Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 13, 1995 TAG: 9507130032
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Assistant Public Defender Roger Dalton filed notice this week in Roanoke Circuit Court that a psychiatrist, appointed to evaluate May six weeks ago, may be called to testify in the sentencing phase of his trial.
Dalton said court rules required the motion to be filed within 21 days of the trial, which is set to begin July 31, and that no final decision has been made. If the psychiatrist is called, his testimony likely would be used to raise mitigating factors, such as information about May's background and mental condition.
May, 27, has told police he was drinking heavily the night he shot three men and two women at a New Year's Eve party in an Old Southwest apartment. May said a gun was pulled on him during a drunken argument about the military; prosecutors maintain that a second gun was not involved.
If a psychiatrist is called to testify on May's behalf, prosecutors want a second opinion.
Shortly after May's notice was filed Monday, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom responded with a motion asking Judge Clifford Weckstein to order a second mental evaluation of May.
Branscom noted in the motion that May has indicated he will plead guilty to capital murder, "therefore, the commonwealth anticipates the use of his mental health expert in mitigation at sentencing."
The motion states that prosecutors need their own expert to evaluate May in order to determine "the existence or absence of mitigating circumstances." Branscom said he was hopeful a second evaluation of May could be completed before the trial begins.
Weckstein is expected to consider the request at a hearing scheduled for this morning. He also will hear a motion by prosecutors that May be forced to enter pleas to capital and first-degree murder at least seven days before the start of his trial.
Although May has indicated he will plead guilty, the motion stated, he raised questions about his intentions during a television interview last month by saying that he acted in self-defense. Dalton has said there has been no final decision on how May will plead.
May, an alcoholic house painter, is accused of killing Dale Arnold, 36, and Susan Hutchinson, 44, at an upstairs carriage house apartment they shared, and their party guests - Cynthia LaPrade, 43; Daniel Mason, 47; and Carl Stroop, 42.
The men were found lying on the kitchen floor amid what police said were signs of a violent struggle, while the two women were found seated in the living room, both shot in the head.
It was the worst mass killing in Roanoke since 1973, when a family of six was found shot to death in what was determined to be a murder-suicide by the husband.
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