Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 21, 1995 TAG: 9504210094
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood said the attorney general's office informed him it will appeal the latest decision of a three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals.
The full nine-judge appeals court will be asked to review the decision, Hapgood said.
On Tuesday, the three-judge panel upheld its October ruling that a Franklin County judge erred in refusing to strike a potential juror for DeHart's 1992 trial.
During jury selection, the woman expressed some doubt when asked by defense attorneys if she could base her decision on the evidence presented rather than what she had read about the case in the newspapers.
The woman was accepted into the required pool of 20 possible jurors, but was struck from that pool by prosectors using the first of four disqualifications given to each side in a jury trial.
The panel ruled that DeHart's rights were violated because there was not a pool of 20 impartial jurors.
In February, the panel granted a rehearing on one issue only: whether the strike used by prosecutors to eliminate the woman from consideration rendered the error harmless.
The attorney general's office had asked for the full nine-judge court to rehear the case, but that request wasn't granted, said Thomas Blaylock, DeHart's Roanoke attorney.
Hapgood said he believes the full court's decision to pass the case back to the three-judge panel for a rehearing was based on the single issue. He said the full court may review the case now that the ruling has been upheld.
DeHart was convicted of the murder of 81-year-old Effie Rakes.
The widow was found shot to death on the floor of her remote Shooting Creek home in June 1991. She had raised nine children and still was taking care of an invalid daughter when she was murdered.
The jury that convicted DeHart heard prosecutors recount that Rakes had caught her killer trying to molest her daughter, then 55 years old and unable to talk.
DeHart, of Endicott, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for second-degree murder and two related charges.
According to the state's parole system in place at the time of his conviction, DeHart could be eligible for parole in two to three years, prosecutors said. If he is retried, DeHart cannot be given more prison time.
by CNB