ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 17, 1996 TAG: 9612170072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
A Roanoke juvenile judge refused to set bond for Stephone Dewayne Jones on Monday, citing the seriousness of the charges against the 17-year-old.
Jones was arrested last week on charges of capital murder, attempted robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, in connection with the shooting death of another 17-year-old at Lansdowne Park public housing development. Antwan Gray died Wednesday night after he was shot in the head.
Jones' case automatically starts on a path to an adult trial because of a new state law governing juveniles older than 14 who are charged with murder or aggravated malicious wounding. That law also makes his name public once he has his first court appearance.
But by the time police charged Jones with murder Friday, he had already outgrown the juvenile system and was pegged by a prosecutor as one of a handful of serious juvenile drug dealers in Roanoke.
The day Jones was charged with capital murder, a pending drug charge against him had been certified to Roanoke Circuit Court. His drug case was one of about six that Roanoke's regional drug prosecutor, Dennis Nagel, sought to have transferred from Juvenile Court to Circuit Court.
"He had exhausted the juvenile system," Nagel said. "These were extremely serious drug charges. We were looking at the seriousness of the charges and the past treatment efforts. When we evaluated both of those, we believed he should have been tried as an adult."
Jones' public defender, Ray Leven, declined to comment.
In October, police searched the house where Jones lived in Northwest Roanoke, found crack cocaine and arrested Jones; his guardian, Margaret Gray, 39; and two other teen-agers. Each was charged with possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute, Nagel said. (Attempts to determine any relationship between Margaret Gray and Antwan Gray were unsuccessful.)
When Jones first appeared before a juvenile judge on the charge, he was placed on detention outreach. That order put him in his mother's custody and required that an employee of Coyner Springs Detention Home visit him regularly. He was in the detention outreach program when he was accused of killing Antwan Gray.
A January grand jury will decide whether to indict Jones on the drug charge.
Authorities have not said whether drugs were involved in Gray's killing.
Jones will be in Juvenile Court Jan. 3 for his preliminary hearing on the capital murder and attempted robbery charges. If the judge decides there is enough evidence to support the charges, the case will be transferred to Circuit Court, where Jones would be tried as an adult.
He will remain at Coyner Springs until his preliminary hearing.
Jones is the second teen-ager to be charged with murder since the new law took effect July 1. Robert Reed, 17, was charged in the stabbing death of Michael Dent in late July.
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