Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 16, 1994 TAG: 9402160142
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In October, a judge said he had had enough of Dunford's habitual loitering, panhandling and public drunkenness. General District Judge Richard Pattisall sentenced Dunford to a maximum of two years in jail for parking his wheelchair at the door of a downtown restaurant and asking patrons for money.
Dunford, 61, appealed to Roanoke Circuit Court, hoping for a lighter sentence. He got one Tuesday, under a plea agreement that set his punishment at six months in jail for two counts of trespassing.
Because jail inmates generally are released after serving half their terms, Dunford has already pulled most of his sentence waiting for his appeal.
In offering a plea agreement, prosecutors said it was unlikely that Dunford would have received a maximum sentence in Circuit Court, where he is not as well-known by judges as he is in General District Court.
Also, Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell said, "we would like to use incarceration as the last resort" for nonviolent offenders such as Dunford.
The plea agreement includes an 18-month suspended sentence that could be imposed if Dunford gets in any more trouble.
In court Tuesday, Dunford asked if that would include "any sort" of trouble - for example, a misdemeanor charge of being drunk in public. Because public inebriates are held in jail for several hours and then released, the offense most likely would not lead to additional jail time.
Dunford, a downtown fixture known for his wheelchair and disheveled appearance, is a member of a group of street transients that authorities say is one reason Roanoke leads the state in the number of drunk-in-public arrests.
In 1992 alone, Dunford was arrested more than 50 times on charges of public drunkenness, trespassing and panhandling.
by CNB