Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 22, 1994 TAG: 9410240060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
RICHMOND - A Virginia Supreme Court ruling on whether a lesbian deserves custody of her son would clear up confusion about the state's child-custody laws, a lawyer told the justices Friday.
``We need to know. The judges in this state need to know,'' said Richard Ryder, who represents the 3-year-old boy's grandmother in her effort to keep custody.
Ryder asked the court to review a state Court of Appeals ruling that granted custody to the boy's mother, Sharon Bottoms.
If the justices take the appeal, arguments would not be held for months. Bottoms has been fighting with her mother, Kay Bottoms, over custody of Tyler Doustou. The boy's father is not involved in the case.
The child remains with his grandmother while the appeal is pending. A court order allows Sharon Bottoms to visit her son two days a week.
- Associated Press
Police: Igniting teen not a copycat crime
RICHMOND - A 12-year-old boy charged with splashing gasoline on a Chesterfield County teen-ager and setting him on fire was not motivated by a similar assault in a nearby city last month, police said.
The boy allegedly poured gasoline on the pants of a 13-year-old and ignited him Sunday. The victim was treated for second- and third-degree burns by a family doctor and did not require hospitalization. His alleged assailant was released into the custody of his parents. No trial date has been set.
Chesterfield police Sgt. Cliff Brady said there is no indication that the attack was a copycat of last month's burning of a 3-year-old boy by two neighborhood children in nearby Hopewell.
- Associated Press
Officers charged in beating of inmates
EMPORIA - Three guards at the Greensville Correctional Center have been indicted on charges of beating two handcuffed and shackled inmates last year. Another guard faces a similar charge from June of this year.
Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore said there are also allegations that Greensville guards have used inmates to beat other prisoners, but he declined to be more specific.
Officers Alphonso Smith, 30; Larry Bynum Jr., 25; Sgt. Benjamin Williams, 34; and Officer Dennis Price, 26, appeared in Greensville County Circuit Court on Thursday.
- Associated Press
by CNB