Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 12, 1995 TAG: 9501120076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But one week after he was finally paroled, Johnson, who is from Craig County, was charged Tuesday with killing a Hampton woman who took him into her home and tried to help him.
Hampton police say they are looking for Lee, 32, in connection with the bludgeoning death of Fran Smith.
The Newport News Daily Press reported Wednesday that Smith had been Lee's pen pal while he was in prison, and that she agreed to let him stay at her home at the Sinclair Garden apartments in Hampton.
Smith, 55, had never met Johnson before picking him up Jan. 4 at the Hampton bus station, where he had just arrived after being paroled.
A maintenance worker found Smith's battered and bloody body on the floor of her living room Tuesday afternoon. Police believe that Lee fled in Smith's car.
In 1990, Roanoke Circuit Judge Roy Willett sentenced Lee to eight years in prison for obtaining merchandise by false pretenses, uttering and attempted uttering - that is, presenting a forged document to receive money illegally.
In a letter written the following year, Lee complained to Willett that he had not been receiving adequate drug and alcohol treatment or counseling while at the Keen Mountain Correctional Center in Buchanan County. He also asked the judge to reconsider his sentence.
"I am certain that the court will see that I am, have been and want to be a productive member of society and a respected citizen," Lee wrote in a letter filed in Roanoke Circuit Court.
In 1992, Lee sent Willett a bizarre, handwritten document that he labeled a "Contract/Promissary Note." It started with a sworn statement by Lee that - if released on parole - he would "provide the state of Virginia with a way ... in which to reduce the rate of recidivism, as opposed to what it is as of this date."
Lee went on to offer other cures to statewide problems - such as unemployment, drug abuse and homelessness - in exchange for his freedom. The only condition, he wrote, was that he be allowed to meet with city and state government officials to discuss the implementation of his plan.
A notation in court records shows that Lee's document was filed and that no other action was taken. Lee was subsequently denied parole until he came up for mandatory release Jan. 4.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB