ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 2, 1996 TAG: 9607020063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
Minutes after a woman testified Monday that two off-duty Roanoke sheriff's deputies raped and sodomized her after they met at a city nightclub, a judge decided he did not believe her story.
"There are just so many inconsistencies in the statements, I don't think I can convict these men on the evidence that I've heard," Judge Barnard Jennings said.
The judge dismissed a sodomy charge against David K. Bell and rape and sodomy charges against Larry D. Neighbors.
Both men have been suspended without pay from their jobs as guards in the Roanoke City Jail since May 1995, when Ronlyn Eaton told police they offered her a ride home from a Williamson Road bar. She said the men held her captive for more than an hour, raping and sodomizing her as they drove around town in a Chevrolet Blazer.
Jennings threw out the charges after the prosecution rested its case, before Bell and Neighbors had the opportunity to present evidence.
It is rare for a judge to dismiss charges at that stage of a trial, because the law states that the evidence should be viewed "in the light most favorable" to the prosecution.
But as more light was shed on Eaton's allegations, lawyers for Bell and Neighbors argued, the less believable her story became.
Shortly after Eaton reported that she had been raped, she learned that she was pregnant. At the time, she insisted to authorities that either Bell or Neighbors had to be the father of her unborn twins, saying she had not had sex with anyone else for at least six months before that night.
She even listed Neighbors as the father in an effort to collect child support.
But after DNA tests excluded both Bell and Neighbors as the father, Eaton told police and prosecutors that she had, in fact, had sex with another man about two weeks before she accused Bell and Neighbors of raping her.
Withholding that information from authorities was "the most telling thing about her credibility," said William Cleaveland, a Roanoke attorney who represented Neighbors.
Cleaveland and co-counsel Tony Anderson argued that other parts of Eaton's story were unbelievable. Eaton testified that during her attack she was forced to have sex with Neighbors while completely nude in the front seat of the Blazer, which was parked in front of a convenience store while Bell went inside to purchase condoms.
On Monday, Eaton first denied that had happened, but then changed her account in mid-testimony after being confronted with reports that she had told police about it earlier.
Because the bench trial ended before Bell and Neighbors had the opportunity to present evidence, it was not clear whether they would have contended that the incident never happened, or that the sex she described was consensual.
Cleaveland hinted at the latter in his questions to Eaton. Wasn't it true, he asked her on cross examination, that she approached the men at the bar and asked if they wanted to party, then later suggested they purchase condoms on the way home? Eaton denied both assertions.
In an investigation by the city Sheriff's Office, both men admitted that they had given Eaton a ride home. Neighbors at first denied ever seeing the woman, but changed his story after being informed that Bell had told authorities they gave her a ride.
Bell also admitted that he stopped at a convenience store to buy condoms, Lt. James Brubaker of the Sheriff's Office testified. As for what happened next, Brubaker testified, Bell raised both hands and said: "I didn't have sex with her; I kept my pants on."
After the trial, Anderson declined to comment on what defense he would have raised.
While Eaton has given interviews to the newspaper and television stations, asking that her name be used in reports about the case, Bell and Neighbors have remained quiet for the past 14 months.
After the trial, both men stepped into the glare of television lights just long enough to break their silence. "I'm glad it's all over, and I think justice was served today," Bell said.
"I'm glad the public has finally been given the full truth," Neighbors said.
Both men hope to return to their jobs as jailers. Sheriff Alvin Hudson could not be reached for comment.
Cleaveland said it was clear that both men, who are married, "had no business doing what they did. But they didn't do anything criminal."
If Eaton did in fact fabricate the charges against Bell and Neighbors, there was no evidence presented Monday of what her motive might have been.
Eaton said she hired a lawyer shortly after she made the reports, but denied suggestions that she was trying to make money by filing a lawsuit.
But after the trial, Anderson said he believes that was her intent - and that he would have called witnesses to support such a theory.
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/Staff. Roanoke City Sheriff's Deputy Davidby CNBK. Bell (center) looks on as defense attorney Tony Anderson shakes
the hand of Deputy Larry D. Neighbors (right) in front of the
Roanoke City Courthouse. color.