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

DATE: TUESDAY, November 2, 1993                   TAG: 9311020157
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KAREN BARNES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

JUDGE: SERGEANT NOT DRUNK; MURDER CONVICTION STANDS

A convicted murderer will not get a new trial after he claimed that the chief investigating officer was drunk at the crime scene and missed clues, a substitute judge ruled Monday.

Beattie Ervin Coe, found guilty of second-degree murder in the 1991 death of Clayton Jahue Fore in Jordantown, argued that Bedford County Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Rush failed to take fingerprints, test for powder-burn residue and photograph skid marks near a truck because he was intoxicated.

Coe also claimed his original attorney, Harry Garrett of Bedford, did not provide adequate counsel and that Commonwealth's Attorney James Updike engaged in misconduct.

But substitute Circuit Court Judge Samuel Johnston ruled otherwise on all counts, despite testimony by Rush - and a handful of other deputies - that he had been drinking before reporting to the crime scene.

According to deputies' testimony, Rush consumed anywhere from three to 12 beers, two glasses of wine and a mixed drink at Smith Mountain Lake State Park the night of June 1, 1991, before responding to the emergency call.

Johnston, in his written judgment, concluded that Rush had consumed alcohol, but that he was not legally drunk. According to expert testimony, Rush's I can imagine nothing more disconcerting than having an on-duty deputy with a six gun on his side and a six pack in his belly. Judge Samuel Johnston blood-alcohol level was probably between 0.05 and 0.08 percent, under the legal driving limit of 0.10. Despite his alcohol consumption, Rush's investigative skills did not appear to be diminished, Johnston wrote.

Updike and Sheriff Carl Wells, who were both at the murder scene, testified that Rush did not appear drunk.

Neither Rush nor Wells would comment on the judge's ruling, but the sheriff did say he plans to continue his internal investigation of deputies' drinking while on duty.

But Johnston used the occasion to blast the Sheriff's Office, calling deputies' testimony of drinking on duty "a disturbing expose of internal strife, bickering and a lack of morale," "unprofessional" and "inexcusable."

"I can imagine nothing more disconcerting than having an on-duty deputy with a six gun on his side and a six pack in his belly," he said in his written judgment.

Coe's attorney, Roanoke-based Terry Grimes, said he thinks an appeal may follow the decision. "I strongly think he will appeal, but I haven't had a chance to talk to the family yet," he said.

Coe is serving a 17-year prison sentence.

by CNB