ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 31, 1997 TAG: 9701310076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA
BENJAMIN LEE LILLY and Loretta Eanes were married Thursday in the Montgomery County Jail.
Convicted murderer Benjamin Lee Lilly has taken a bride.
A jury recommended in late October that Lilly get the death penalty for killing a Virginia Tech student Dec. 5, 1995.
On Thursday, Lilly married his fiancee, Loretta Eanes, at the Montgomery County Jail. Christopher Tuck, one of Lilly's attorneys, said a deputy took the couple's pictures as a minister performed the service.
Lilly murdered 22-year-old Alexander V. DeFilippis after carjacking the student outside a Blacksburg convenience store. Gary Wayne Barker, 20, and Lilly's younger brother, 21-year-old Mark, were convicted of capital murder as principals in the second degree for their roles in the crime.
Eanes supported Lilly throughout his nearly two-week trial, attending it every day. She and Lilly passed notes to each other when allowed to do so.
Although the jury recommended execution for Lilly, the sentence is not official until Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs imposes it. That hearing has been set for Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Tuck said Mark Lilly has agreed to testify on his brother's behalf at the hearing, as will an aunt.
Mark Lilly refused to testify during the sentencing phase of his brother's trial in October, citing his Fifth Amendment right that what he would say might incriminate him. He has since been convicted and sentenced.
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Lillyby CNBCHRISTIANSBURG