Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 15, 1993 TAG: 9306150149
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
John Christopher Smith, 20, of Grandview Drive, will begin serving time on weekends at the Montgomery County Jail until he completes summer classes as New River Community College. He then will finish the 60 days and be on probation for the remainder of the jury's recommended sentence.
Circuit Judge Duane Mink of Radford, who presided over the Montgomery County Circuit Court case in April, told Smith he was considering his age and previous good record.
Smith was found guilty of raping a woman who said she willingly went to his home last fall where she kissed and fondled him, but did not want to have sex. The 22-year-old Radford University student met Smith in the early morning of Aug. 30, 1992, was attracted to him and agreed to follow him to his house.
While they began to kiss and "make out," Keith told the jury, she made it clear that she didn't want to have intercourse. The young woman was raped when she tried to leave, Keith said.
The five-year sentence was the minimum the jury could recommend; the maximum is life in prison.
It is unusual for judges not to impose the sentence recommended by a jury. Keith said that this was "not your typical case." He said the judge "heard the facts along with the jury and he made the determination" to suspend part of the sentence.
The woman testified in April that she was a willing partner until Smith became insistent about intercourse. When she started to leave, Smith jerked her by the shirt and pulled her back onto his bed, she testified.
She said her back was scratched and that he choked her before she decided not to resist. The woman testified that she grabbed her clothes to leave and that Smith walked her out to her car and told her they needed to talk the next day.
by CNB