Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 15, 1993 TAG: 9305150148
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Mike Crockett, Lorna's widower, was denied a claim for nearly $80,000 when Shoe Show's insurance carrier, Pennsylvania National Insurance Cos., ruled that her death was not covered because it "did not arise out of and in the course of Ms. Crockett's employment," according to a Jan. 26 letter to Mike Crockett.
But Mike Gray, Crockett's lawyer, believes the death is compensable because Lorna Crockett was at the bank branch at Hills Plaza solely to make a deposit for the store.
Gray subpoenaed Katina Lynn Zelenak, one of three people charged in Crockett's death, as a witness. Concerns over security in the small conference room at the state Workers' Compensation Commission offices in Roanoke and the media's effect on her testimony prompted Patricia Arrighi, deputy commissioner hearing the case, to initially curtail attendance.
She ruled that the media and Zelenak's father, Jerry Thornton, would not be allowed in the room while Zelenak and Mike Crockett were testifying.
However, Arrighi later agreed to allow one reporter to sit in on the case and provide the information to other reporters attending. But the media was excluded during Crockett's testimony as a matter of courtesy to him, Arrighi ruled.
The hearings normally are public.
Zelenak, who has been sentenced to life plus two years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder, testified that she, Paul William Morehead and William Ray Smith Jr. were at Hills Plaza on Roanoke Street in Christiansburg last June 1 to case the Hills Department Store bank deposit - not to commit a robbery that night.
Morehead, 21, is still awaiting trial. His April capital murder trial ended in a mistrial when Zelenak, while testifying, referred to two robbery charges the pair faces in Pulaski County.
Smith, 19, has pleaded no contest to first-degree murder, abduction, robbery and use of a firearm. He also was found guilty of conspiring to rob Stuart Arbuckle - the Domino's Pizza manager who led police to the three Crockett murder suspects when he almost was held up at a Blacksburg bank - attempted robbery and use of a firearm. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 70 years.
Zelenak, 20, who also received 14 years in prison after a jury found her guilty in the Arbuckle robbery, has testified in previous court hearings that Hills was ruled too risky when the three saw that two employees made the bank deposit.
Lorna Crockett drove up next. Zelenak said Morehead told Smith to "go get her."
Zelenak said Crockett made the bank deposit as Smith ran toward her, but "he made her open the deposit box to see if the money had gone down."
Zelenak said Smith then forced Crockett back into her car, and she followed Morehead and Zelenak's car down Falling Branch Road, where she was shot. Zelenak alleges each man fired one shot.
Zelenak told Shoe Show's lawyer, William Walker of Norfolk, that she did not know Crockett and neither Morehead nor Smith appeared to recognize her or realize that she was the Shoe Show manager. They knew the previous car contained Hills employees, Zelenak said, because "I used to work at Hills and I knew a couple of their managers."
Zelenak said "it was my understanding they shot her because she had saw who they were" and could identify them.
The only reason Crockett became a target that night, she said, was "because of the night deposit."
Arrighi gave Gray two weeks to file supporting memoranda of law and Walker two weeks to respond. She said she then has three weeks to render a decision.
Walker said after the hearing that it would be up to Arrighi to decide whether Crockett was robbed and killed because of her employment or because she happened to be there.
"I don't want to sound callous, but that lady showed up at the wrong time at the wrong place," Walker said.
Mike Crockett said he has pursued the compensation matter for his three boys, not for the monetary gain.
"That's all she was working for was the boys," he said.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.