ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 19, 1994                   TAG: 9401190034
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

WYTHE MAN GETS LIFE FOR STABBING COUSIN TO DEATH

A judge imposed a life sentence Monday on a 32-year-old Wythe County man convicted of first-degree murder last year in the stabbing death of his cousin.

A jury returned a verdict Nov. 17 against Leon Dean Gravely for killing Christopher Lee Akers, 21, on April 29.

Gravely had told authorities that Akers' death was an accident. Sheriff Wayne Pike testified that Gravely claimed that Akers fell on the knife while the two were fighting in a mobile home they shared with Akers' girlfriend.

Circuit Judge Willis Woods said Monday he saw no reason to change the jury's sentence. 


 by CNB