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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 20, 1993                   TAG: 9304200052
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

JURY FAILS TO INDICT IN MOONSHINE CASE

Efforts to hold someone accountable for the largest-ever moonshine distillery in Virginia were halted Monday when a Pittsylvania County grand jury failed to indict 29-year-old Paul Henson on a charge of aiding and abetting the illegal manufacture of whiskey.

"Certainly, I think it's a weak case - apparently, they thought so too," said Glenn Berger, Henson's attorney.

When authorities raided the 36-pot - or 28,200-gallon - still Jan. 6, Henson was not there. But in a preliminary hearing early last month, assistant Pittsylvania County prosecutor Charles Strauss said Henson lived on the property. As evidence, Strauss cited building materials, receipts and pictures of Henson found in a house 150 yards from the still.

Henson turned himself in weeks after the raid, saying he had been on vacation and read about the warrant for his arrest when he got back.

Berger had argued at the preliminary hearing that evidence against Henson was circumstantial.

"At most, they've shown he lived in a house that was several hundred yards from a distillery," Berger said at the time.

by CNB