Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 3, 1995 TAG: 9502030063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Layne's attorney, Terry Grimes, presented oral arguments to the Court of Appeals last week on eight legal issues. The court agreed to hear further arguments on only one.
Layne is serving two life terms after being convicted of killing Phadra Carter, his 11-year-old stepniece, who disappeared from her Arnolds Valley home in Rockbridge County in September 1993. Her body was found in a shallow grave in Botetourt County.
The appeals court agreed Wednesday to entertain defense arguments on whether some testimony by the girl's mother should have been allowed at Layne's trial.
Cindy Layne, who is married to Billy Layne's brother, testified that Billy Layne told her that while in prison, a fellow inmate told him of a fantasy of abducting a young girl and raping her until she was pregnant and fell in love with him.
Prosecutors argued that the conversation was relevant because Layne discussed in the same conversation how pretty he thought Phadra was and how he had a fascination with young girls.
Defense attorneys argued against admitting the testimony because, they said, it was based on hearsay and because the fellow inmate's fantasy had no relevance to Layne's state of mind.
In order to reverse teh conviction, the Court of Appeals would have to find that Circuit Judge George E. Honts committed an error . The court also would have to determine that the error affected the outcome of the trial.
While prosecutors were asking for the death penalty in the case, a jury recommended two life terms. The trial was transferred to Winchester after Honts ruled that Layne could not receive a fair trial in Botetourt County because of pretrial publicity.
Memo: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.