Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 3, 1995 TAG: 9511030039
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
A flurry of news releases, advertisements and endorsements, along with a controversy over a police chief's letter read at a candidates' forum, have fueled the interest.
Republican Joey Showalter, 33, is trying to unseat Phil Keith, 44, a Democrat who has been commonwealth's attorney since 1989. Showalter has practiced law for eight years and is managing partner of a Radford law firm, Stone, Harrison, Turk and Showalter.
Showalter produced the now-controversial letter at a forum last week to illustrate what he sees as the campaign's crucial issue: Keith's failure to prosecute cases vigorously.
The letter from Virginia Tech Police Chief Mike Jones chastised Keith for not fighting hard enough for a car forfeiture case.
Although Jones was later satisfied by Keith's explanation that a judge ruled against forfeiture, Showalter said the case at the very least illustrated that Tech was not kept up-to-date and that the case dragged on for two years.
Showalter has stressed the need for an effective prosecutor and office manager, as well as a commonwealth's attorney who is active in the community. He also has criticized the high number of plea bargains in drug cases, saying more of those cases should be going to jury trial.
Keith has said a heavy docket, with limited court days available for all criminal jury trials, makes taking all drug cases to juries impossible.
And when defendants decide to plead guilty, that's an automatic conviction where a jury isn't needed.
Showalter's campaign believes the publicity over the letter - which Jones and Keith both described as stolen property - has detracted from key issues. Showalter says copies of the letter existed other than between Jones and Keith. Still Keith says he will ask the state bar to investigate.
Throughout the campaign, Keith, who has worked in the commonwealth's attorney's office for 17 years, has stressed his experience on the job, life sentences obtained for a trio charged with the 1992 murder of a Christiansburg shoe store manager, and a division of labor in his office that allows the two assistant prosecutors to specialize in drug and sexual abuse cases.
Showalter has criticized Keith for allowing speedy trial deadlines to pass, resulting in dismissal of some charges against defendants, and for not moving quickly to have cars and other property forfeited to police.
Defendants who are being held in jail must go to trial within five months of their preliminary hearing date, or it's a violation of their right to a speedy trial. Often, lawyers on both sides agree to a continuance that does not count against "speedy trial" time.
One example is the case against Eric L. Lokey, an Orangeburg, S.C., man arrested in January on seven charges involving break-ins and thefts at two Christiansburg motels. Lokey was indicted in April on seven charges: three counts each of breaking and entering and grand larceny, and one count of credit card fraud.
On Aug. 30, two charges - grand larceny and breaking and entering - were dismissed because the speedy trial deadlines on those cases had passed. Two weeks later, Lokey pleaded guilty to the other five charges. He was ordered to serve two years of a nine-year prison sentence, followed by three years of probation.
Showalter said there have been at least five other instances this year where speedy trial deadlines passed or resulted in quick plea agreements for serious charges.
"This is one of what I would consider to be one of the most negligent acts that you can have as a commonwealth's attorney," Showalter said.
Keith says only one of the instances, where three drug distribution charges were dismissed, was truly a speedy trial issue.
"It happens to every prosecutor, but we've been particularly vulnerable here because of the system that we use," Keith said, pointing to an average 400-450 circuit court cases a year.
This year, Keith also has been coping with radiation treatment for a benign brain tumor that kept him away from his office for seven weeks.
Unlike surrounding circuit courts, Keith said, Montgomery County doesn't have a "docket call" day where cases for the upcoming term are either set or continued.
Instead, Keith said, Montgomery County judges have historically "thought we could do it a better way," by having the commonwealth's attorney's office prepare continuance orders for defense lawyers to sign or return.
"On certain occasions, some defense attorneys have not sent their continuance orders back and we have not been able to get them entered at the proper time," Keith said.
In other developments this week, Attorney General Jim Gilmore praised a drug and crime education plan proposed by Showalter and endorsed his bid for office.
Showalter's education plan calls for the commonwealth's attorney to take a leadership role in educating students about the consequences of drug abuse and juvenile crime.
Keith's campaign includes radio spots by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, endorsing Keith's re-election. Keith's latest newspaper advertisement shows pictures of his entire staff, stressing teamwork. Showalter's recent direct mail advertisement stresses an efficient, well-managed office, and touts endorsements by Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore and county Sheriff Ken Phipps.
The forum fall-out continued this week when County Treasurer Ellis Meredith sent a news release countering remarks Keith made when Showalter pointed out that Keith had missed an entire day in court last Wednesday while his assistants juggled three courts.
"I can't believe Joey is criticizing me for not being in court on Wednesday. I was at the Chamber of Commerce forum, where everybody from the courthouse who had a constitutional race practically was out. The treasurer took all of his staff and went over there," Keith said last Thursday.
"This is simply untrue," Meredith wrote in the news release this week. Meredith said his office remained open while he and others were at the chamber's forum. He said Keith "was trying to justify his own absence from his office by insinuating that all of the constitutional offices followed his example and put politics ahead of their elected responsibilities.
Keith said this week that he was not in his office that morning because he was on his way to the forum and after the forum he went to physical therapy. Keith said he has apologized to Meredith if his remarks were incorrect.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB