Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 5, 1993 TAG: 9302050305
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
LIFE TERM, BIG FINE FOR MAN FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER
Bobby Joe Thompson II was sentenced to life in prison after a Pulaski County jury found him guilty Thursday of the May 1992 first-degree murder of a friend who had been repeatedly stabbed, then drowned.The jury, which deliberated for about an hour, also fined Thompson $100,000. State law has permitted fines in addition to prison terms for certain felonies since 1991.
"Good, good," Mary Linkous, the victim's mother, said shortly after the verdict was read. "I feel better now."
Thompson, 27, had pleaded not guilty to killing Jeffrey Eugene Duncan, 29, of Radford. Thompson did not testify and his attorneys did not present any evidence.
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, testified Wednesday that Duncan had died of drowning.
Thompson's attorneys, Robbie Jenkins of Radford and Joe Painter of Blacksburg, based their defense on the fact that Thompson told police he drowned Duncan to put him out of his misery from many cuts he had sustained at the hands of a second man also charged with Duncan's death.
Both Thompson and John Thomas King, 32, were charged with murder and malicious cutting during the commission of a felony. King is scheduled to be tried in April.
Wednesday, Judge Dow Owens dismissed a charge of malicious cutting against Thompson, leaving the jury only to decide whether Thompson was responsible for Duncan's death and, if so, whether it was murder or manslaughter.
Painter and Jenkins argued that Thompson's actions weren't malicious or premeditated.
But Steve Plott, assistant commonwealth's attorney, told the jury a mercy defense was incredible.
"He decided the best way to help this man was to kill him? Ridiculous," Plott said.
Plott said Thompson gave police different statements about his involvement in Duncan's death before confessing he had drowned the man.
"These are not the actions of a man who is thinking about his best friend he's killed out of mercy."
Thompson's statements also included 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 Virginia State Agent T.S. Svard, Thompson said he and King argued because Duncan danced with Thompson's estranged 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.
Jenkins suggested to the jury that Duncan already may have been dead from the stab wounds or from being in the water before Thompson came outside the house. The three men had been drinking together before the argument broke out that led to Duncan's death.
Thompson indicated he wanted to appeal the jury's verdict, and he was ordered held without bond while that appeal is pending.