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

DATE: SATURDAY, September 9, 1995                   TAG: 9509110063
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

DEATH-ROW INMATE TO GET NEW TRIAL IN RAPE, KILLING

A federal judge has ordered a new trial for a death-row inmate convicted of raping and stabbing a Petersburg woman in 1985, ruling that the state withheld evidence that might have influenced the jury.

Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Merhige Jr. ruled Thursday that Ronald L. Hoke, 37, was not given a fair trial when a Petersburg Circuit Court jury convicted him in 1986 of killing and raping Virginia E. Stell, 56.

Merhige found that police suppressed evidence that the victim ``was aggressively promiscuous,'' and that the jury's decision on the rape charge was based on evidence that ``was entirely circumstantial.''

``Stell had an active sexual history,'' and, had such evidence been introduced at trial, ``the jury could have readily concluded that Stell agreed to have ... sex,'' Merhige said.

A native of Hagerstown, Md., Hoke's years of drifting and substance abuse led him to Petersburg. Several days before the murder, Hoke had been picked up by Richmond police and sent to Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie County for substance abuse treatment. But the hospital, according to court records, released Hoke and gave him a bus ticket for Hagerstown.

The day of the release coincided with an annual Petersburg street celebration. Court records show that Hoke cashed in his bus ticket and used the money to buy beer and drugs.

Hoke met Stell at a restaurant and later went to her apartment. At his trial, Hoke testified that Stell slapped him and he ``just sort of freaked out.''

He stabbed Stell in the back with a kitchen knife, tied her hands and feet with extension cords, stabbed her in the chest and then smothered her screams with a pillow.

After ransacking Stell's apartment, Hoke returned to Hagerstown.

Later, Hoke turned himself in to Hagerstown police and admitted he had killed Stell.

Merhige said that the proper role of a prosecutor is not simply to obtain a conviction, but to obtain a fair conviction. In Hoke's case, Merhige said, ``the commonwealth violated this principle by presenting false evidence and suppressing exculpatory evidence.''

The attorney general's office is reviewing the case before deciding whether to appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Mark Miner, a spokesman for the office, said Friday.

by CNB