Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 24, 1993 TAG: 9311240088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Kevin Wade Payne, 35, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter during a hearing in Roanoke County Circuit Court.
He will be sentenced later, and will receive no more than a year in a jail under a plea agreement, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Bill Broadhurst.
Payne had faced up to 10 years in prison for the death of Ralph Walters of Roanoke County, but the boy's family supported the agreement.
"It was the family's decision to have some finality to this," Broadhurst said.
"They were not out for vengeance or retribution, but they wanted the defendant to realize the choice he made cost the life of someone very dear to them," he said.
After surrendering his commercial and regular driver's licenses to Judge Kenneth Trabue, Payne was allowed to remain free until a Jan. 20 sentencing hearing.
Broadhurst gave the following summary of the case:
At 8:30 a.m. on July 29, Ralph Walters was being driven to a day care center by his father, the Rev. Joseph Walters of Catawba Valley Baptist Church.
Payne, who was driving a dump truck loaded with 55,000 pounds of sand, began to follow closely behind Walters' car in a no-passing zone of Virginia 311 near Catawba.
Broadhurst said Payne tailgated the car for miles, blew the truck's horn and flashed its lights "in what other witnesses perceived to be an effort to intimidate them down the mountain."
When Walters slowed for a turning car in front of him, Payne's truck ran into the back of the compact car.
The impact knocked the car into the path of another dump truck approaching from the opposite direction. Ralph Walters died of head injuries and his father was seriously injured.
Payne, of Bandy Road, had no prior traffic record and was not intoxicated or speeding - the usual elements used to show negligence in an automobile manslaughter case.
Because of potential legal questions raised by the case, Broadhurst said, the family was satisfied with Payne's guilty plea because it spared them the uncertainty of a lengthy trial and appeal.
Payne did not testify Tuesday, but defense attorney Mark Kidd said his client has accepted responsibility for the accident.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB