ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996                 TAG: 9605010079
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER 

2 CONVICTED OF FELONIES IN FIGHT AT SCHOOL

A schoolyard fight led to felony convictions Tuesday for two Roanoke boys.

The Patrick Henry High School students, ages 16 and 17, were sent to a juvenile detention center after being convicted of unlawful wounding.

A third student, a 15-year-old who joined them in an attack on another student, also was detained after being convicted of assault and battery in Roanoke Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

A fourth student faces charges in the attack, but he was not prosecuted Tuesday. Because the cases were handled in juvenile court, authorities did not release the boys' names.

Curtis Smallwood Jr., a senior and member of Patrick Henry's baseball team, was waiting for a friend on a sidewalk the morning of April 5 when one of the defendants bumped into him, witnesses testified Tuesday.

As Smallwood and the other teen got into a fight and ended up rolling around on the ground, the other students began to kick and punch him. Smallwood had no prior confrontations with his assailants, and a clear motive for the fight did not emerge from testimony.

Smallwood suffered cuts to his face and mouth, bruises to his body and an apparent bite on his stomach.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Gerald Teaster had asked Judge John Ferguson to transfer the juveniles to Circuit Court for adult trials, given the nature of the attack. "You had four people ganging up on one person at a public school and beating him severely," Teaster said.

But Ferguson ruled that the three teens - who had no prior records - should remain in juvenile court.

Sentencing was set for May 28. The most serious punishment the 16-and 17-year-olds could receive is incarceration in a juvenile correctional facility until they turn 21. The 15-year-old faces up to 12 months on his misdemeanor charge.

Onzlee Ware, a lawyer who represented the 15-year-old, said there was conflicting testimony about who struck the first blow and to what extent each of the teens was involved in the fight.

"I think it was escalated, quite frankly, because there were so many other students standing around watching," Ware said.

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