Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 4, 1995 TAG: 9505040086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Anderson, 19, is accused of arson and attempted murder in connection with a fire that broke out last December at his Northwest Roanoke home. When he was 7, he became the youngest person in Virginia charged with murder. A prosecutor has called him a "time bomb."
But in a case heard Wednesday in Roanoke General District Court, Anderson was the victim.
An inmate who occupies the same cellblock as Anderson in the Roanoke City Jail was convicted of assaulting the 19-year-old. Lawyers said Eric Tucker, 23, took advantage of Anderson's mental and emotional shortcomings, teasing him about his weight and slow speech.
Judge Vincent Lilley sentenced Tucker to 10 days in jail, even though Anderson was not physically harmed during the assault, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Gardner.
Psychiatric evaluations have found that Anderson is "largely incoherent," has been treated extensively for learning and emotional problems, and most recently has been diagnosed as suffering from a schizoaffective disorder, a form of schizophrenia, according to court records.
With the naivete that belies his physical stature, Anderson is especially subject to ridicule and abuse in a correctional setting.
"He is easy to take advantage of," said Assistant Public Defender William Fitzpatrick, who had worried about something like the April 9 assault ever since Anderson was incarcerated last December.
Placed in the company of the most dangerous inmates in the city jail, Anderson is "more or less ripe for the picking," Fitzpatrick said.
At the time of the assault, Anderson was being held on the jail's fourth floor, an area usually reserved for the most serious offenders. Fitzpatrick said he is looking into the possibility of requesting that Anderson be moved to another part of the jail.
In testimony Wednesday, Anderson struggled to explain how Tucker touched and grabbed him as he teased him about his weight. Anderson testified that the abuse stopped only after his father, who was incarcerated in the same jail pod, intervened.
Tucker denied the charge, but was unable to persuade the judge to drop it.
Although the case raises questions about whether Anderson should be incarcerated on the jail's fourth floor, prosecutors have argued that he is too great a risk to be released on bond.
In 1982, a judge dismissed a murder charge against Anderson, who had been accused of setting a fire near his home that spread to an adjacent house and killed a 66-year-old woman. The judge found that Anderson, who was 7 at the time, was unable to help with his defense and did not understand what he was accused of doing. Anderson was ordered to receive counseling and instruction about the dangers of fire.
On the night of Dec. 21, he was charged with setting fire to his Patton Avenue home, endangering three relatives. Anderson also is accused of throwing a knife at a police officer who responded to the blaze.
Anderson had been "acting strangely" the week before the fire, prosecutors have said earlier, and authorities believe he became angry and set the fire after his grandmother mentioned that he might have to receive psychiatric treatment.
by CNB