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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 11, 1993                   TAG: 9308110080
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MAN ACCUSED IN RIOT GETS YEAR SENTENCE

A Roanoke man accused of inciting a riot in April at Melrose Park pleaded guilty Tuesday to a lesser charge of attempting to intimidate a police officer.

Douglas Troy Jordan, 24, was sentenced to one year in jail after pleading guilty to the Class I misdemeanor.

Judge Roy B. Willett said the evidence might have supported the felony riot charge, although Jordan's lawyer, Kenneth C. King, said he had been prepared to go to a jury trial in Roanoke Circuit Court.

King said, however, that a jury trial could have proved risky for his client, and that audio from a police-made videotape that prosecutors would have admitted as evidence likely would have identified Jordan as the most vocal troublemaker in the incident.

A crowd of about 200 people gathered in the park the night of April 7. About 15 officers responded after receiving reports of gunshots, fights and bottles thrown at passing cars.

Jordan began taunting and shouting threats at the officers, according to earlier testimony.

by CNB