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

DATE: TUESDAY, May 3, 1994                   TAG: 9405030117
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

WOMAN DROPS CHARGES AGAINST HUSBAND

The woman refused to testify against her estranged husband and said she was not sure there was a gun.

Thomas Harry McGuire Sr., 44, of Winesap Road in the Walton community, was charged March 19 with the attempted murder of Linda L. McGuire; writing letters containing threats to kill; a charge of assault and battery; and possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony.

Ten weapons, including handguns, rifles, a shotgun and an illegal sawed-off shotgun, were confiscated from his home when a search warrant was executed days after his arrest.

According to a search warrant filed at the Montgomery County Courthouse, McGuire went to Linda Lou McGuire's home off Virginia 114 on March 18, "grabbed Ms. McGuire by her hair, dragged her outside to the porch, sat on her throat and put a handgun to her head and stated he was going to kill her."

A search warrant said that Linda McGuire said she was able to place her hand into the trigger guard to keep the handgun from being fired.

At an April 11 bond hearing, Bob Viar, assistant commonwealth's attorney, told Judge James P. Brice that Linda McGuire said the facts were not consistent with information in the search warrant and her statement and she said she does not remember seeing a weapon.

"I want to drop them. I'm not afraid of my husband," Linda McGuire told Brice as he looked for assurances she knew what she was asking for.

Brice did not drop the charges at the bond hearing. He set a $20,000 bond for McGuire, and told the woman he thought she was "under some intimidation."

McGuire's children and a neighbor, who saw the attack, called police, a deputy said.

Peggy Frank, assistant commonwealth's attorney, said that without Linda McGuire's testimony, there wasn't much of a case to proceed with last Thursday when the matter came up for a hearing in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

"After what she said, I asked that they be nolle prossed," Frank said. That means the charges could be brought up again, for example, by taking the case to a grand jury to consider for direct indictment.

Although McGuire is a convicted felon, the charge of possessing a gun could not stand because it was related to what took place at Linda McGuire's home, Frank said. McGuire was convicted of grand larceny in 1972.

Frank said the possession charge was not related to the nine other weapons that were confiscated at the home where McGuire lives. Linda McGuire's name is on the deed, and there could be a case made that the guns belong to her.

Linda McGuire or someone else would have to prove ownership if they asked to have the guns returned, Frank said. No one is claiming ownership of the sawed-off shotgun, which is a felony.