Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 23, 1994 TAG: 9408230053
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
Barbara Jo Archie, 28, claims in a writ of habeas corpus that her attorney, Ed Jasie of Blacksburg, was ineffective in adopting a temporary insanity defense without investigating other possible defenses.
But Virginia B. Theisen, the assistant attorney general now handling the case, believes Archie's claims are without merit. She argues in a motion filed in Giles County Circuit Court that the petition should be dismissed. A Circuit Court judge will hear arguments on that motion Sept. 27.
Archie has already been denied appeals by the Virginia Court of Appeals and the Virginia Supreme Court. Habeas corpus petitions generally deal more with alleged procedural errors rather than the strength of the evidence.
Archie was convicted in 1990 of murdering Audra Kinder. The child died Feb. 5, 1989, a day after she was taken to the hospital with severe head injuries. Archie at first said the child was hurt after she fell off a chair.
Jasie had tried to convince a jury that Archie was legally insane the morning of Feb. 4 when Audra's skull and arms were fractured and her stomach was either kicked or punched.
A videotape which the jury was not allowed to see showed Archie during a session with her psychiatrist where she said she hurt Audra because she temporarily thought the child was Audra's mother, whom she suspected of hurting the child.
Archie was living with Audra and her father.
The writ, filed by Richmond lawyer Michael Morchower, also claims that Jasie - who died in 1991- failed to investigate and present character witnesses that would have testified on Archie's behalf.
Theisen, however, wrote in her motion to dismiss that Jasie's files indicate a tremendous amount of correspondence with law enforcement and social services officials as he prepared for trial, along with the use of a private investigator.
"It is apparent, contrary to Archie's accusations, that Mr. Jasie did investigate many avenues of defense and did not blindly choose to pursue a temporary insanity defense. ... Jasie pursued a course of strategy which would remove legal responsibility from Archie for the injuries to the child. Clearly, such a trial tactic was eminently reasonable," Theisen states in her motion.
Theisen refers the court to a July 4, 1990, letter Archie wrote Jasie in which she expresses satisfaction with his representation.
Archie claims a character witness could have helped her case by telling the jury her opinion about who would have been more likely to abuse Audra and statements she may have heard the child's mother make about Audra being abused by others. But Theisen said the woman wouldn't have been allowed to give opinion or hearsay testimony.
Archie, who is being held in the state Correctional Center for Women in Goochland, is not eligible for parole until 2003.
by CNB