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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 24, 1995                   TAG: 9505240090
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLESTON, W.VA.                                LENGTH: Short

DOMESTIC-VIOLENCE LAW NETS FEDERAL CONVICTION

A man who beat his wife bloody and drove around two states with her locked in his trunk became the first person Tuesday convicted under the new federal domestic-violence law.

Christopher Bailey, 34, could get up to 20 years in prison under the new law and life behind bars for kidnapping. Sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 21.

He beat his wife, Sonya, on Nov. 26, placed her unconscious in the trunk of their compact car and drove around West Virginia and Kentucky until Dec. 1, when he carried her into a Corbin, Ky., emergency room, prosecutors said.

Sonya Bailey, 33, remains in a coma.

The Violence Against Women Act, part of the 1994 crime bill, makes crossing a state line to assault a spouse or domestic partner a federal offense. Bailey was the first person prosecuted under the law, which was passed in August.

``This sends a message that federal authorities are willing to step in and prosecute domestic violence where we can,'' U.S. Attorney Rebecca Betts said.

Advocates for victims of domestic abuse said prosecuting offenders under state laws often is difficult when the evidence doesn't clearly show which events occurred in which legal jurisdiction.

by CNB