Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 15, 1995 TAG: 9506150033
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In April, a three-judge panel of the appellate court upheld an October ruling that a circuit judge had erred by not striking a potential juror for DeHart's 1992 trial.
Last week, the full Court of Appeals upheld the ruling and ordered the case retried.
DeHart was convicted of murdering 81-year-old Effie Rakes, who was found shot to death on the floor of her remote Shooting Creek home in Franklin County in June 1991. Prosecutors said Rakes had caught her killer trying to molest an invalid daughter who was living with her.
DeHart, of Endicott, was sentenced to 27 years in prison for second-degree murder and two related charges.
His attorney, Tom Blaylock, argued that Judge Samuel Hairston erred by not removing a juror who said she wasn't sure she could base her decision solely on the evidence and not information gleaned from outside the courtroom.
The juror was accepted into the required pool of 20 possible jurors, but was struck from that pool by prosecutors using one of four disqualifications given to each side in the jury trial.
The attorney general's office argued that the woman's inclusion in the jury pool was insignificant because she was not chosen for the jury.
Blaylock said the law allows defendants to have 20 people fully qualified to serve on the jury before the defense and prosecution make the final strikes.
DeHart, who is in the Brunswick Correctional Center, will be returned to Franklin County Jail for the retrial.
Blaylock said he will ask that bond be set so DeHart can be free until the retrial.
by CNB