Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 18, 1994 TAG: 9405180059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It was just after 10 p.m. when this routine stakeout was supplanted by an unrelated drive-by shooting and Hollywood-style chase that ended with four arrests and one shooting suspect's escaping - only to be killed, allegedly by his own drug-dealing buddies, once he returned to California.
Federal prosecutors have taken over the case from the state, touting it as a prime example of how the U.S. attorney's office in Roanoke is taking a hard line against violent crime.
Charges against the four suspects will be presented before a federal grand jury that begins meeting today in U.S District Court in Roanoke.
Here's what happened, according to interviews with state and federal authorities, as well as an affidavit filed by Harris, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms:
The officers were staked out, watching a heroin deal. They knew something else was up when a 1986 Ford Aerostar van with its headlights off turned onto Rose Street and stopped about 100 yards from them.
Moments later, high-caliber shots were sprayed at a nearby house. While other investigators continued to cover the heroin deal, Harris and Stokes approached the area of the shooting in their vice-unit car.
The van screeched away, barely missing the officers' car. And the chase was on.
The van headed for U.S. 29, where it was slowed by construction work. One of the suspects leaned out the window of the sliding door on the van and fired at least two shots at Stokes and Harris.
"It was just like something you would see on TV," said Jim Silvey, resident agent in charge of ATF's Roanoke office.
Neither the officers nor their car was hit, and the police stayed in pursuit as the van attempted to elude them by driving through the lane that was under construction.
The van then left U.S. 29 and stopped short of a roadblock on Kemper Street set up by uniformed officers. At Harris' order, three of the van's passengers - Marlon Smith, Anthony L. Tucker and Steve E. Rowland - got out of the van and lay down on the ground.
Rowland escaped, however, when Harris was distracted by Lorenzo Johnson, the van's driver, and Steve D. Flowers, the remaining passenger.
It was short-lived freedom. Rowland and his girlfriend were found dead this month in Los Angeles, allegedly killed by members of a drug gang.
"The guys he was working for were upset with the way he handled the situation in Lynchburg," Silvey said. "I guess that's a conviction he can't appeal."
A third man, who was believed to have witnessed Rowland's murder, also was killed. His house was firebombed, and police believe the same suspects were involved.
"These are the kind of people we're dealing with," Silvey said.
The suspects - Smith, 19, of Los Angeles; Flowers, 21, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Tucker, 18, of Madison Heights; and Johnson, 21, of Lynchburg - were arraigned this month.
Flowers and Smith were denied bond, and Tucker was unable to make the $40,000 bond set for him. Johnson was released after posting $30,000 bond.
Jarrette Nelson Davis lived in the house on Rose Street that was showered with bullets from an assault rifle.
Auithorities said that after the chase, Davis came to the Lynchburg police station and told officers the suspects were shooting at his home because he had robbed a street dealer who worked for the suspects of approximately $1,500.
A search of the van produced an assault rifle, a Jennings .22-caliber pistol, a Davis .32-caliber pistol and a loaded Jennings .38-caliber pistol.
About 7 grams of cocaine was found in the van. Smith had $5,913 in his pocket.
The suspects were arrested by Lynchburg police and first charged under a state statute with attempted capital murder for shooting at the officers.
Those charges were dropped, however, after Lynchburg prosecutors consulted with the U.S. attorney's office in Roanoke and realized that similar federal charges are easier to prove and carry a much stiffer sentence.
"The bigger hammer is at the federal level," U.S. Attorney Bob Crouch said.
If convicted in federal court, the four suspects each could face up to 60 years in prison - with no chance of parole - Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bondurant said.
Under the state statute, they would have been eligible for parole in less than 10 years, said Bill Petty, Lynchburg's commonwealth's attorney.
Another big reason for bringing federal charges, Crouch said, is that suspects can't be charged with shooting at a police officer under state law unless they realize they are shooting at an officer.
Because Harris and Stokes were undercover, it would have been a tough case to prove, Petty said.
Donald Caldwell, Roanoke's commonwealth's attorney, said that in most federal court cases the rules of evidence are much less restrictive than in state courts.
"There is almost no rule against hearsay in federal court," he said.
That fact, coupled with stiffer federal penalties, influences state prosecutors to transfer charges to the federal system, Caldwell said.
Charges commonly transferred often involve large-quantity drug cases or suspected drug dealers who have a history of violent crimes.
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno has placed an emphasis on stopping violent crime, so the U.S. attorney's office is more than happy to take cases like the drive-by shooting in Lynchburg, Crouch said.
Caldwell said he always has enjoyed a good relationship with federal authorities, but noted "that Washington very much dictates where their priorities should be."
After the banking scandals of the late '80s, federal prosecutors targeted white-collar crime, Caldwell said.
"For several years, nearly every white-collar crime we got" was transferred to the federal system, Caldwell said. "But that's not a priority anymore; the buzzword is violent crime."
by CNB