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

DATE: THURSDAY, July 13, 1995                   TAG: 9507130052
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                 LENGTH: Short

TEEN SUSPECT GETS NEW ATTORNEY

A Grayson County lawyer has been appointed to defend a 15-year-old Wytheville boy charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of a Wythe County deputy last year.

Jonathan Venzie of Inde- pendence replaces previous attorneys from the public defender's office in Pulaski as the attorney for Christopher Shawn Wheeler. Wheeler is charged with killing Deputy Cliff Dicker, who was serving papers on him Dec. 6.

The previous attorneys said they could not represent the boy because of a conflict of interest.

Authorities must now decide whether Wheeler is to be tried as an adult. A hearing to determine that has been set for 9 a.m. Aug. 1.

by CNB