Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 15, 1994 TAG: 9410170040
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Marcus D. Williamson, 22 of Christiansburg, had been released from the Montgomery County Jail last November after the shoplifting charge was dismissed in General District Court on a technicality.
Hours later, he led police on a high-speed chase through Montgomery and Roanoke counties after stealing the cab he had been a passenger in.
The shoplifting charge - accusing Williamson of stealing two drill-bit sets from Wal-Mart last October - was later taken up by a grand jury, which returned an indictment.
Friday, Williamson pleaded guilty to that charge and was given a three-year prison sentence which will run concurrent with prison time he already is serving in connection with the taxi theft.
A Montgomery County Circuit Court jury found him guilty last month of stealing the taxi, brandishing a firearm and unlawful wounding an acquaintance who had given him a ride. The acquaintance was treated and released for a gunshot wound to his side.
He also was found guilty of the attempted malicious wounding of Officer Terry L Griffith, who tried to stop Williamson when the taxi crested Christiansburg Mountain on Roanoke Street.
Griffith's patrol car was hit twice as he created a moving roadblock in front of the taxi driven by Williamson.
Griffith is the Christiansburg police officer who was shot and killed Sept. 18 while trying to arrest a suspected shoplifter near Hills department store on Roanoke Street.
Williamson was on parole on cocaine possession and distribution charges when the shoplifting and taxi-theft incidents happened. He received an eight-year sentence in February 1993 after pleading guilty to the drug charges, with five years suspended. He was released on discretionary parole after serving less than four months of the three years. Williamson had received credit for the several months he spent in jail awaiting trial.
A revocation hearing will be held Tuesday to determine whether he should have to serve the remaining five years of his drug sentence.
by CNB