ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 TAG: 9604180050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
A WOMAN SAYS her twins may be the result of the rape of which she accuses two Roanoke sheriff's deputies.
It's been almost a year since two Roanoke sheriff's deputies were charged with raping and sodomizing a woman they picked up at a local bar.
But what could be important evidence in the case didn't turn up until December.
That's when the alleged victim gave birth to twins who, she says, were conceived the night of the crime. Now, authorities are awaiting the results of paternity tests that could play a key role in the prosecution of David K. Bell and Larry D. Neighbors.
Bell and Neighbors, who were off duty at the time of the alleged attack, were scheduled to go on trial next week in Roanoke Circuit Court. But the case has been postponed because of delays at a state laboratory that is using DNA testing to compare blood samples of the infants and the defendants.
"Obviously, the results of this testing will be critical from the perspective of all parties," special prosecutor Robert Bushnell wrote in a letter to Judge Barnard Jennings, informing him of the delay.
No new trial date has been set.
Attorneys for Bell and Neighbors say the case will center on the credibility of Ronlyn Eaton, who claims the two men raped and sodomized her May 14 after offering her a ride home from a Roanoke bar. Eaton, 26, has requested that her name be used in stories about the allegations.
This month, Jennings ordered the prosecution to provide Eaton's criminal record to the defense. Attorneys for Bell and Neighbors had sought her record, as well as information about her prior sexual history and other rape allegations she has made.
"I think all that is highly relevant," said Tony Anderson, a Roanoke lawyer who represents Bell. "It will all be part of an attack on her credibility."
Jennings' order did not address the issue of Eaton's prior sexual conduct, which normally would be barred from disclosure by Virginia's rape shield law. The law is intended to protect victims of sexual crimes from, in effect, being put on trial themselves.
But if Eaton previously has made false allegations, Anderson and co-counsel William Cleaveland assert, that would be admissible evidence under the theory that it shows a propensity to fabricate charges.
Bushnell, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, has said in court that he would oppose attempts to delve into Eaton's background. He did say, however, that she reported being raped in Miami in 1987. Anderson said he was trying to obtain details about that case.
The issue of whether the information is admissible has still to be decided.
At an earlier hearing, Eaton testified that Bell and Neighbors offered her a ride home from a Williamson Road bar last May, then raped and sodomized her repeatedly as they drove through the city. She gave birth in December, and Bushnell has said there is the "distinct possibility" that the twins were conceived on the night of the crime.
Even if the tests show that one of the defendants is the father, the deputies could still maintain that Eaton consented to sex. And if the tests fail to establish paternity by either Bell or Neighbors, the results could be used to further challenge Eaton's credibility if she had insisted earlier that one of the men was the father.
Bell, 24, is charged with sodomy; Neighbors, 32, with rape and sodomy. Both men have been suspended without pay from their jobs as guards at Roanoke City Jail.
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