Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 28, 1995 TAG: 9504280059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANN DONAHUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
James Wesley Campbell, 38, is charged with attempted rape, sodomy, breaking and entering and theft.
The woman told a Roanoke County Circuit Court jury graphic details of the attack, which is alleged to have occurred on Labor Day weekend in 1994. The woman was a resident of Southwest Roanoke County at the time, but has since moved to Richmond.
In her opening statement, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Susan Cohen said Campbell had become infatuated with the woman when he met her in August 1993.
Campbell's attorney, Lance Hale, said Campbell considered the woman to be a "girlfriend," and insisted his client was innocent of the charges.
In her opening statement, Cohen said that Campbell repeatedly entered the woman's home and car without her knowledge and took personal items, including photographs, personal notes, and journals.
The woman wept on the witness stand as she described the attack.
"I saw this person standing over me with this mask on," she said.
Although the woman could not recognize the assailant by sight, she testified that she recognized the voice as Campbell's.
She said the attacker told her was that she was "under arrest," then he handcuffed her.
"He was talking through the whole time," the woman testified, including about her family and her past.
The woman testified that the assailant wore gloves, but at one point removed them.
She said she caught a glimpse of a hand and knew it was Campbell's because he had dirty fingernails, a trait she had previously noted. No fingerprints of Campbell's were found anywhere in the house.
Testimony will continue today with cross-examination of the woman by Campbell's attorneys.
by CNB