THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 23, 1994 TAG: 9409230579
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DWAYNE YANCEY, LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
When Oliver L. North wanted to talk about crime during a speech in Danville Wednesday night, he had a fresh example - a Christiansburg police officer who was slain while trying to arrest a suspected shoplifter over the weekend.
The Republican U.S. Senate candidate spoke of how he was moved to attend the funeral of Officer Terry Griffith earlier in the day. He criticized the federal crime bill for failing to stop such violence, and said Gov. George Allen's plan to abolish parole was the better way to thwart ``career criminals.''
``The thug that murdered Officer Terry Griffith had been paroled numerous times,'' North told the crowd gathered in a Danville park. ``He'd been behind bars so many times he looked like a doggone zebra, and then he's out on the streets to kill a lawman.''
There's a catch, though: There's no evidence that Samuel Jerome Patterson had ever been paroled anywhere.
Patterson did have an extensive court record back home in Mercer County, W.Va. In the past 14 years, he'd been charged with 15 crimes, ranging from misdemeanor battery charges against various women to felony armed robbery and grand larceny.
But most of the cases were dismissed when the complaining witnesses or prosecutors did not show up in court.
Only once do court records there show that Patterson served any time in jail - and then just two days, after he was convicted of battery for beating up a store employee who confronted him about shoplifting.
Even if Patterson served time in local jails in other West Virginia jurisdictions, he never came in contact with that state's parole system.
``We have no record of him ever having been in a state institution, so there's no way he could have been paroled,'' said Henry Lowery, records supervisor with the West Virginia Division of Corrections in Charleston.
Nor are there any records showing Patterson was ever in Virginia's prison system - or ever paroled here, according to Richard Crossen, deputy director of the Virginia Parole Board.
So why did North say Patterson had been ``paroled numerous times?''
``That's what he was told by some of the officers at the funeral,'' said North spokesman Dan McLagan.
Indeed, there were numerous rumors circulating among law officers there about Patterson's criminal history, many of which didn't check out.
This isn't the first time that a tough-talking Republican has mistakenly implied that abolishing parole would have prevented specific crimes.
Allen himself, in a statewide television program in June promoting his no-parole agenda, cited seven cases that he said would have been prevented under his plan.
Later, aides acknowledged that criminals in five of the seven cases would have been free even under the Allen plan. In a sixth case, it's uncertain whether a previous conviction would have kept the criminal in prison long enough to prevent the crime.
This also isn't the first time that North's version of events has appeared to be at odds with the facts. North was convicted of obstructing Congress during the Iran-Contra affair for providing false written information. His conviction was later overturned when an appeals court ruled his televised testimony before Congress, for which he'd been given immunity, could have influenced the jury.
North's opponents - incumbent Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb and former state attorney general J. Marshall Coleman - have accused the retired Marine of being consistently untruthful. And North has made missteps on the stump.
In a debate earlier this month, North attacked ``unionized public schools'' and claimed there were more students in parochial schools in Norfolk than in public schools. In fact, about 35,000 Norfolk students attend public schools and about 3,500 go to private schools.
And at three appearances in Norfolk, North told audiences a rags-to-riches story about his immigrant grandfather to extol the virtues of self-reliance and free enterprise. However, details of the story are at odds with the available historical documents and the recollections of North's own relatives.
North's explanation of the tale's origins also shifted when he was asked about the discrepancies. MEMO: Staff writer Margaret Edds contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oliver North signs autographs Wednesday at a Danville rally.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CANDIDATES
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