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

DATE: SATURDAY, January 1, 1994                   TAG: 9401010051
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MURDER DEFENDANT DIES AT AGE 82

Ned Madison of Highland County, a quiet man who kept to himself for most of his life before going on trial for murder last year, died Monday.

Madison, 82, died in the Springs Nursing Home in Bath County.

Madison was charged with the killing of Mike Sweeney of Boones Mill in October of 1992. According to authorities, Madison told them he shot Sweeney, 35, in self-defense after the younger man came to the farmhouse where Madison was staying and threatened to harm him.

"There's a man lying out in the yard," Madison told police when they arrived at the scene. "I shot him."

Sweeney was married to the granddaughter of Glenna Curry, an 85-year-old woman who allowed Madison to stay and work on her farm for more than 50 years. Madison, who also worked for a number of years with the C&O Railway, was a World War II veteran who received a bronze star for his service during the battle of Guadalcanal.

Madison's court trail started July 27, but a circuit court judge declared a mistrial after a prosecution witness presented evidence of a prior criminal conviction of Madison - inadmissible in the case according to state law.

by CNB