Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 12, 1993 TAG: 9307120064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
Morehead, 21, of Pulaski County, is scheduled to go on trial Aug. 2 for the murder of Lorna Raines Crockett, 32, of Pulaski County. Crockett - who was married and the mother of three boys - was abducted, robbed and killed as she made a night bank deposit for Shoe Show, the Hills Plaza store she had managed for about two weeks.
Crockett was found dead in her car the next morning on Falling Branch Road, a short distance from the shopping center.
Jeff Rudd, the Roanoke lawyer who represents Morehead, is expected to argue today before Circuit Judge Kenneth Devore that a change of venue is necessary because of extensive publicity and the danger that potential jurors know too much about the case.
Morehead's first trial on the charges ended in a mistrial in April. Two other people - including Morehead's former girlfriend - already have been sentenced to life in prison on first-degree murder charges. Morehead is the only one to face capital murder charges.
He also faces six other charges: robbery and abduction of Crockett; attempted robbery and conspiracy to rob Stuart Arbuckle, then a Domino's Pizza store manager who was almost held up in Blacksburg about five hours after Crockett was shot; and two counts of using a firearm to commit a crime.
William Ray Smith Jr., 19, of Pulaski County, avoided a possible death sentence when he pleaded no contest to first-degree murder, abduction, robbery and use of a firearm in Crockett's death. He also pleaded no contest to a charge of conspiring to rob Arbuckle, attempted robbery and use of a firearm. Smith was sentenced to life in prison plus 70 years.
The Morehead mistrial was declared after Katina Lynn Zelenak - Morehead's girlfriend at the time Crockett was killed - began to tell the jury about other charges the two face in Pulaski County.
Zelenak, 21, of Montgomery County, and Morehead are charged with robbing Pizza Hut manager Mike Frost and another employee of $2,458 when the two men were about to make a night deposit in Pulaski on May 3.
They were also indicted on charges of robbing a steak restaurant employee in Pulaski as he carried the day's proceeds to his house.
Court officials also learned that one of the jurors was related to a victim of one of the Pulaski robberies.
Rudd said Friday "it's just amazing to me" that even though he took the extra step of having potential jurors answer a detailed questionnaire that someone with a personal interest in the case slipped by.
The questionnaire included a question asking potential jurors whether they or a relative had been a victim of a violent crime. "If they don't answer the questionnaires truthfully, then we're screwed," Rudd said.
Rudd's previous motion for a change of venue - before Morehead's first trial - was denied by Devore. Rudd doesn't hold out much hope of having this motion approved.
Rudd will also ask Devore to bar Zelenak from testifying.
Zelenak was sentenced to life in prison plus two years after pleading no contest to first-degree murder, robbery and use of a firearm. A jury also found her guilty of the attempted robbery of Arbuckle, conspiracy and use of a firearm.
Rudd contends that Zelenak's accounts of the night Crockett was killed have varied in previous statements given to police and in court testimony. Zelenak should not be allowed to testify at Morehead's new trial, Rudd said, "on the grounds that she would be perjuring herself."
Smith maintains that Morehead fired both shots, one of which was fatal. Morehead says Smith was the triggerman, and Zelenak says each man fired one shot and that she was forced to drive the car.
Zelenak at first blamed both shots on Smith, but later changed her story, saying she lied because she feared for her safety and for her family's safety because of threats Morehead had made.
Before Zelenak testified in April, Rudd had asked the court to consider barring her testimony. Rudd said Zelenak had given a new statement just before the trial that was different from several of her previous statements. How Zelenak's story would have differed is not clear because of the short time she spent on the stand.
Rudd is also renewing his motion to have Joe Painter, Zelenak's lawyer, subpoenaed to testify. The motion asks that Painter be compelled to testify and that he bring with him any documents or recordings related to his representation of Zelenak.
Rudd has also subpoenaed Zelenak's medical records.
Painter, as he did the first time, is fighting the motion. He said last week that the motion is in error because only commonwealth's attorneys may request that a defense attorney be subpoenaed.
Painter's attorney, Mark Kidd of Roanoke, said in papers filed in Circuit Court last week that Morehead's motion to have Painter testify stems from Rudd's theory that Painter "jogged" Zelenak's memory in an interview with a Montgomery County investigator, leading her "to create a statement that is inconsistent with previous statements" she made. But Kidd states that Morehead has failed to show how Painter's actions are material to his defense.
Painter said that in addition to violating the rules established by the state Supreme Court for subpoenaing attorneys, Rudd's attempt to have him testify would violate the attorney-client privilege of confidentiality.
"If we open this door . . . this violates the whole principle of our jurisprudence system," Painter said Friday.
In April, Painter filed an expedited appeal with the state Court of Appeals in an attempt to avoid being called to testify at Morehead's first trial. The court was hearing the appeal when the mistrial was declared. When it learned of the mistrial, the appeal was dismissed as a moot point.
by CNB