ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 17, 1996 TAG: 9610170050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
BUT IN THE CASE of the cooked chameleons, the store owner also was convicted of assault and battery.
It started innocently enough, with the purchase of a pair of pet chameleons for the kids.
Laura Landrith thought it would be a fun way to teach them about nature. And her husband, George, the Republican 5th District congressional candidate, joked on the campaign trail that he had come up with the perfect name for the color-changing duo: Bill and Hillary.
But when a defective heating rock cooked the lizards' gizzards, and Laura Landrith went to get her money back, it wasn't fun anymore. The pet store owner refused to reimburse the mother of five, and instead cursed and yelled at her, culminating in a fight in the store's parking lot in which she slapped him and he punched her repeatedly in the head.
Albemarle County General District Judge Stephen Helvin on Wednesday found both Landrith and Pet Jungle owner John DiNardi guilty of misdemeanor charges of assault and battery. DiNardi was also found guilty of one count of cursing and abusing Landrith.
"I think they both did wrong here," Helvin said. Helvin said he thought DiNardi was more at fault, but that Landrith went too far when she slapped him.
Helvin gave her a 10-day suspended jail sentence. DiNardi received a 30-day suspended jail sentence on the assault charge and a $25 fine for cursing and abusing Landrith. Each has 10 days to appeal.
"Mere words under Virginia law are not sufficient reason to use force," the judge told Landrith. "If he was cursing at you and you were frightened, you should have walked away."
The verdict came three weeks before voters will choose between Landrith's husband, Democrat Virgil Goode of Rocky Mount and Virginia Independent Party candidate Tex Wood for the 5th District congressional seat being vacated by Democrat L.F. Payne.
The rumble at the Pet Jungle dates to July, when Laura Landrith went into DiNardi's store to return the heating rock. According to court testimony, she asked for her money back, but DiNardi said he didn't believe the rock was defective.
After he refused to give Landrith a refund, they both testified, he yelled and asked her to leave the store several times. She threatened to call the Better Business Bureau and later warned other customers to leave the store. ''Between the two of us, we were raising quite a ruckus,'' DiNardi said.
But their stories differ widely from that point. DiNardi claimed that Landrith threw the heating rock at him, grazing his leg. Landrith denied that and said DiNardi cursed loudly at her and pushed her out of his store.
DiNardi and a store employee denied that he had pushed Landrith or cursed at her, but a woman who was in the store shopping said the dispute happened just as Laura Landrith said.
"She had a look on her face like she just couldn't believe that he was using language like that with her," said Dana Morris. "He said, 'You're not going to get your [expletive] money back and get out of my [expletive] store.'''
Once outside, Landrith said, DiNardi stood between her and her car, which had three of her children inside. She and Morris testified that DiNardi was screaming and cursing in her face and refused to move.
"He was so close I could smell his breath and he was spitting on me," Landrith said. "I was extremely frightened. I felt I needed to get away from this situation and get to my children. The only thing I could think to do was to slap him and stun him to get him out of the way."
But DiNardi didn't leave. Instead, Landrith and Morris testified, he hit Landrith with his fists and palms four or five times in the head.
"He hit me with such force that my purse was knocked off my shoulder," Landrith said. "I almost fell on the ground.''
DiNardi testified that he only pushed Landrith away and hit her once or twice in the shoulders. "I was afraid she was going to hit me with the rock or slap me again; either way I was protecting myself," he said.
Landrith said she doesn't regret taking the case to court.
"Lots of political consultants and hacks said we should have dropped this case and settled it, but both George and I believed that Mr. DiNardi needed to be punished," she said.
She said she may appeal her conviction.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Laura Landrith\She wanted a refund. color.by CNB