Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 25, 1995 TAG: 9504250114
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused, without comment, to hear the appeals of Virginia death row inmates Dwayne A. Wright and Bobby Lee Ramdass.
Wright was convicted of the October 1989 murder, attempted rape and robbery of Saba Teckle, 33, in an Annandale apartment building. Teckle was shot in the back of the neck.
Wright was 17 at the time of the crime but was tried as an adult.
Ramdass was convicted of killing Mohammad Kayani during the robbery of a Fairfax County convenience store in September 1992. Ramdass shot Kayani, the store clerk, after ordering him to open a safe. Meanwhile, accomplices robbed customers of their wallets.
- Associated Press
Shooting victim found in tunnel
PORTSMOUTH - A man was found shot to death Monday in a car in the tunnel linking Portsmouth and Norfolk, and police were looking for two men who jumped out of the car and fled.
Several witnesses told authorities they saw a vehicle stopped in the middle of the tunnel about 5:40 p.m. with the driver's side door open at a 45-degree angle. A man, apparently shot inside the vehicle, was half out of the car, state police spokeswoman Tammy Van Dame said.
State police have a videotape of the incident, she said. The Virginia Department of Transportation videotapes the tunnel to help monitor traffic, Van Dame said.
- Associated Press
$1 collect calls end at prison
CAPRON - Families of inmates at a Southampton County prison were surprised by drastically increased phone bills after a long-distance carrier adjusted the rate it had been charging for collect calls.
MCI had been charging only $1 for collect calls made from Deerfield Correctional Center because the company failed to properly adjust its billing equipment.
After the rates were changed, Renie Burch of Danville was hit with a $1,300 bill for a month's worth of collect calls from her imprisoned husband, Herman Burch.
``I've been accepting the collect calls based on the $1 a call. They just sprung this on us,'' said Burch, whose husband was transferred to Deerfield last fall. ``I don't think it's fair. If I had known that, I'd have cut the calls to one a week.''
Burch was calling his wife as often as 10 times a day. Because the prison phones cut off automatically after 15 minutes, prisoners sometimes talk for 15 minutes, get cut off, and call again. The cost for some 15-minute calls jumped to $7.
The phones for prisoners are maintained by MCI, which had set the billing equipment to charge $1 for calls out of the prison, said Blair Crump, director of state government and university systems for MCI Business Markets.
``It's an unfortunate event and our mistake,'' he said.
- Associated Press
County restricts wolf-dog hybrids
MANASSAS - Prince William County authorities are sending letters to residents who own wolf-dog hybrids informing them they must either give up their pets or face misdemeanor charges.
``The hybrid is a wild animal, and it has wild instincts,'' said Gary Sprifke, the animal control administrator who is sending the letters. ``Hybrids play by an entirely different set of rules than dogs. That's what causes problems.''
Jared Florance, the county Health Department director, said three hybrid attacks have been reported in the county since February.
- Associated Press
Elderly woman found dead at home
DAYTON - A 75-year-old woman was found slain inside her Shenandoah Valley home Sunday, police said.
Relatives who stopped by Mary C. Miller's house about noon to pick her up for a Sunday dinner found her body under a bed.
Authorities did not release a cause or a time of death, but said they were investigating the case as a homicide.
Rockingham County Sheriff Glenn Weatherholtz said robbery was apparently not a motive, because money was left behind.
- Associated Press
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB