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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 27, 1993                   TAG: 9310270213
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD, N.C.                                LENGTH: Short

YOUTH WHO TOSSED URN GETS 10 YEARS

A 17-year-old was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for throwing a cemetery urn off an overpass on Interstate 95, leaving a Virginia woman seriously injured.

Superior Court Judge Henry Barnette Jr. gave Shane Beasley, 17, the maximum sentence for the assault.

The judge called his crime particularly atrocious, cruel and senseless.

Prosecutors maintained that Beasley dumped the 42-pound urn off the Keen Road bridge Feb. 26 onto a passing vehicle occupied by Phil Daley and his wife, Ellie. Then, according to the prosecution, Beasley began taunting Daley as he tried to flag down help.

A companion of Beasley's testified that the incident followed a night of "wilding" that included mailbox-bashing and window-smashing. The couple were on their way to Florida to celebrate Phil Daley's retirement from the Air Force.

Ellie Daley, 52, was not present during the trial and is continuing rehabilitation from massive head and chest injuries at her Loudoun County home. On Monday, her husband tried to phone her with the news, but she was at a dentist's office, undergoing more work as a result of the attack. - Associated Press

by CNB