Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 4, 1993 TAG: 9302040108
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HILLSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
TESTS OK'D FOR SLAYINGS SUSPECT
A circuit judge approved mental evaluations Wednesday for Thomas Jefferson Midkiff, who is scheduled for trial next month on capital murder charges in the deaths of a 30-year-old woman and her 2-year-old daughter.Judge Duane Mink said he would decide on other motions - including whether the trial should be moved outside Carroll County because of publicity - after Feb. 11, when both sides are to have submitted all material in support of their motions.
Mink already has ruled to admit Midkiff's confession at the trial.
In his ruling Dec. 30, Mink agreed with defense attorneys Jonathon Venzie and Fred Werth that Midkiff, 28, was technically in custody when he made his statement, without an attorney present, to Carroll County Sheriff R.D. Carrico on Dec. 6, 1991, at state police headquarters near Wytheville.
But he said Midkiff had been advised of his rights and never made a formal request for an attorney during the questioning.
Midkiff was questioned three days after the bodies of Sheila Marie Ring and her daughter, Jasmine Sutphin, were found in the burned remains of their home near Woodlawn. An autopsy showed they had been stabbed to death. Midkiff also is charged with arson.
The defendant will be evaluated at the Center for Law and Psychiatry at Charlottesville and, after that, by an evaluator secured by Commonwealth's Attorney Greg Goad.
Trial is scheduled for March 1-5.
The defense gave Mink copies of articles about the case from the Galax Gazette, Carroll News and the Roanoke Times & World-News, as well as videotapes of news broadcasts by WDBJ-TV and WSLS-TV in Roanoke, and will add any other articles or broadcasts that come out before Feb. 11.
Venzie also submitted affidavits from people in the community stating that they did not believe Midkiff could receive an impartial trial in Carroll County. Mink agreed to read the affidavits privately after Venzie said people were fearful about signing them because it might be taken as help to Midkiff.
Goad said the affidavits were hearsay unless he could question those who signed them. Mink overruled the objection "due to the unusual nature of the case" and ordered them sealed.
Mink denied a motion that the defense be allowed to strike more prospective jury members than the prosecution, saying Virginia law does not authorize that. He took all the other motions under advisement until Feb. 11.