ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 5, 1995                   TAG: 9505050077
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ANN DONAHUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


OBSESSED ASSAILANT CONVICTED

James Wesley Campbell was intrigued by the woman who visited Roanoke's High Street Baptist Church in February 1993.

When she moved to Roanoke County from Chicago later that year, Campbell decided to pursue a romantic relationship with her. When his amorous intentions became clear, though, the woman told him she had no interest in seeing him.

But Campbell kept appearing. He sent flowers to her workplace. He called her friends. He stopped by her house. He was at the airport when she came and left.

He accumulated nearly 100 of the woman's personal items, such as check registers, family phone numbers, a photocopy of her address book, even a list of her allergies.

Police also found notes in Campbell's handwriting that pertained to the woman, such as the telephone number of her cooking instructor and a dated note on an Atlanta Marriott Marquis note pad that read, "she had one Seagram peach."

Some items were found in his car, including a map of the town in Louisiana where the woman's parents live.

On Labor Day weekend, the woman was assaulted in the middle of the night in her bedroom.

A Roanoke County Circuit Court jury decided on Thursday that it was Campbell who broke into the woman's house, handcuffed her, taped her mouth shut and assaulted her.

He was convicted of 10 charges, including burglary, abduction, attempted rape and forcible sodomy.

The jury recommended that Campbell, 38, be sentenced to 134 years in prison.

His victim smiled broadly when the verdicts and sentences were read. Campbell showed no reaction.

In her closing statement, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Susan Cohen said Campbell's obsession finally culminated in the attack.

"Do these things make sense?" Cohen asked. "Are they normal? They're obsessive.

"The value of these items was to feed his obsession," Cohen said.

Campbell's attorney, Lance Hale, said he intends to appeal. He said he noticed jurors dozing off during the testimony, and therefore, Campbell did not receive a fair trial.

Campbell testified during the four-day trial that he had an off-and-on romantic relationship with the woman for almost two years. "She was a warm, intelligent kind of person," he said.

He denied being the masked assailant who attacked the woman. "Disgusting sexual acts have no appeal for me," Campbell said.

He said most of her items police found in his residence either were given to him by the woman or things he had taken out of her trash.

A framed picture of the woman was one of the items found. He claimed it was a gift.

"She didn't want to have me whining about missing her, so she gave me something I could look at every day," Campbell said.

The woman said she never gave anything to Campbell.

She testified that Campbell told her during the attack that it was "just our little secret."

"He said if I told anybody, he would do to me what O.J. had allegedly done to Nicole," she said.

After the attack, Campbell forced her to take a shower.

"The only thing in the house he touched without gloves was me, and he wanted to make sure I washed everything off," she said.

The jury of 10 women and two men deliberated more than four hours before reaching a verdict.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Trabue scheduled sentencing for June 13.



 by CNB