Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 4, 1993 TAG: 9302040183
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
STATE RESTS MURDER CASE AGAINST PULASKI MAN
A Pulaski County jury heard the confession of a Pulaski man who admitted drowning one of his best friends after a knife fight because he didn't want to see him suffer.Pulaski County assistant commonwealth's attorneys, Doug Schroder and Steve Plott, rested their case Wednesday against Bobby Joe Thompson II, 26, one of two men charged with the murder of Jeffery Eugene Duncan, 29, of Radford.
Duncan's body was found partially submerged in the culvert of a small stream near Monroe Avenue and U.S. 11 - less than 100 yards from Thompson's house - at about 1 a.m. on May 16. He had been stabbed and cut many times between his waist and his head, according to court testimony.
William Massello, assistant deputy chief medical examiner for Western Virginia, told the court that Duncan had died of drowning.
Both Thompson and John Thomas King, 32, were charged with murder and malicious cutting during the commission of a felony.
Wednesday's testimony centered on conflicting stories that Thompson told police officers after Duncan's body was found.
Two Pulaski police officers first questioned Thompson and he never admitted to stabbing or drowning Duncan.
Then, at about 12:30 p.m. on May 16, Virginia State Agent T.S. Svard questioned Thompson and he admitted drowning Duncan after King had stabbed him.
"I grabbed Jeff and put his head under the water till he stopped breathing. I didn't want to see him suffer," Svard read from Thompson's signed statement. "I swear I never stabbed, cut or dragged him anywhere. I wouldn't have done this if I hadn't been drinking."
In his statements to the police, Thompson said he and King had drunk half a fifth of whiskey before King came to his house in the 500 block of Monroe Avenue in Pulaski.
Thompson also gave conflicting reports about the motive behind Duncan's death. First, he told police that there were two arguments: the first over a coat that Duncan wanted to buy from him and the second between Duncan and King about a crime for which they previously had been convicted.
But in his statements to Svard, Thompson said he and King argued because Duncan danced with his former wife.
"I told him `I ought to kill you' and then John jumped up and said `Let me do it,' " Thompson's statement read.
King then went out to the creek with Duncan and repeatedly stabbed him with a kitchen knife, according to testimony.
When Thompson came out and saw the blood, he said he drowned Duncan to prevent suffering. The body was then dragged down the creek to the culvert.
The defense will present its case today and attorney Robbie Jenkins said he will prove that Thompson did not stab Duncan at all and that he was so intoxicated there is no way the murder could have been premeditated as the prosecution alleges.