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

DATE: THURSDAY, July 1, 1993                   TAG: 9307010404
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HANOVER                                LENGTH: Medium

JUDGE DISMISSES SEX ABUSE CASE

"We are all so angry," said the mother of an 11-year-old boy who said he was molested. "If they were going to dismiss the charges . . . why did they put our kids through this? It was so hard for them to go in and testify."

"We're going to have to explain how the justice system let them down. And how do you explain it?" said the mother of a 7-year-old who testified he was molested.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch cited unidentified sources as saying that Judge Nina K. Peace of Hanover County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court dismissed six convictions against the 13-year-old boy. The charges included forcible sodomy, attempted rape and abduction.

Peace ruled that prosecutors failed to prove the defendant was younger than 18, and that without that proof she lacked jurisdiction to hear the case, the newspaper said.

Lawyers and others familiar with the juvenile court proceedings said they were surprised by the ruling, which was made Dec. 3 during the youth's sentencing hearing.

"I can't explain it," Commonwealth's Attorney Eddie Vaughn Jr. said. "The age was a matter of record. He looks like a 13-year-old. There was never a question of jurisdiction."

Peace did not return phone calls Wednesday.

Virginia law allows a judge to "take judicial notice that a person is over or under a particular age if it's obvious," an unidentified prosecutor told the newspaper.

Peace granted the defense's motion to dismiss the charges even though she observed the defendant was an adolescent, sources told the newspaper.

The charges against the boy were brought on behalf of five boys and two girls who lived in the same Mechanicsville neighborhood. The victims, ages 6 to 11, said the incidents began in September 1991.

The victims and their parents were not notified of the sentencing hearing, the Times-Dispatch said. They also were barred from the trial and prohibited from learning the outcome because the judge issued a gag order prohibiting everyone who heard her decision from discussing it.

"I don't want to second-guess another judge, and I really do like Nina Peace. But I am insistent in these sexual abuse cases . . . that the victims and their parents are aware of what the outcome of the case is," said Judge Robert J. Smith of Henrico County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.

Sources told the newspaper that when the case was tried Nov. 12, about 18 of the original charges were dismissed because Peace ruled there was not enough evidence.

The boy and his family have moved from the neighborhood, the newspaper said.

A hearing is to be held today in juvenile court to decide whether the gag order should be lifted, Vaughn said.