ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 25, 1997 TAG: 9703250095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA THE ROANOKE TIMES
Tyron Edmond said he never hit the victim, only shoved him away, despite a statement of admission he gave police.
The third Virginia Tech football player tried in connection with a brawl last summer on Monday became the first to be found guilty of assaulting another student.
Tyron Edmond, a sophomore linebacker, was among eight current and former football players indicted in early November on charges of assaulting two Tech students, one of whom suffered a broken collarbone. He will serve two days in jail for the misdemeanor assault and battery conviction for hitting Jonathan Nelson with his fist. The rest of his 30-day sentence was suspended.
University athletic officials suspended Edmond for one game last season because of the charge. A new policy announced by university officials Feb.24 states that all athletes convicted of a misdemeanor charge will face a review process directed by Dave Braine, athletic director. Punishment will range from a warning to dismissal from the team, but the university will no longer announce the athlete's punishment.
Braine could not be reached Monday for comment about Edmond's status with the team.
Larry Hincker, Tech spokesman, said he did not know if Edmond's conviction would mean further punishment from the athletic department, but did confirm it would be Braine's call.
Nelson said he was attacked by 12 to 15 people outside Squires Student Center about 2 a.m. Aug. 31. After several people hit him, including a punch to his head from Edmond, he landed on the ground, Nelson said. When a friend, track athlete Hilliard Sumner III, helped him up from the street, the mob turned on Sumner.
Sumner was chased to Draper Road, where several people hit, kicked and beat him with a cane, according to several witnesses. He was treated for a broken collarbone and minor injuries.
Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith commented on why Edmond's was the first conviction from the many indictments:
"These cases have all been difficult and been difficult primarily because the evidence has been one or two witnesses for the commonwealth [vs.] usually a half-dozen for the defense," Keith said. "In this case, the judge had a clearer picture of the facts because there were only two witnesses for the defense and a confession as well."
Police interviewed more than 75 people before the indictments were issued nine weeks after the incident. Four people have been brought to court in connection with the brawl.
Former football player Greg Melvin never was tried for misdemeanor assault and battery because Sumner said he had been wrongly accused. A felony attempted malicious wounding charge against wide receiver Angelo Harrison was dismissed, as was a misdemeanor assault-and-battery charge against linebacker Michael Hawkes. In the last two cases, the judge said the evidence presented was filled with discrepancies and created reasonable doubt.
Edmond's case was not filled with conflicting statements of witnesses except for two statements Edmond gave to police.
Blacksburg Police Detective Danny Compton testified that Edmond told him during his first interview that he hit Nelson's side with his fist. Edmond said he then took a cane hanging from Nelson's back pocket.
During a second statement that Edmond gave to police three weeks later, with two attorneys present, he said he never hit Nelson, he only shielded himself as Nelson fell toward him. He said Nelson was falling in his direction after other people had hit him.
Edmond testified Monday that he took Nelson's cane - a symbol of a black fraternity that is used in step dance shows - because he had heard of members of another fraternity at a different college who beat a student using the same type of canes.
Dutton Olinger, Edmond's attorney, said Edmond was a "good Samaritan" who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was not guilty of the charge.
He said his client's case was a good example of why people should not talk to police without an attorney present because their words "are often twisted or used out of context."
"He was only trying to keep Jonathan Nelson from falling into him ... from hurting him or [from Nelson hurting] himself," Olinger said.
Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs, noting Edmond's conflicting statements to police and Nelson's testimony, said there was no doubt Edmond was one of the people who hit Nelson.
The trial of Brian Edmonds, a senior starting fullback during the 1996-97 season, was postponed because his attorney was ill. No new date has been set.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 linesby CNB