ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 28, 1997 TAG: 9701280081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
It took nine weeks to indict Greg Melvin. It took less than 10 minutes Monday to dismiss the misdemeanor assault and battery charge against the former Virginia Tech football player.
Melvin and seven Tech football players were indicted in Montgomery County Circuit Court Nov. 6 after a two-month police investigation into an Aug. 31 brawl in Blacksburg that left a university track star with a broken collarbone.
Melvin, a former tailback who left the team during the summer, was not a football player at the time of the fight.
"I feel good," Melvin said outside the courtroom Monday. "I can get on with my life now."
Melvin's attorney, Bev Davis, advised his client not to talk to reporters about the incident because several related cases remain to be tried.
Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith asked Circuit Judge Willis Woods to "dismiss the charge with prejudice." That means the charge can never again be brought against Melvin in relation to this case.
Keith told the judge that the victim, Hilliard Sumner III, could not positively identify Melvin as one of the people who beat him.
Davis countered that Sumner told him he knows who hit him, and Melvin was not one of those people.
Sumner told police that 12 to 15 football players hit, kicked and beat him with a cane after starting a fight with a friend of his, Jonathan Nelson.
After the brief court appearance, Davis played a tape of a telephone conversation he had with Sumner about the case on Jan.14.
In that tape, Sumner can be heard saying, "I don't want to falsely accuse anyone. I don't think my statement mentions [Melvin's] name."
Davis and Keith said Sumner never named Melvin as one of the men who attacked him. In fact, it was other football players, who were eventually charged, who named Melvin as a suspect, both prosecutor and defense attorney said.
Davis said Sumner told him that he knows who struck him and those people were charged. Sumner was not present for Monday's brief hearing.
Davis said his client was with the group when the fight broke out and the charge against him was the result of "guilt by association." He said the stigma attached to football players is affecting the team's reputation.
"Virginia Tech [football] is not a bad program. It is not a renegade program," Davis said.
Davis said Melvin was charged because he was there and "recognizable."
Keith said his office's goal is to make sure justice is done and dismissing the charge against Melvin was what needed to be done because Sumner could not identify him.
"We're in it for justice, not to put another notch in our belt," Keith said. "I think justice was served today."
Melvin, who was holding his 14-day-old baby, said he is not a student at Tech now, but plans to return next semester as a junior. Melvin said he has no plans to play football again.
The remaining seven players with charges pending are:
* Angelo R. Harrison, charged with the attempted malicious wounding of Sumner, a felony, with a March 17 court date;
* Michael Hawkes, assault and battery of Sumner, a misdemeanor, March 17;
* Tyron Edmond, assault and battery of Nelson, March 24;
* Brian Edmonds, assault and battery of Sumner, March 24;
* Nathaniel Williams, assault and battery of Sumner, April 14;
* Sean Sullivan, assault and battery of Sumner and Nelson, April 14; and
* Cornell Brown, assault and battery of Sumner, April 21.
21.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: headshot of Melvinby CNB