Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 1, 1993 TAG: 9310010270
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
John D. Smith Jr., 54, was charged early last month with holding a sales representative against her will, kissing her and touching her breasts.
The woman, Judy Burns-Thurman of Roanoke, testified she had just taken a sales order from Smith and turned to go when the incident occurred.
Burns-Thurman, a sales representative for a Pennsylvania company that sells maintenance products, called police several hours later.
Smith, who testified Thursday, denied any wrongdoing.
In a case that was largely "he said, she said" because there were no witnesses - Judge Thomas Frith ruled there was sufficient reasonable doubt to justify dismissing the charge, which is a misdemeanor.
Frith said he was troubled by testimony that Smith's office door was open, but the woman did not yell "stop" or "no" and that no one in nearby offices heard a disturbance.
Burns-Thurman testified that during the assault, her sunglasses were knocked off her head and that she called out loudly "my sunglasses" in hopes that someone would hear and come into the office.
Frith also mentioned testimony that the woman left the physical plant - near the police department - and carried out the rest of her scheduled appointments without reporting the incident.
Burns-Thurman testified that after completing a sales call in Smith's office on Aug. 26, she told him perhaps on her next visit they would have lunch together. As she walked to his calendar to put her company's sticker on the date, she testified, Smith said: "Boy, your chest is really getting big."
Burns-Thurman testified that Smith then grabbed her arm, pulled her toward him and kissed her on the mouth and grabbed her breasts.
She managed to get free, she said, and picked up her sample case to leave. She said she didn't know how to respond when Smith brought up having lunch on the next visit.
Before this incident, she testified, Smith had previously made comments about her chest.
Smith, who has worked at Tech for 32 years and is a month away from retirement, denied the allegations.
Spencer Hall, Tech's assistant vice president of facilities and director of the physical plant, characterized Smith as an exemplary employee carrying out an important job and said he had no knowledge of any previous problems.
But two women who work in the same building as Smith testified they had experienced uncomfortable situations with Smith.
"He just would like to put his arms around you and I would tell him to not do that," Opal Lawrence, a fiscal assistant, testified.
Lawrence said Smith stopped the behavior when she told him it could be considered sexual harassment and a lawsuit could be filed.
Lawrence, who has worked for Tech since 1980, testified she had not had problems with Smith recently. "One time he asked me if I fooled around and I told him only with my husband," Lawrence said.
Brenda Mosby, a secretary senior, testified that about nine years ago she took a phone message to Smith's office and recalls "a physical difficulty in getting out of the office." Mosby said she remembers that Smith held her arms.
Peggy Frank, assistant commonwealth's attorney for Montgomery County, had argued for a conviction, saying Burns-Thurman had no reason to make up the allegations.
"I think when she left there she was truly in shock that someone would grab her and kiss her like that," Frank told Frith.
Defense attorney Ed Stone of Radford told Frith he understood sexual battery cases were "very tough, especially in today's climate."
Stone urged the judge to consider defense testimony from Tech employees that as Burns-Thurman went about her business the rest of the day, she did not act unusual.
"I don't know how we disprove something that happened between two people," Stone said, adding that a "conviction on just her word" would destroy the man's career.
Smith was placed on annual leave pending resolution of the case. Word was not available Thursday afternoon on his job status now that the charge has been dismissed.
by CNB