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

DATE: SUNDAY, February 26, 1995                   TAG: 9502270071
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

GOP FEW OPPOSE KOONTZ NOMINATION

Lawrence L. Koontz Jr. was elected on a unanimous vote in the Senate and by a vote of 69-16 in the House of Delegates.

Some House Republicans opposed Koontz because of what they perceive as leniency on criminal appeals.

In particular, Republicans cite a Fairfax County case in which Caleb Daniel Hughes was convicted of abduction with intent to defile a 5-year-old girl whose body was never found.

The appeals court upheld the conviction last year, but Koontz was one of two jurists who voted to overturn the conviction on grounds that prosecutors had failed to prove a motive for the abduction.

The dissent read in part: ``The evidence does not, in my opinion, support an inference that the defendant abducted the child with the specific intent to sexually molest her. The facts that the defendant abducted the child and that she has not been found do not mean that the defendant did so intending to molest her.''

Koontz could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas, sought to speak against Koontz's nomination Saturday, but he was ruled out of order by House Speaker Thomas Moss of Norfolk.

Later, Marshall said he was upset with a system in which the Democratic caucus picks judges behind closed doors and public debate is squelched.

``The fact that we're not allowed to debate a nominee to the Supreme Court is difficult to comprehend,'' he said.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995

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