Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 18, 1994 TAG: 9410180135
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER NOTE: above
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Clutching a tissue in one hand and adjusting her plum-colored suit jacket with the other, a frail witness told a Roanoke County judge that federal prison inmate Frank E. Pennington Jr. admitted killing Bonnie Sue Mullins three years ago.
Karen Warner, who said she was Pennington's former lover, testified Monday that he returned to her Bedford home the morning after Mullins was killed. Pennington told Warner he shot the Roanoke County woman in the face because she was bilking him out of $22,000, Warner said.
Police had questioned Warner, who is HIV-positive and dying, several times since the fatal shooting on April 14, 1991, but she repeatedly denied any knowledge of the crime. The witness, who had moved to Myrtle Beach, S.C., returned to the Roanoke Valley in May to visit her mother and gave her revised statement to authorities then.
"I was scared for my family," Warner explained Monday from a hospital gurney. "He swept me off my feet, but then he turned mean. He was knocking me about and all. I lied to the police because I was afraid."
The dramatic pretrial testimony from the prosecution's key witness bolstered the case against Pennington, 55, a former Vinton resident who is serving a 90-month federal drug sentence. Pennington was convicted in Roanoke federal court of conspiracy to possess marijuana and cocaine with the intent to distribute it. He is scheduled to be released Feb. 1, 1998.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Leach said Pennington had been arrested shortly after Mullins' slaying on a charge of threatening the 35-year-old Mount Pleasant woman, but was released because of insufficient evidence. Leach declined to comment on why Mullins owed Pennington money.
The participants' backgrounds and testimony in Monday's preliminary hearing suggest the murder case will center on drugs, debts and deception. Mullins, who was indicted on drug and gun charges in New Jersey, has been described as a drug dealer-turned-informant. Warner admitted that she used marijuana at the time of the killing. And Mullins' husband, Jack, testified Monday that he discovered his wife's body after returning from an apartment she rented on Stewart Avenue in Southeast Roanoke, where he was preparing packets of marijuana for distribution.
During the pretrial testimony, Pennington's attorney, John Lichtenstein, ascertained that Jack Mullins stashed the packets of pot in a nearby bush before seeking help for his wife, who lay bleeding in the house's front hallway.
Lichtenstein also questioned the victim's husband about an argument he had with his wife a few days prior to the shooting. During the dispute, one of many in the Mullins' rocky marriage, Jack Mullins confronted his wife about extramarital affairs and told her he was "going to blow her brains out," Lichtenstein said, reading from court documents. Mullins acknowledged that he was angry, but denied making that statement.
In his final remarks, Lichtenstein cast doubt on both Warner's and Jack Mullins' credibility and said, "There is no other witness to tie this man to the scene, to the act."
The judge certified the case to a grand jury to consider in December.
Keywords:
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by CNB