ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 1, 1996 TAG: 9608010068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
Kirby DeHart, convicted in February of killing an elderly Franklin County widow, was denied parole last month, according to county Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood.
DeHart was found guilty this year for the second time of killing 81-year-old Effie Rakes in 1991. Two juries have now heard prosecutors outline how Rakes was startled that June night by DeHart, now 34, who was inside her remote Shooting Creek home attempting to molest her invalid daughter.
Effie Rakes went to get her revolver. DeHart, who had left the house, shot her through a window.
DeHart's fingerprints were found on a window seal and on a beer can inside the room of Rake's daughter.
When he was convicted again this year, the prison time DeHart had banked since his first conviction in 1992 counted toward the minimum he must serve.
He and his attorney, Tom Blaylock of Roanoke, successfully appealed the first conviction to the Virginia Court of Appeals, which overturned it in 1994 and ordered a new trial.
The court based the reversal on what it believed was a violation of DeHart's rights: A possibly biased person was included in the pool of jury candidates for his trial. The woman did not serve on the jury that convicted him.
The first jury gave DeHart 27 years. The second gave him 17.
Because he was charged under the state's old parole guidelines - which gave inmates more ways to reduce their sentences - DeHart's banked prison time necessitated his first hearing before the state Parole Board last month - just 12 weeks after he was sentenced the second time for murder.
DeHart's next parole hearing is scheduled for the second quarter of 1997, Hapgood said.
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