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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 20, 1994                   TAG: 9404200117
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

MAN GUILTY OF ASSAULTING DEPUTY DURING MANHUNT

A Montgomery County man was found guilty Tuesday of assaulting a sheriff's deputy who was responding to a suspicious vehicle call during the February manhunt for fugitive Billy Joe Hampton.

Michael R. Dudley, 42, also was found guilty of attempting to obstruct justice by not cooperating during his arrest. Both charges are misdemeanors.

Deputy Jeff Spooner testified he went to Victoria Lane off Virginia 114 to investigate a call about a suspicious car that matched a description of the last car Hampton - a suspect in a Pulaski County beating and a West Virginia rape - was seen driving. Spooner testified that Dudley approached him, demanding to know what he was doing on his property, then struck him in the chest before Spooner could explain.

Dudley said he was unaware of the manhunt for Hampton and wanted to know why the patrol car was on his tree farm. Spooner was in uniform and in a patrol car, but Dudley said he wasn't satisfied with that identification. Dudley testified that when he asked Spooner who he was, the deputy responded with, "Who the hell are you?"

Spooner testified that Dudley greeted him that way.

Peggy Frank, assistant commonwealth's attorney, argued that Dudley never gave the deputy a chance to explain why he was on his property before assaulting him orally and physically. And, she said, Spooner's uniform, badge and patrol car should have provided enough clues that he was there on legitimate business.

Substitute Judge Robert Breimann Jr. told Dudley he found his story of not being sure Spooner was a deputy incredible.

Dudley appealed the two misdemeanor convictions and remains free on bond.

Breimann threw out a felony charge accusing Dudley of attempting to wound the deputy's trained police dog by grabbing at its collar.

The judge also dismissed a misdemeanor charge of destruction of property. Spooner testified a window of his patrol car was broken during the struggle with Dudley and not because of a separate direct attempt to smash it. Dudley said the window broke when he was thrown against the car.

by CNB