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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 24, 1993                   TAG: 9304240307
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Southwest Bureau
DATELINE: HILLSVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

MAN TO SERVE 2 DAYS, LOSE LICENSE FOR DUI

Gerald Wayne Edwards, 22, of Route 5, Galax, was found guilty of driving under the influence on the night of Dec. 12 in Carroll County.

General District Judge E.M. Turner imposed a $500 fine and six-month jail sentence, suspending all but two days of the jail sentence on condition of good behavior for a year. He suspended Edwards' driver's license for three years.

He fined Edwards $25 for not wearing a seat belt, and dismissed a reckless driving charge.

Edwards also has been indicted in Grayson County on charges of involuntary manslaughter and involuntary vehicular manslaughter in the Dec. 21 death of Warren Kelly "W.K." Dees.

A car driven by Edwards collided with another car in which the boy was a passenger. He faces a jury trial on that DUI charge May 27.

The only witness in the Carroll case was Trooper Lonny Pennington, who testified that he clocked Edwards' vehicle at 93 mph in a 55 mph zone on U.S. 58.

When he stopped the vehicle about 8:20 p.m., Pennington noted an odor of alcohol coming from it, he said. Edwards staggered when he got out and was "very unsteady on his feet." Edwards' speech was slurred and his eyes red and watery, Pennington said.

A breath test showed Edwards as having a blood-alcohol level of 0.13 percent. The threshold for DUI in Virginia is 0.10 percent.

Keywords:
FATALITY