Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 22, 1995 TAG: 9503220046
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Short
Dean, 49, also entered what's known as an "Alford plea" to a second charge of embezzling more than $8,000 from the club. Both pleas were the result of a plea agreement.
Alford pleas are entered when defendants believe prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them and don't want to gamble with a sentence a jury may hand down.
Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith saw a jury trial as a gamble, too. The plea agreement guaranteed a finding of guilt in a case where a jury might have been swayed by the insanity defense Radford lawyer Dick Davis was planning, he said.
According to psychiatrists, Dean was in a deep depression and saw the fire as a way for the financially strapped country club to recoup losses.
After the hearing, Dean was led off to the Montgomery County Jail to begin serving 11/2 years of a seven-year sentence. The rest of the sentence is to be suspended and she will be on probation for four years. She also will have to pay back $745,548 to Travelers Insurance, which paid the country club's claim.
by CNB