ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 26, 1996 TAG: 9611260095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
Trial dates after the football season were set Monday for seven Virginia Tech players and one former player accused in an August brawl.
Another player charged with felony abduction in a separate incident also learned his trial date.
The nine students indicted earlier this month will be tried separately in Montgomery County Circuit Court between January and April. A few will stand trial on the same days.
All nine requested they be tried by a judge, rather than by jury, which is the reason the court dates are scattered over a three-month period, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Skip Schwab said.
Greg Melvin, a tailback who left the squad last summer, will be the first to be tried in connection with the brawl that occurred Aug. 31 outside the Squires Student Center. His trial date is Jan.27.
All-American defensive end Cornell Brown, who is expected to be selected in the National Football League draft, will be tried last. His April 21 court date is one day after the NFL draft is completed.
In between, wide receiver Angelo Harrison and linebacker Michael Hawkes will be tried March 17, linebacker Tyron Edmond and running back Brian Edmonds will be tried March 24, and tight end Sean Sullivan and defensive tackle Nathaniel Williams will be tried April14.
A Circuit Court grand jury indicted the Tech student athletes after a two-month investigation into a brawl that left another student with a broken collarbone. Hilliard Sumner III, a member of Tech's track team, said he was attacked by 15 to 20 football players after one of his friends argued with one of the players outside Squires in the early hours of Aug.31.
Harrison was charged with attempted malicious wounding, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The other players accused of taking part in the fight were charged with misdemeanors. Sullivan will be tried on two counts of assault and battery, and each of the other six will be tried on one assault count.
Defensive tackle Brad Baylor will stand trial Feb. 24 on a charge of felony abduction. Baylor is accused in connection with a July incident in which a visiting student was held against his will and forced to drink shots of liquor until he passed out.
Tech head football coach Frank Beamer suspended Harrison and Baylor from the team for the remainder of the season after their Nov. 6 indictments. The six other players charged with misdemeanors remain on the squad, although each received a one-game suspension.
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