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

DATE: THURSDAY, January 6, 1994                   TAG: 9401060130
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JUDGE REDUCES HORN-BLOWER'S SENTENCE

Eddie W. Dooley was convicted in December in a case that was unusual in two respects:

DUI defendants rarely receive the maximum punishment, especially under the set of circumstances the jury heard.

Testimony during Dooley's trial in Roanoke Circuit Court showed that all he did was rev the engine of a semi-trailer tractor, blow the horn and flash the headlights.

There was no clear evidence that the tractor ever left the backyard of the Northeast Roanoke home where it was parked.

But prosecutors argued that Dooley was nonetheless guilty of operating the vehicle while under the influence, even if it never moved an inch. That argument is based on a Virginia Supreme Court decision that upheld the DUI conviction of a man found asleep in the driver's seat of a car that was parked with the engine running.

Defense attorney John Alexander asked Wednesday that Dooley's conviction be thrown out.

Although Judge Diane Strickland refused to do that, she did agree to reduce Dooley's sentence, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Gerald Teaster.

Strickland voiced concerns that a videotape taken by police, which showed Dooley irate and cursing shortly after his arrest, may have inflamed the jury.

Even though it was Dooley's second DUI conviction, his reduced sentence is still far more than the mandatory two-day minimum required by law in such cases.

Witnesses testified that a quiet night on Carvin Street was disrupted July 24 by someone revving the engine of a truck, blowing the horn and flashing the headlights.

All the commotion suddenly stopped when a police officer arrived at the scene. Seconds later, the officer found Dooley lying in the rig's sleeping compartment.

Dooley, 49, told police he had been sleeping there all night, and denied making the noise - or the tire tracks found in the backyard.

Although judges have the final word in sentencing someone tried by a jury, they rarely reduce the jury's recommended sentence by a significant amount.