ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 1996 TAG: 9609130034
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
SHE KICKED an officer and tried to do time closer to home. Now she's going home - at least for a while.
India Pickens, the Tennessee truck driver convicted in Botetourt County of kicking a state trooper in the groin so hard she hospitalized him, pleaded for months to be able to serve her one-year sentence in a jail near her home and children.
She wrote letters to newspapers, judges, and the governors of Tennessee and Virginia, trying to figure a way through the legalities of getting transferred. The sheriff of Fayette County, Tenn., wrote Botetourt County Circuit Judge George Honts to say he'd be glad to have her in his jail.
Last week, she found a surprisingly simple way home.
She paid a $3,500 appeal bond and walked out of the Botetourt County jail, pending a hearing of her case in the Virginia Court of Appeals.
Though she asked in a letter to the Fincastle Herald why the state of Virginia and Botetourt County should pay for her incarceration when Tennessee was willing to, Pickens left Fincastle without paying $209 she still owes for fines and court costs in Botetourt General District Court. She has paid part of her fines.
"I haven't heard from her since she was released," said her attorney, Terry Grimes. He said he assumes she went back to Tennessee.
"I'm surprised, given how many people were interested in getting her home, that she did as much time as she did," Botetourt County Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom said.
Pickens was sentenced on July 16, but her trouble began a year ago.
It was last August when Pickens allegedly got drunk or high - police never determined exactly which - and drove down Interstate 81 flinging eggs at other trucks. Some truckers forced her off the road and called police, but Pickens refused to take a sobriety test and eventually kicked the trooper, hospitalizing him and causing him to miss several days of work.
She has been convicted of refusing the sobriety test, driving under the influence and using a radar detector. She initially failed to show up to be tried for assaulting the trooper, but police found her in the Fayette County jail, serving time for violating probation on Tennessee charges.
She was convicted on May 30 of unlawful wounding of a police officer, and immediately began trying to find a way to get transferred to Tennessee. She wanted to be near her children, the youngest of whom has a heart defect. The move would have also put her near her father, a Somersville City police dispatcher and friend of the sheriff who offered to keep Pickens in his jail. The sheriff, Bill Kelley, said he was only trying to help out his elderly friend, who is not in good health.
Honts said he would agree to the transfer, if it could be done legally, but both Branscom and Botetourt County Sheriff Reed Kelly opposed it.
Kelly said Pickens owed her debt to the people of Botetourt, and he was concerned that she might get softer treatment in a jail run by a friend of her father.
But the issue of Pickens' transfer is now moot, at least until her appeal is heard.
"I feel like she's eventually going to have to pull this time somewhere," Branscom said. If her appeal is denied, then her possible transfer will have to be examined again.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB