ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 16, 1997 TAG: 9701160042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Josie Bowen said Wednesday that the Alexandria prosecutor who declined to take action against the police officer who killed her brother should not be appointed a circuit court judge.
``I'm praying and I'm begging and I'm pleading that you don't make this appointment,'' Bowen told the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.
Bowen and Herbert Williams Jr., a member of an Alexandria group called People Against Police Brutality, urged the panel to reject the nomination of Commonwealth's Attorney John Kloch to the bench.
Bowen's brother, Otis Kelley, was shot at least 15 times by an Alexandria police officer during an arrest attempt in March. Kelley was unarmed.
Police Chief Charles Samarra and Kloch both found the police officer, Scott Ogden, blameless in the shooting. The incident led to protests by civil rights activists who claimed race played a role in the white officer's shooting of Kelley, who was black.
The same officer shot and killed another black man in 1992. That shooting also was ruled justified.
Bowen said Kloch ``just rubber-stamps any case that comes before him pertaining to police. ... In our community, we feel very seldom is justice served.''
Williams said Kloch should have turned the Kelley case over to a grand jury. He said many blacks are upset about the handling of the Kelley incident but will not speak up because they fear retribution from the police.
Kloch defended his actions. He said the city's Human Rights Commission reviewed the case and voted 11-0 to rule the shooting justified. A civil suit filed by the Kelley family was dismissed, and their appeal was rejected by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, he said.
``My opinion was supported by the facts and the evidence,'' he said.
State Sen. Patricia Ticer, D-Alexandria, recalled the shooting and the resulting turmoil as ``a wrenching experience.'' She was the city's mayor at the time.
She said the matter was thoroughly investigated, and she praised Kloch for his professionalism and integrity.
Sen. Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake and a member of the committee, said he did not believe Kloch's nomination is in jeopardy.
``I think it's good we heard from them,'' he said of Kloch's critics. ``But there was nothing to make me think he did anything unjust or wrong.''
Del. Marian Van Landingham, D-Alexandria, said Kloch was the overwhelming choice of the Alexandria bar for the judgeship. Kloch received 274 votes in the five-way contest. His closest competitor received 41 votes.
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