Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 26, 1995 TAG: 9501260102
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
That's what Buchanan's lawyers, brothers Jimmy and Bobby Turk of Radford, told potential jurors Wednesday in Giles County Circuit Court.
Buchanan, 49, is charged with capital murder. Mickey Newberry, Bland County commonwealth's attorney, will ask the jury to impose the death penalty if it finds him guilty.
Waddle's body was found in her burning mobile home, where she lived alone in the Waddletown community off Virginia 617. Authorities at first thought her death was an accident, but an autopsy showed she had been killed by a knife wound to the throat, not the fire.
A Bland County jury sentenced Buchanan's brother, William James Buchanan, 59, to two life terms in September after convicting him of first-degree murder and robbery. An arson charge was dismissed by Judge Dow Owens because of insufficient evidence.
The Buchanan brothers, from Bluefield, W.Va., were charged days after Waddle's body was found. Police said robbery appeared to be the motive for the slaying and said items from the woman's home were found in the brothers' possession.
``We are going to put on proof that Fred Buchanan did not commit any of these crimes,'' Jimmy Turk said. ``... The defendant will tell you that his brother did it, and we intend to prove that to you.''
The capital murder trial was moved to Giles County because of concerns that pretrial publicity would make it difficult to seat an impartial jury in Bland County.
The trial may take as long as five days, lawyers warned the potential jurors as they were interviewed in pairs.
Once 20 potential jurors have been accepted, the lawyers will select 12 to hear the case.
Fred Buchanan sat quietly through questioning of the first two jurors until Jimmy Turk mentioned that his client was retarded. Buchanan became agitated, insisting he was not retarded. His lawyers tried to soothe him, telling him his time to speak would come later.
``We will not be relying on that as an excuse,'' Turk said of his client's mental condition, but asked potential jury members to take that into consideration as they hear and eventually deliberate the case.
Buchanan has been in jail since his arrest.
This is the first time the Turk brothers have worked together to represent a client in a jury trial. Newberry is being assisted by Mike Doucette, an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Lynchburg.
by CNB