Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 5, 1993 TAG: 9306050715
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Michael L. Ayers, 30, was found guilty of escape and attempting to steal the flatbed truck, but Circuit Judge Duane Mink dismissed the attempted abduction charge.
An unrelated charge of grand larceny of a videocassette recorder from the Super 8 motel was not prosecuted. The company who leased the VCR to the motel did not send a representative to testify, Commonwealth's Attorney Randal Duncan said.
Sentencing was delayed until July, pending a presentence report.
Duncan told Mink that Ayers escaped from a secured room March 23, 1992, after using a paper clip to undo a handcuff. A court bailiff who checked the room found chairs stacked up in a corner and tile and insulation pulled from the ceiling. Ayers climbed over to the next room, broke the glass out and escaped, Duncan said.
Ayers testified that he got into a truck at Central Lumber on First Street a few blocks from the municipal building because he wanted to put something between him and a police officer he saw approaching with a cocked shotgun.
Richard Thornton, a Central Lumber employee who was in the truck, testified Ayers asked him to move over, saying he needed the truck. Thornton said he told Ayers he couldn't give him the truck, but Ayers practically climbed on top of him and a struggle began for control of the steering wheel.
Thornton then saw police approaching.
Detective Wayne Frye testified another officer reported seeing Ayers near Central Lumber. When Frye reached the area, he saw Ayers run into the lumberyard. Moments later, he saw two people in a flatbed truck and they appeared to be struggling. Frye recognized Ayers, approached the truck, drew his 9mm pistol and pointed it through the open window of the truck, ordering Ayers out of the truck.
Frye testified that Ayers just looked at him. Sgt. J.F. Lawson arrived at about the same time and pointed a shotgun at the truck, telling Thornton to lie down in the seat.
Frye reached into the truck and turned the ignition off, and Ayers came out of the truck.
Ayers told Mink he was running some railroad tracks when he saw Lawson runing toward him with a shotgun, cocking it.
Ayers said he jumped into the truck out of fear and not because he was trying to steal it.
"I knew this officer was pretty close to me with a shotgun. I was scared."
Ayers testified he was not trying to abduct Thornton.
"I was just trying to put something in between me and the officer with that gun," he said.
Duncan argued to Mink that there was no evidence Ayers ever told Thornton he was scared or looking for help. He said there was sufficient evidence that Ayers had both tried to steal the truck and abduct Thornton. He was running from police because he'd escaped custody, Duncan said.
But Joey Showalter, Ayers' attorney, said his client simply saw an open truck door, got in it and locked the door. He didn't try to detain Thornton, Showalter said.
"He wanted to get into that vehicle in order to avoid possibly being shot," Showalter said.
Mink ruled there was a "very obvious" attempt to take the truck and found Ayers guilty. But he said the attempted abduction charge had not been proven. Mink said while there was a struggle over possession of the truck, a mere direction by Ayers that he wanted the truck didn't indicated attempted abduction.
A background report will be returned July 9 before Mink sentences Ayers on the attempted grand larceny and escape charges.
Ayers was the subject of a six-day police hunt in January 1992 by U.S. marshals and Bedford and Botetourt county and Vinton town authorities. He was wanted at the time in connection with several federal charges and grand larcenies in the Roanoke Valley. He is presently serving time in the Roanoke County Jail and is awaiting entering the federal prison system, he told the judge.
by CNB