Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 25, 1994 TAG: 9408250100
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I think all these faggots should burn," a police officer heard Bailey say.
After hearing a summary of the evidence Wednesday in Roanoke Circuit Court, Judge G.O. Clemens convicted Bailey of arson and sentenced him to 21/2 years in prison for what the victim described as a hate crime.
"Whether you're gay or straight or bisexual, I don't understand why someone has to burn your house down," said Jamie Stone, whose Chapman Avenue Southwest home was set on fire three times the night of May 12.
"People are people, whatever they are."
Stone, a Boones Mill native who said he was a professional performer and singer in Los Angeles before recently returning to Roanoke, said he and other tenants in the home did nothing to provoke the attack by Bailey, who lived next door.
Stone and some other residents were home the night of the fires.
"We don't bother people; we just live here," he said.
Stone said Bailey, 26, should have received more time, given the seriousness of the crime and the fact that the only apparent motivation was Bailey's intolerance of Stone's sexual orientation.
"I'm sick about it; I'm totally devastated," Stone said.
Bailey had been charged with two counts of arson, but one charge was dropped Wednesday after a prosecution witness failed to show up for court, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom said.
A series of fires at the house kept firefighters and police busy the the night of May 12. After putting out one fire that was set outside the house, firefighters returned a second time to douse a fire in the laundry room, and then were called back again when the first fire flared back up.
"It was a madhouse, and there were a number of suspects at one point," Branscom said.
While police and firefighters were still at the scene of the third call, flames burst from the attic windows.
At that point, Branscom said, a police officer saw Bailey walking down the front porch steps and heard him say, "I think all these faggots should burn."
Bailey denied setting the fires in a statement to police, but pleaded no contest to the arson charge Wednesday. The fires caused about $20,000 of damage to the home, and Stone said he still is making repairs.
Sam Garrison, a Roanoke attorney and spokesman for the Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Organizations, said the incident sounded like one of the more aggravated acts of violence against homosexuals to be reported in Roanoke.
But, he said, "in every month, there are dozens of assaults and disorders that appear to be hate crimes of this sort."
Although Roanoke generally is considered more tolerant of alternative lifestyles than other areas in Southwest Virginia, an increase in the gay population's numbers and openness has led to increased reports of hate crimes.
"There are thousands and thousands of gay and lesbian people who live here, and they are moving here all the time from the rural areas," Garrison said. "So there are still going to be a number of these incidents."
by CNB