Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 7, 1995 TAG: 9507070072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short
The officials confirmed Michael Stokes was beaten June 27 in his cell at the Greensville Correctional Center but said the assault was not retaliation for what Stokes had told the state police.
``It's our belief at this point that the assault that we're investigating now had nothing to do with the Turner incident,'' said Corrections Department spokesman Jim Jones.
Stokes' parents said last week that an inmate was placed in their son's cell because Stokes ignored officials' warnings not to cooperate in the state police investigation into the gun found in Turner's typewriter.
``They told him he would pay for it,'' Larry Stokes said last week. ``And then they put this inmate in the cell with him. The guy immediately went crazy and attacked him. And the officer ... just stood there and watched.''
Stokes, who is serving more than 73 years for armed robbery, received a concussion and wounds requiring 32 stitches, his parents said. After Turner was executed in May, his lawyer found a loaded handgun inside Turner's typewriter, which had been removed from the prison. The Corrections Department said the discovery was a hoax. Gov. George Allen then ordered state police to investigate the matter.
by CNB