
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 4, 1995                   TAG: 9502060046
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ROANOKE BROTHER-SLAYING CASE GOES TO GRAND JURY

After hearing a statement that Victor R. Basham had made to police, a Roanoke judge determined Friday there was probable cause to support a charge that Basham had stabbed his older brother to death.

The case will go to a grand jury that meets in March, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Wanda DeWease said.

Basham, 25, is charged with the first-degree murder of Kenneth Allen Basham, 34, early Jan. 14. Kenneth Basham was found lying on the ground in the 700 block of 30th Street Northwest with seven stab wounds to his chest and abdomen.

Victor Basham was found standing over his brother, police said; he later told authorities he had stabbed Kenneth Basham with a butcher knife that was found nearby.

A statement read by Detective R.W. Thompson at a preliminary hearing Friday in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court said the deadly argument was preceded by a night of drinking and arguing between the brothers.

A clear reason for the dispute was not provided in the statement, although Basham said he and his brother had been arguing earlier about a woman.

The argument continued as they drove home from a nightspot, and by 2:30 a.m. it had escalated into a scuffle.

Basham told police his older brother hit him, dropped into a karate stance, then lunged toward him. Thompson said Basham told him, "That's when I just started stabbing."

Assistant Public Defender Jackie Talevi had asked Judge John Ferguson to dismiss the charge, arguing that prosecutors had failed to show that the killing was premeditated.

Keywords:
ROMUR

by CNB