ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 1, 1997 TAG: 9702030063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLOUNTVILLE, TENN.
SOURCE: Associated Press
A MAN ACCUSED of two killings fears the nickname will dehumanize him in the minds of the jury in his trial on rape and abduction charges.
A hearing to see if jurors will be told about accused double murderer Bradley Duane Osborne's nickname ``Spiderman'' has been postponed.
The hearing was delayed until Feb. 28 to give the state time to prepare for the matter.
Osborne doesn't want to be called ``Spiderman'' - at least not before the jury that will try him on rape and abduction charges.
Sullivan County Public Defender Steve Wallace filed a motion Wednesday asking that all references to his client's nickname be dropped from indictments.
Wallace believes calling Osborne by his nickname could dilute his presumption of innocence. Osborne, 27, apparently earned the Spiderman moniker as a result of his work high above the ground setting up rides for carnivals.
Osborne is facing trial in Sullivan County on one count of especially aggravated kidnapping and six counts of aggravated rape. All stem from the abduction Oct. 9 of a Bristol, Tenn., woman outside a coin laundry on Volunteer Parkway.
Prosecutors say the incident led to a 300-mile crime spree. Osborne was a traveling carnival worker who stayed behind in Bristol, Va., after the carnival left last May.
In the motion, Wallace referred to the name Spiderman as ``an alias'' and claimed it had no place in official court documents.
``The use of the alias is neither relevant nor necessary to identify the defendant in this proceeding,'' Wallace said in his motion. ``The alias is the name of a cartoon character and its use tends to dehumanize the defendant.''
It will be up to Sullivan County Criminal Court Judge Phyllis Miller to decide if the nickname stays or goes.
The former carnival worker allegedly took the woman to the apartment of his slain girlfriend, 21-year-old Stacey Cook, and raped her six times. Osborne is alleged to have then forced her into a car and dumped her along Highway 75 near Tri-Cities Regional Airport.
Cook's body was later found in a remote part of Washington County, Va.
After her slaying, Osborne allegedly accosted his former girlfriend, Sandy Tate, at an Abingdon, Va., motel. Osborne allegedly shot Tate, but she survived.
Osborne is accused of killing again in the Nashville area - where he is charged with slaying 46-year-old Donetta Keyser of Mount Juliet. Osborne was finally captured after a gunbattle with law enforcement officers in Memphis. Osborne is being held in the Sullivan County Jail.
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