ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 24, 1996 TAG: 9606240168
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
Man turns himself in, is charged
STAUNTON - A Crimora man suspected of fatally shooting another Crimora man has surrendered to Augusta County Sheriff's Department deputies.
James C. Sipe, 39, was charged with murder Friday night after turning himself in about 8 p.m. Authorities said he was accompanied to the sheriff's department by family members.
Sipe is being held without bail in the county jail in Staunton.
Deputies had been searching throughout the day for Sipe, who has been charged with the Thursday killing of Jeffrey Wayne Morris, 37.
Sheriff Glenn Lloyd said earlier Friday that, according to witnesses, Sipe shot and killed Morris with a handgun. Morris and Sipe apparently had an argument that culminated in the killing, said Lloyd.
The warrants issued Friday only charge Sipe with murder and do not indicate a degree, such as first-degree or second-degree.
The commonwealth's attorney's office will decide which level will be used in prosecuting Sipe, Lloyd said.
- Associated Press
Law school on its way to accreditation
VIRGINIA BEACH - Regent University School of Law has cleared a second hurdle on its way to full accreditation by the American Bar Association, and now has just one remaining.
The ABA's Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar approved Regent's application Friday, and the final decision will be made in early August by the ABA's House of Delegates, law school Dean J. Nelson Happy says.
``It took a tremendous amount of effort to get this far,'' he said Friday. ``We are excited. We had to wait almost two weeks to get the result. It was a tense time to see how it turned out. This is a tremendous relief.''
In April, a key bar association committee recommended Regent's law school for full accreditation. With the latest recommendation, it appears Regent may triumph in its nearly decade-long campaign to win total acceptance from the bar.
In 1989, the ABA offered the Christian law school ``provisional'' accreditation, saying the school would have to address concerns about finances and academic freedom before it could receive full accreditation.
For students, accreditation means they can take the bar exam anywhere in the country - an important prerequisite for a practicing lawyer. For schools, accreditation offers the profession's seal of quality.
Ninety percent of Regent's December 1995 graduates passed the Virginia bar exam. The school has 1,400 students.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB