ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 25, 1995 TAG: 9512260052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: FAIRFAX
SOURCE: Associated Press
A judge sentenced a 19-year-old to the maximum 35 years in prison for the teen's role in a carjacking and brutal beating.
``We've lost this one,'' Circuit Judge J. Howe Brown Jr. said of Juvaros L. Thomas, citing his long history of juvenile crime including drug and car theft convictions and probation violations. ``What we can do is put him in prison for a very long time. ... Somehow, he didn't get the point.''
Thomas was sentenced Friday to 15 years on a malicious wounding conviction and to 20 years for the carjacking. He made a plea bargain this month after a jury deadlocked on the carjacking charge.
Under Virginia's new ``truth in sentencing'' law, Thomas will serve the entire 35 years and not be eligible for parole.
He is one of two men convicted in the Aug. 28 beating of Alex Hale, 26, in the parking lot of Hale's apartment complex. Nakia Lewis, 20, pleaded guilty last month to carjacking and malicious wounding. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 5.
Charges are still pending against a third man.
Hale, who worked as a manager at a discount department store, suffered permanent, severe brain damage, officials said.
LENGTH: Short : 34 linesby CNB