Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 20, 1994 TAG: 9408220083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FINCASTLE LENGTH: Medium
Questioning by attorney John H. Kennett Jr. may be a preview to how he plans to attack charges against Luther Brown Jr.
Kennett pointed out to General District Judge Louis Campbell that Brown had no insurance and nothing to gain from burning a house he had purchased from Bertie Wheeler. Kennett said Wheeler was the only one who had insurance on the house.
Wheeler said she foreclosed on the property in June after Brown failed to make house payments. A fire that started in the basement charred a portion of the house on June 8, more than a week after Brown had reported to the sheriff's office that someone attempted to burn the house by dousing it with kerosene.
Despite Kennett's pleadings that insufficient evidence existed to certify arson charges against Brown to the grand jury, Campbell didn't buy the argument.
He said the prosecution's evidence was more than enough to support its burden to prove that Brown likely committed the crime.
Sheriff's investigator K.K. Parker testified that Brown told authorities he had changed locks to doors of the house, had locked them that night and had chained shut the only door to which the the lock had not been changed.
Parker said Brown told him that he has had disagreements with Wheeler ever since he agreed to buy the house in September 1993.
Brown contends that the house was in disrepair and some furniture he purchased was missing.
When investigators arrived on the night of the fire, pools of kerosene were in the basement. Firefighters said the kerosene was so thick that it extinguished the blaze before they got there.
Brown said he was asleep in his room at the time the fire started and had to jump out of a window in order to escape. He was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital to be treated for scrapes on his arm and smoke inhalation.
Investigators dispute his story by saying the area of the window showed no appearance of someone having scrambled out on the night of the fire.
In a lawsuit filed against Wheeler last month, Brown contends that a private investigator he hired was prohibited from entering the house after Brown was charged.
The lawsuit alleges that sheriff's deputies threatened to arrest the investigator if he set foot on the property.
Kennett said authorities contended that the house was a working crime scene until they turned the property over to Wheeler, who refused to give Brown or his investigator a right of entry.
As a result of the suit, Circuit Judge George E. Honts III appointed Fincastle attorney Harold Eads to chaperone Brown and his investigator onto the property.
Eads met with Brown, Kennett and Wheeler after the preliminary hearing and agreed to allow an inspection.
by CNB