THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 28, 1995 TAG: 9502280281
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COURTLAND LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
Three juveniles will be tried as adults on charges that they abducted a Carrsville man last fall, forced him into the trunk of his car, robbed him and beat him to death.
Juvenile Court Judge William R. Moore Jr. ruled Monday that the three - Truvelle L. Faulk and Alex T. Hunt, both 16, and Lance D. Holland, 15 - must stand trial in Circuit Court. They are charged with capital murder and robbery in the Nov. 28 killing of Merrell W. Britt, 47.
Capital murder carries a possible death penalty or life term. Southampton County's commonwealth's attorney, Richard Grizzard, declined to say whether he plans to seek the death penalty. Other judges have ruled, based on Supreme Court decisions, that an offender who is under 16 at the time of the crime cannot be considered for the death penalty.
Hunt was to be taken to the Western Tidewater Regional Jail, and Faulk and Holland were taken to the Portsmouth Jail. Each had a parent or parents present in court.
Attorneys for the defendants plan on March 9 to appeal the transfer of the case to Circuit Court.
About a dozen family members of the victim gathered on Monday outside the Ruritan Hall, which, because of courthouse renovation, had served as a makeshift courtroom.
They agreed that the hardest part is not knowing what happened to Britt.
They first realized that something was wrong after Britt did not show up for his 11 p.m.-to-7 a.m. shift Nov. 30 at Union Camp in Franklin, where he worked on an assembly line stacking particle board.
Britt, who had worked at Union Camp for 20 years, had been on vacation for five days but was to have returned that night. He never reported to work and didn't come in to pick up his check the next day, Dec. 1.
On Dec. 2, family members filed a missing-person report.
``Where was he?'' asked his sister-in-law, Irene Britt. ``We knew if he was within 50 miles he could get his check. We knew if he was hurt and could get to a phone, he would call one of us. So we knew it had to be something bad.''
Divers found Britt's body in the Nottoway River near the Hercules Inc. chemical plant nearly a week after he apparently was abducted at gunpoint from an Isle of Wight County 7-Eleven. Police have recovered a .380-caliber handgun that they think was used in the abduction.
An autopsy report listed causes of death as trauma to the head and face, and drowning.
Family members do not believe Britt knew his attackers.
Britt was one of four brothers and one sister who grew up in Carrsville. He never married. He loved fishing, gardening and country dancing and could play organ and piano, though he'd never taken a lesson.
His relatives know that at some point before his death, Britt was forced into the trunk of his 1994 Mazda and taken to an area near the river, where he was beaten to death.
``The torture of being in that car,'' said his brother Lynell Britt. ``That would have traumatized him. We don't know what time he was abducted or how long they rode him around.''
Each of the defendants made statements to police, but copies were not made public in court Monday.
Scant details came out. Hunt apparently did not join his two friends until after Britt allegedly had been abducted from the convenience store near the Airway Shopping Center in Isle of Wight County, argued his lawyer, Johnnie Mizelle. But the prosecutor argued that Hunt quickly became aware of what was going on and later participated in the beating.
Britt's Mazda was involved in two accidents on Nov. 28, one in Franklin in which a bumper and license plate fell off, and another near Waverly, in which two of the youths charged in the killing were injured and required hospital treatment. Those accidents helped lead police to the youths.
Britt's family members said they were relieved that the cases of those charged will go to Circuit Court.
``I figure if they can commit a crime, they can pay the consequences, said Brenda Hedgepeth, Britt's cousin. ``I just wonder what they feel now. What kind of conscience do they have? How do their souls feel?'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
KILLED:
Merrell W. Britt, age 47
Apparently abducted at gunpoint from an Isle of Wight County
convenience store last November. He was forced into the truck of his
own car, then robbed and beaten to death. His body was found nearly
a week later in a river.
CHARGED:
Truvelle L. Faulk, 16
Alex T. Hunt, 16
Lance D. Holland, 15
KEYWORDS: KIDNAPPING MURDER DROWNING ARREST by CNB