ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996              TAG: 9611110062
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: HARRISONBURG


'MODEL CITIZEN' LOSES NEW TRIAL

A judge has reversed his ruling that ordered a new trial for a Warren County cider maker convicted of polluting a mountain stream.

But U.S. District Judge Samuel G. Wilson said he still believes Benjamin R. Lacy III deserves a new trial. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 6. Lacy's lawyer said he plans to appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Lacy, 74, was convicted in September 1995 of seven counts of falsifying records and one count of knowingly polluting Manassas Run, a stream behind his bottling plant and country store in Linden.

In July, Wilson awarded Lacy a new trial because the judge didn't tell jurors that they could have acquitted Lacy solely on the strength of the man's character. Lacy's trial attracted national attention because his supporters portrayed him as a model citizen beset by overzealous bureaucrats.

- Associated Press


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