THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 1, 1994 TAG: 9410010254
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: VIRGINIA
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
A Smithfield man has filed the third lawsuit levied against the town of Smithfield, town officials and former officials in less than a month.
Willie Bailey says he was accused in 1991 of twice robbing a local Sentry Mart food store. He was tried on the charges in March 1992 and found not guilty.
In the $1.35 million lawsuit for wrongful prosecution filed in Isle of Wight Circuit Court, Bailey's attorneys say original crime reports were destroyed and new reports filed that indicated Bailey could have been the armed robber.
Originally, the suit claims, witnesses said the store was robbed by a man as tall as 6 feet 3. Bailey is 5 feet 7. The suit also alleges the report was altered to indicate that a police tracking dog used on the night of one of the robberies went directly to Bailey's home, just outside of Smithfield, when that was not the case.
The suit accuses former Police Chief Claiborne Havens, current Chief Mark A. Marshall and Officer K.E. Beach of altering the reports, or directing or allowing them to be altered, or both. It also accuses Beach of testifying in court to ``facts'' he knew to be untrue.
Arrest reports involving the robberies directly connect Bailey's lawsuit to suits filed recently against the town and its officials by two former Smithfield police officers alleging wrongful discharge and civil rights violations.
David Richardson, fired in September 1992, was involved in the original Bailey investigation. Witnesses said the store was robbed on two occasions by two different men, both taller than Bailey. Richardson said he was ordered to change the crime report and that he refused. His refusal to make the changes led to his dismissal, he contends.
Edward P. Hill, third in command when he was discharged from the police force soon after Richardson, supports his former co-worker's claims.
Both officers also have alleged there was wrongdoing and corruption - including altered arrest reports, altered traffic reports and unserved criminal warrants - in the Smithfield force while Havens was chief, until he retired for health reasons in May 1992.
Bailey's lawsuit, however, is the first that actually names Havens as a defendant and also names Beach, who is said in the lawsuit to have been involved in the ``conspiracy'' to alter the original reports and ``misrepresent evidence'' in Bailey's arrest.
Bailey previously filed civil rights charges against the town in federal court, but that case was thrown out. At the time, Bailey's attorney, Jeffrey Breit, said he was considering filing suit for wrongful prosecution.
He waited until suits supporting Bailey's claims had been filed by the former town employees.
KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT WRONGFUL PROSECUTION
SMITHFIELD POLICE DEPARTMENT ROBBERY
by CNB