saying, `Stop, stop.' "
After the attack, the boy said he turned on a television in another room and pretended to watch, but ran out the door to a neighbor's home.
The neighbor called police, but his uncle came in and hung the phone up as she tried to dial, the boy testified. He said he hung onto a chair, but his uncle pulled him out of the trailer.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB