ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 10, 1996 TAG: 9605100063
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
A Blacksburg judge ruled Thursday there was insufficient evidence to convict a Virginia Tech football player and a former player on charges stemming from a March 21 brawl outside a Blacksburg bar.
After hearing approximately five hours of testimony, General District Court Judge Thomas Frith dismissed charges against Tech quarterback Jim Druckenmiller and former Hokies linebacker George DelRicco.
Druckenmiller, who will be a fifth-year senior in the fall, had been charged with malicious wounding by mob - a felony punishable by five to 20 years in jail. DelRicco, who completed his eligibility in the fall, had been charged with assault and battery in connection with the melee.
Frith dismissed Druckenmiller's case after none of the witnesses could testify to actually seeing the 6-foot-4, 225-pound quarterback take part in an altercation that left 21-year-old Shawn Elko of Reston with a broken nose and two black eyes.
Only one witness, Tech student Christopher Spears, implicated Druckenmiller. Spears testified he saw Druckenmiller leaving the area where the brawl occurred, and that when Druckenmiller passed him, the Northampton, Pa., native boasted, ``Did you see me kick that guy's butt?''
Earlier, three witnesses, including Elko, had testified they couldn't verify Druckenmiller had been involved in the incident.
In his motion for dismissal, James Hutton, Druckenmiller's lawyer, told the judge his client ``was not involved in an assault, a fight, much less malicious wounding by mob. Just because a statement has been made [by Druckenmiller] doesn't mean he was involved in the fight. Nobody ever testified that he was in the fight.''
Frith ruled quickly, saying, ``I do not see sufficient evidence to convict Jim Druckenmiller on this charge.''
``The truth prevails,'' Druckenmiller said. ``I wish I knew [the motivation behind this]. You saw there was just one witness and he said he heard me say something. I don't why I would just walk around talking to myself. I'm not crazy, not yet.''
Druckenmiller said he never made the statement Spears attributed to him.
``Not to my recollection, and I definitely don't believe him,'' Druckenmiller said. ``I came out of the bar and saw a fight. I was just there minding my own business.''
Frith dismissed DelRicco's charge about two hours later after hearing testimony from another handful of witnesses. Despite Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Skip Schwab's argument that DelRicco, a native of Seabrook, Md., had set up ``an ambush'' of Elko and Blacksburg resident Jesse Phillips, Frith ruled there was reasonable doubt about the linebacker's guilt.
Early in the afternoon, Frith had found Phillips, 25, guilty of assault and battery and fined him $250 for breaking a bottle over DelRicco's head on March 1.
Like Druckenmiller, DelRicco was relieved to have what he called ``a black cloud over his head'' lifted.
``When you don't do anything and your name gets thrown around in the paper like that, it doesn't make you feel good,'' said DelRicco, who was released by the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals on Monday. ``Who knows? This may have affected my tryouts. Some teams might not have looked at me as much.''
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Druckenmiller. color.by CNB