Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 30, 1995 TAG: 9506300071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
David McKeone had attempted to pin the blame for Virgie Green's death on his former prison mate and traveling companion, who according to testimony struck the fatal blow with a blunt instrument.
But Judge Clifford Weckstein ruled that McKeone, 28, played a role in the decision to rob Green, and thus also was guilty of killing the woman he claimed was ``like both a girlfriend and a mother'' to him.
``I didn't have no reason to rob or murder my girlfriend,'' McKeone had testified. ``That's ridiculous.''
Testimony in Roanoke Circuit Court showed that after McKeone and his partner, Paul David Thompson, arrived in Roanoke last fall with no place to live, Green took them in to her Old Southwest home.
About a week after Green's family reported her missing, her body was found Nov. 1 stuffed the the trunk of a junked car behind her Woods Avenue home, wrapped in blankets and a plastic garbage bag.
By the time police caught up with McKeone and Thompson in Texas several weeks later, they were suspects in a multi-state crime spree that had left one man dead in West Virginia and a second beaten nearly to death in Florida.
McKeone admitted to being involved in those crimes, but insisted that he had no idea that Thompson planned to rob and kill Green, 44, as their money ran low and his longing to hit the road grew.
McKeone testified that the killing happened when he, Green, Thompson and Thompson's girlfriend were sitting on a bed playing cards the night of Oct. 24 in Green's home. After getting a blunt instrument from the kitchen, Thompson walked up behind Green and struck her in the head several times, McKeone testified.
Thompson's girlfriend testified that McKeone exclaimed afterward: ``Wow! Did you see her head explode?''
Asked about McKeone's professed love for Green, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom said, ``I find that hard to believe, given what he did with her.''
McKeone admitted to carrying some of Green's belongings out of the house, helping dispose of her body, and taking her truck to West Virginia to sell it.
Thompson, who is charged with capital murder, appeared in court briefly during McKeone's trial Thursday, wearing a slight grin and tattoos that covered both of his arms.
But with his attorneys hovering over him in the witness stand, Thompson was not forced to testify at McKeone's request after he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Defense attorney Mary Harkins had argued there was no evidence to show that McKeone meant to harm Green, a woman who helped him ``when virtually no one else in the world was willing to give him the time of day.''
McKeone will face a maximum of two life prison terms at his Sept. 8 sentencing.
He still faces charges of murder and robbery in connection with the death of a man in Marion County, W.Va., in August. He already has been convicted of attempted murder in the beating and robbery of a man in Florida several days after Green's death.
Keywords:
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by CNB