Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 22, 1994 TAG: 9410240058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK AND MICHAEL STOWE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
His relatives say Honaker was in Roanoke the night a Newport News woman was abducted from the Blue Ridge Parkway and taken to a remote cabin, where she was raped and sodomized.
Sheila Honaker complained that when her husband's brother was tried in Nelson County for the assault, court officials put the wrong date on subpoenas so his alibi witnesses missed the trial and could not testify. She said the family is considering a lawsuit.
"Nelson County treated us like trash, and now we plan to treat them like trash," she said.
However, several lawyers and law professors expressed doubts that the Honakers could recover any damages without a finding that police and prosecutors set out to maliciously convict a man they knew to be innocent.
The most Honaker might hope for is some financial compensation from the General Assembly, according to Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke, who is chairman of the claims committee that would first consider such a request.
Woodrum said a relief bill on Honaker's behalf could be introduced at next year's session. Woodrum could recall only one such measure being approved in recent years, and he could not remember the amount of compensation.
"I don't think that you can find adequate compensation for such a situation; you just have to make the best estimate you can," he said.
Honaker said he isn't certain if he will seek monetary damages. No amount of money could make up for the horrible experience, he said.
"You can't put a price tag on it. There is nothing that you can do to compensate me for the last 10 years of my life."
by CNB