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

DATE: SUNDAY, May 28, 1995                   TAG: 9505300042
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DECISION ON TONY LEYVA'S PAROLE WILL COME IN SEVERAL WEEKS

On Tuesday, Tony Leyva will go before a parole examiner, who will listen to him and any witnesses either for or against him and review documents relating to his case.

The whole thing usually takes 15 minutes, unless witnesses testify, said Jeff Kostbar, a case analyst with the U.S. Parole Commission. Prison officials in Tallahassee, Fla., where Leyva is being held, won't say how many witnesses are scheduled.

The examiner then turns in his recommendation to a regional parole commissioner, a presidential appointee, who decides whether to grant parole. The decision will take several weeks.

If Leyva has any disciplinary records - good or bad - from his stay in prison, those will be considered.

At least one victim who requested notification of parole has not heard from the Parole Commission, nor has Leyva's sentencing judge. But Leyva's case-manager supervisor at the prison, Steve Hults, said everyone who requested it has been notified.

"There is no breakdown" of communication, he said. "The people who are victims are notified."

He encouraged victims who cannot attend Leyva's parole hearing to write to the U.S. Parole Commission to have their statements put on file.

The Parole Commission is required to give long-term prisoners a hearing every two years, even after setting their parole dates. Leyva's parole date was set in 1990, and he is scheduled for release in October 1998. Under old federal requirements that still apply to Leyva, he would have to be released after 139 months, or 11 years and seven months. He is being released earlier than that because he has a Virginia sentence to serve as well, Kostbar said.

Leyva faces a 21/2-year sentence in Virginia on his conviction of molesting two boys in Roanoke County, but his attorney believes the time may be considered already served because of his federal prison time.

"If I have anything to say about it - and I probably don't - he's going to have to serve his Virginia time," said Randy Leach, Roanoke County assistant commonwealth's attorney.

by CNB