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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 8, 1993                   TAG: 9309080330
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: BY BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

GILMORE WANTS DOLAN TO RETURN FEE

Republican Jim Gilmore wants his Democratic rival for attorney general, Bill Dolan, either to retry without pay a forgery case against a former Norfolk judge or to return the $121,000 fee Dolan collected for handling the judge's first trial.

Dolan, an Arlington lawyer and former president of the Virginia State Bar, was asked by Norfolk circuit judges to handle the prosecution of former Norfolk General District Judge Joseph H. Campbell in 1989.

Campbell, who has since retired, was convicted of forgery after he instructed a court clerk to alter court records in the case of Paul A. Sciortino, then commonwealth's attorney for Virginia Beach, who was facing a driving infraction in Norfolk.

Dolan and seven other attorneys at his firm who worked on the prosecution billed the state for more than $300,000 for their time and expenses. They ultimately were paid $121,000 - $50 per hour, plus expenses, for 1,968 hours worked.

Gilmore argued Tuesday that because the Virginia Supreme Court overturned the conviction in June - in part due to an improper jury instruction Dolan prepared - Dolan should repay the $121,000 unless he is going to retry the case.

And if Dolan handles the retrial, Gilmore said, he should do so for free.

"My opponent should live up to his responsibilities and repay the taxpayers the money he took for his botched prosecution," said Gilmore, the commonwealth's attorney in Henrico County.

Dolan has said he is considering withdrawing from any retrial because of his candidacy. His campaign spokeswoman, Irene Thomaidis, said Tuesday that Dolan "remains the special prosecutor in the case and will have no further comment."

Asked if he would refund to Henrico County taxpayers a portion of his salary for cases lost, Gilmore said, "That's not the point. We would retry the case and fulfill the duties of the office."

Asked if Dolan should be paid for work already done and any work involved in a retrial, Gilmore said, "I can't image him submitting another bill [for a retrial] having charged this amount of money."

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB