ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 14, 1997 TAG: 9703140056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON THE ROANOKE TIMES
CHATHAM
Proceedings in the case of an 8-year-old charged with killing his stepfather continued quietly Thursday.
The saga of an 8-year-old boy charged with killing his stepfather continued to play out behind the closed doors of a Pittsylvania County courtroom Thursday.
Few details of the hearing were disclosed, but the day ended with an emotional scene in a parking lot outside the courthouse.
The boy, who has been moved from a Lynchburg hospital and is now staying with his half-brother's family in Maryland, according to a source close to the case, cried for his mother, Frances Rosser.
Moments after Rosser left him in the backseat of his half-brother's car, the boy jumped out of the vehicle and ran into his mother's arms. They hugged.
Frances Rosser began to move away and the boy continued to scream for her. Finally, the boy's half-brother had to grab him in a bear hug and put him in the car.
As the family prepared to leave, the boy - who is not being named because of his age - pressed his face and hands against a window of the vehicle.
The child is charged with killing Bernard Rosser, who worked as a probation officer in Franklin County. Rosser, 55, was found dead from a blow to the head at the family's Gretna home on Dec. 19.
The boy was arrested Jan. 14 and was held at the W.W. Moore Moore Detention Home in Danville for several weeks before being moved to Lynchburg. Statements the boy made to an elementary school counselor about the killing helped investigators build a case against him, sources close to the case have said.
One of those sources said the boy's competency to stand trial was scheduled to be discussed at the Thursday hearing. Another hearing that resulted in the boy being released into the custody of his half-brother's family was held earlier this month.
The half-brother - who is not being named because he has the same last name as the child - is the son of the boy's father, who also lives out of state.
The boy's attorney, Glenn Berger, gave a brief interview as he left the courtroom Thursday. Berger said another hearing will be set for the boy in the near future.
He wouldn't confirm the reason for Thursday's hearing.
Berger said Juvenile Court Judge Calvin Fowler has made it clear that those involved in the case aren't to talk about it with the media.
Frances Rosser, who maintains that her son is innocent, has hired her own attorney, Ray Ferris of Roanoke.
Rosser has not been charged in the case, but she sought legal help because she thinks investigators don't believe everything she's told them, Ferris said in January.
Rosser has told investigators that she and her son left on a planned trip to Mississippi to see some of her relatives the night before her husband's body was found, according to sources. She said someone broke into the home and killed Bernard Rosser after she and the boy left, the sources said.
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