ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 24, 1996 TAG: 9605240060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
A judge sentenced 18-year-old Michael W. Crump on Thursday to 40 years in prison for barging into a Northwest Roanoke house and shooting Eric "Nike" Jones to death.
But Crump's attorney, Jim Cargill, treated the sentencing more as a formality than the final chapter in the case.
He called no witnesses to plead for mercy during the 10-minute hearing. Usually, people convicted of crimes come into sentencing hearings and offer mitigating evidence - trying to lighten their degree of guilt by showing they acted on impulse or that it was an isolated episode in an otherwise exemplary life.
But Crump continues to flatly maintain his innocence.
"How do you present information mitigating a crime you didn't commit?" his attorney said.
Cargill said he has received "10 or 12 calls" since Crump's conviction that call into question the case against Crump - especially the testimony of the key prosecution witness, Tina Trout.
"She has changed her story repeatedly about events, about what she saw," Cargill said.
But Assistant Commonwealth's Dennis Nagel said the evidence was clear. "We believe - and the judge agreed - that Tina Trout made a very credible witness and that much of the evidence was corroborated by others."
Circuit Court Judge Robert Doherty found Crump guilty in March of first-degree murder. On Thursday, he gave Crump a life sentence to be suspended after 37 years, plus three years for use of a firearm.
Trout, whose sister was dating Jones at the time of the killing, testified during the trial that about seven people were at a home on Signal Hill Avenue Northwest about 1 a.m. Oct. 3 when someone came to the front door. She said Jones, 21, checked the door, where a man in dark clothes and a hood pulled down over his eyebrows was forcing his way inside.
The man pulled a handgun and fired a shot that hit Jones in the chest. Trout said the bullet might have been intended for someone else in the house.
In a 911 call to police, Trout said it was too dark for her to see the shooter. But later she picked Crump out of a photo lineup after telling police she recognized him during a chance encounter at a convenience store.
Crump plans to appeal his conviction. It may be a tough battle; Virginia law makes it difficult to get a judge to listen to new evidence after a conviction.
Nagel, the prosecutor, said it's not rare for someone to ask for a new trial, but it is rare for him or her to win one.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Crump. color. KEYWORDS: ROMURby CNB