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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 23, 1994                   TAG: 9404250165
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HARRISONBURG                                LENGTH: Short

FATHER WANTS TO REPRESENT DAUGHTER IN COURT

The father of Stephanie Fries, a 12-year-old accused of murdering her mother, said he is dissatisfied with his daughter's legal defense and wants to take the case himself.

But Donna Alt said Friday that Rockingham County Circuit Judge Dennis Hupp told her she will be Stephanie's attorney when the trial begins Monday.

``He would not excuse me from the case even if I made a motion to withdraw,'' she said.

Camellia Fries, 14, and Shawn Roadcap, 15, were found guilty of first-degree murder last week in the stabbing death of Marilyn Fries, 35. They and Stephanie were found guilty of murder by a juvenile judge, and all three appealed their convictions to the Circuit Court.

Prosecutors claim that Camellia plotted her mother's death in September because she hated her mother's rules and resented Marilyn Fries' plan to send the girls to military school. They contend that she enlisted the help of Stephanie and Roadcap, Stephanie's boyfriend.

Alt, who was hired by Daryl Fries in September to defend Stephanie, said she believes the girl still wants her services in the trial.

But Fries said that because of disagreements over how the case should be handled, neither he nor his daughter wants Alt to represent Stephanie.

by CNB