ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, May 4, 1996 TAG: 9605060053
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
RICHMOND PROSECUTORS SAID they still plan to ask a grand jury to reinstate an indecent-exposure charge against the Suffolk delegate.
Suffolk Del. Robert Nelms claimed Friday that he passed a polygraph test, the most extraordinary step yet in his battle to contain legal and political fallout from his indecent exposure arrest at a Richmond park.
With his wife, Diane, at his side, Nelms claimed the polygraph test proves he is telling the truth. All along, he has said he did nothing more than step off a walking path to relieve himself during the Feb. 15 incident.
"I am hopeful that with these results, the commonwealth's attorney will refuse to waste the taxpayers' money and put an end to this witch hunt," Nelms said at a Capitol news conference.
Nelms, 36, refused to release the test results or provide a list of questions he was asked.
"I can't do that today," the Republican legislator said. "We'll have to wait and see what the commonwealth's attorney does."
According to Nelms, the test questions "were taken from the arresting officer's statement and my statement regarding the events of Feb. 15."
Later, Richmond prosecutors said the news conference did nothing to change their plans to ask a grand jury to reinstate an indecent-exposure charge against Nelms on Monday.
"This case will be tried in court, and I will do everything I can to make sure Mr. Nelms has a fair trail," said Claire Cardwell, a deputy commonwealth's attorney.
She declined to discuss the circumstances leading to the arrest. When asked why a vice officer did not charge Nelms with the lesser crime of urinating in public, she said, "He was charged with an appropriate charge based on his conduct."
While the polygraph test would be inadmissible in court, Nelms can still make good use of it in the broader court of public opinion, according to Scott Leake, director of the Joint Republican Caucus.
"I think that's what's important to his voters and his constituents - that he's being truthful," Leake said.
At his news conference, a defiant Nelms lashed out at media coverage of his case, which has identified the park where he was arrested as a meeting spot for homosexuals.
"Politics is a nasty game, but Diane and I feel that the media has crossed the line of responsible journalism," he said. "Many questions have been intrusive to the point of being offensive."
Diane Nelms said some press reports have been "almost humorous."
"I'm married to him; I know the facts," she said.
Robert Nelms also dropped what sounded like a bombshell: Another General Assembly member had been arrested "in the same place for the same thing" two weeks before the Feb. 15 incident.
"Mysteriously, not one word regarding that member has been reported," he said. "... I hope you will pursue the identity of that member, and write with the same enthusiasm that you have shown me."
Nelms declined to provide a name.
The Roanoke Times and its sister paper in Norfolk, the Virginian-Pilot, could find no evidence to back this claim. Carl Holzbach, a Richmond police spokesman, said a search of incident reports turned up no record of any such arrest.
A computer search of Richmond General District Court records for all 140 members of the General Assembly turned up only one arrest: Robert Nelms for indecent exposure.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Suffolk Del. Robert Nelms said at a news conferenceby CNBthat a lie detector test supports his version about events that led
to an indecent exposure charge.