
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994                    TAG: 9406220445 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: B1    EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA  
SOURCE: BY MARGARET TALEV, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940622                                 LENGTH: Medium

PAROLE IS DENIED DRIVER IN FATAL ACCIDENT

{LEAD} A former U.S. Coast Guardsman convicted in the drunken-driving accident that fatally injured an Outer Banks historian last summer was denied parole Tuesday.

Members of the N.C. Parole Commission decided that granting William J. Farrell parole only six months after his conviction ``would unduly depreciate the seriousness of his crime or promote disrespect for law,'' according to a statement released in Raleigh Tuesday.

{REST} This was the first time Farrell had been eligible for parole, and there had been protests from relatives and friends of the victim and advocates of stiffer penalties for drunken drivers.

Farrell was convicted in December of felony death with a motor vehicle, and given the maximum sentence - five years in jail. But through his participation in a work release program, he has shortened his date of release to Dec. 5, 1995.

Farrell, who had been convicted of driving while impaired five years before, had a blood alcohol content of .22, more than twice the legal limit, on the evening of June 5, 1993, after his van crossed the center line on U.S. Route 64 near Manteo, and smashed head-on into a motorcycle ridden by Robert J. Racavich. An Elizabethan expert, Racavich died later that night.

The parole commission, a five-member panel appointed by the governor, is required by law to review annually the cases of those who are eligible for parole.

In deciding whether to grant parole, the commission is instructed to consider the nature and circumstances of the crime, prison behavior and comments from victims and judicial officials, as well as the offender's criminal record.

Molly Harris, whose daughter was engaged to Racavich, said Tuesday she was pleased that Farrell's parole had been denied, and was ``extremely surprised because of the way our criminal courts system in Dare County handles DWI's. Nothing, for me, will ever bring Robert back,'' she said. ``But we're fighting so that someone else won't ever have to go through what we go through.''

{KEYWORDS} DRUNKEN DRIVING PAROLE

by CNB