Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 1, 1994 TAG: 9409010073
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Short
Zelenak, who received life plus two years in prison for her participation in the June 1992 robbery and murder of Lorna Raines Crockett, had pleaded not guilty to charges she assisted two others in the attempted robbery of Stuart Arbuckle, then a Blacksburg pizza shop manager who was accosted as he made a night deposit at a South Main Street bank.
But a jury convicted her and sentenced her to 14 years in prison.
The Court of Appeals initially refused to consider her petition for appeal because it was received a day past the filing deadline. The petition was sent first class mail and postmarked on its due date, but the court didn't receive it until past the deadline. Had it been sent certified mail, it would have been considered filed the day it was mailed.
The Virginia Supreme Court granted her a limited right to file her petition of appeal again.
"Basically they turned the clock back to the day she was sentenced," Joe Painter, her trial lawyer, said.
Fred Kellerman, a Blacksburg lawyer, was appointed to represent Zelenak in her appeal.
by CNB