ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 7, 1996 TAG: 9605070106
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DEL. ROBERT NELMS' LAWYER is researching the legality of reinstating the indecent exposure charge after it was dismissed.
A grand jury on Monday reinstated an indecent exposure charge against Suffolk Del. Robert Nelms related to a Feb. 15 incident near Richmond's Byrd Park.
It remained unclear if Nelms will get his day in court.
His attorney left open the possibility of a legal defense aimed at blocking the case from going to trial, as Nelms did last month with a claim of legislative immunity.
James C. Roberts, a trial attorney retained by Nelms, said he was researching court decisions to determine if a charge, once dismissed because of immunity, can be reinstated.
There are no legal precedents in Virginia, so Roberts is studying cases from around the nation.
"We have not completed our work on that question," Roberts said.
Nelms, 36, could not be reached for comment Monday. The conservative Republican has said he is guilty of nothing more serious than discreetly relieving himself in the woods while taking a walk near the James River during a break in his General Assembly schedule.
Richmond police have refused to discuss the case or explain why an undercover vice officer charged Nelms with indecent exposure, instead of the lesser charge of urinating in public.
The arrest has shaken the political future of Nelms, who last fall won a third term representing parts of Chesapeake, Suffolk and Isle of Wight County.
In recent weeks, Nelms has launched an effort to contain the political fallout from news reports that he was arrested in a well-known cruising area for illicit sex.
Holding his wife's hand, Nelms appeared at a news conference Friday to announce that a polygraph test that he paid for proves he's telling the truth about the Feb. 15 incident. Nelms didn't release details about the lie-detector results or provide the list of questions and his responses.
Last month, a judge dismissed the charge after Nelms claimed the original summons was invalid because the state Constitution says lawmakers cannot be taken into custody while the General Assembly is in session.
With the assembly adjourned for the year, Richmond prosecutors asked a grand jury Monday to indict Nelms on a reinstated charge.
A trial date has not been set.
Nelms will be released on his own recognizance after he surrenders to authorities for processing, said Claire Cardwell, a deputy Richmond commonwealth's attorney.
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