Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 9, 1993 TAG: 9302090117
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
MOTION WITHDRAWN TO BAR CAMERAS FROM COURTROOM DURING MURDER TRIAL
Attorneys for Katina Zelenak withdrew their motion Monday to bar cameras in the courtroom during her murder trial, scheduled for Feb. 17 in Montgomery County Circuit Court.Randy Jones of Christiansburg, one of two lawyers representing Zelenak on several charges, told Judge Kenneth Devore the request was being withdrawn because Devore had made his feelings known last week.
Zelenak, 20; William Ray Smith Jr., 19; and Paul William Morehead, 21, are charged in the death of Lorna Raines Crockett, 32, of Pulaski County.
Crockett was married and the mother of three sons. She had been manager of Shoe Show in Christiansburg for less than two weeks when she was abducted as she was making a night deposit last June and shot twice.
Last week, Devore told Jones that sufficient reason had not been provided to bar the camera coverage, but set a hearing on the motion for Monday.
Morehead and Smith face capital murder charges. Zelenak testified against the two men at a September preliminary hearing, saying that each man fired one shot at Crockett.
Monday, Zelenak was undergoing a mental evaluation to determine whether she was sane at the time of Crockett's death.
Jones and Zelenak's other attorney, Joseph Painter Blacksburg, asked for the evaluation, saying more information about her past has come out indicating a history of being sexually abused. Jones said she may be suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.
Jones and Painter also were concerned after Zelenak drank a bottle of liquid deodorant last week and had to be taken to the hospital.
Besides the murder charges, all three also have been indicted on two counts of using a firearm, robbery and abduction.
They also have been indicted on charges of conspiring and attempting to rob Stuart Arbuckle, then a Domino's Pizza manager making a night deposit in Blacksburg several hours after Crockett was shot.
Arbuckle used a cellular phone to alert police after he was approached. His call led to the arrests.
Morehead and Zelenak also have charges against them in Pulaski County in two robberies in May 1992.