ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 29, 1996 TAG: 9602290079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Below
A WOMAN GAINS revenge against a man who held a blade to her neck in a Roanoke hotel: He awaits sentencing after she recognized him.
At 2 in the morning July 25, there was a knock at the door of the Roanoke motel room where Kevin Lee was living. Thinking he knew the person outside, Lee opened the door, but quickly tried to shut it when he sensed trouble.
Two men barged inside, one carrying a 14-inch knife and the other wearing a stocking over his face, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Greg Phillips said.
One of the men said something about Lee ``owing my boy some money,'' Phillips said.
As Lee struggled with one of the men, the other held a knife to the throat of Donna Jackson, who was at the Williamson Road motel with Lee. Just as Lee was getting the better of one of the assailants, the struggle suddenly stopped.
``Sorry,'' the knife-wielding man said. ``We've got the wrong room.''
The confused intruders then bolted, but not before Jackson recognized one of them as a man who once lived near her sister. She identified him to police, and James W. Simpson was convicted Wednesday of breaking and entering with intent to commit assault while armed with a deadly weapon.
Simpson, 40, will be sentenced later. Authorities still don't know the identity of the masked companion - or if he ever found the right room.
LENGTH: Short : 35 linesby CNB