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

DATE: FRIDAY, June 11, 1993                   TAG: 9306110182
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BIG STONE GAP                                LENGTH: Short

PLEA BARGAIN DENIED

A former coal company superintendent disciplined for a roof fall that killed four miners will have to serve his entire 18-month prison term and pay a $20,000 fine.

A federal judge refused to go along with a proposed plea bargain.

"It was not my intention to be harsh. It was my intention to do what the court thought best," U.S. District Judge Samuel G. Wilson on Wednesday told attorneys representing Garry Williams.

Williams, 42, pleaded guilty in March to three misdemeanor charges stemming from the 1991 fatal accident at J&T Coal Inc. in St. Charles. In exchange for the guilty plea, federal prosecutors agreed to recommend Williams receive up to six months in jail and be fined $5,000. But the judge chose to toughen the sentence.

"Do you think the court should always accept plea agreements? If that was the case, we wouldn't need a judge," Wilson said. "I can't help it if you were surprised. I came to the conclusion the sentence I imposed was lenient."

Keywords:
FATALITY

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB