THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 12, 1995 TAG: 9508120047
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
In a brutal killing plagued by prosecution setbacks, prosecutors won a victory Friday when a judge allowed into evidence a statement by one of the three original suspects in the crime.
In that statement, Nathaniel R. Lindsey told police he hit William A. Jones Jr. once, kicked him in the head twice and watched as friends struck him with a cinder block then cut his throat with a broken bottle.
Lindsey said he later held a cigarette lighter by the dying man's face and watched him bleed.
Those details are expected to be used as evidence in a jury trial requested by prosecutors and set for Nov. 21.
Jones, 43, died about 7 a.m. the morning after the New Year's Day beating, becoming the city's first homicide victim of the year. Police investigating the crime scene in the 1300 block of Johnstons Road made a plaster cast to record how deeply Jones' head had been pounded into the earth.
Days after the killing, police charged three teenagers - 15, 17 and 19 - with murder. But Feb. 22, prosecutors said they lacked evidence to proceed with a murder charge against the 17-year-old. A witness had become scared. Prosecutors may pursue charges at a later time. He now has unrelated charges pending in juvenile court.
That same day, a juvenile judge ruled that Neil V. Bates Jr., 15 at the time of the slaying, should be tried as an adult.
But in May, Circuit Judge Luther C. Edmonds ruled that a statement Bates made to police would not be admissible at trial because it was not voluntary. Prosecutors are appealing. Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Lisa Caton said she could not discuss the fate of the case if the appeal is not granted. In the meantime, Bates is free on bond.
Lindsey, whose nickname is ``Maniac,'' has no record of criminal violence. His only conviction was for a misdemeanor. Edmonds on Friday reduced his bond from $100,000 to $50,000.
The victim and his alleged attackers were strangers.
In his statement to police, Lindsey, now 20, describes what happened in the evening hours of Jan. 1 as he and three other youths drank M.D. 20/20 wine outside apartments on Johnstons Road.
As he tells it, Jones looked on as the 17-year-old urinated. The 17-year-old accused Jones of being gay, and Jones swung at him. Bates joined the fray and hit Jones. Then, together, the two dragged Jones to the ground. Lindsey described what happened next:
``Then Skip (whose identity is not known to police) was like, `Hold on. Hold on. Let me get a hit. Let me get a hit in,' so he hit him. Then Skip picked up (Jones') bike, threw the bike on the guy ...
``Then I came over. I was thinking to myself, just by me being there I was going to get an accessory charge, so I volunteered to help. I punched the guy one time. I kicked him twice (in the head). Then I backed off.
``They was still beating away on the guy, and then (the 17-year-old) asked me did I have a knife or any kind of weapon on me. I told him `No.' I looked around for any kind of object that was on the ground.
``I seen this cinder block. . . . I asked Neil to come over and help me pick it up. We picked the cinder block up, but before I got to the guy, I dropped the cinder block on the ground, because I just couldn't do it.''
Lindsey said he left and went around the corner.
``I walked back around there. I saw Skip and Neil take the cinder block and drop the cinder block on the guy's head. Then while they was still beating on the guy, throwing the bike on the guy and all this and that, Neil and (the 17-year-old) picked up the block and dropped it on his head again. So that was two times he got hit with the cinder block in the head. Then we left.''
During the fight (the 17-year-old) said: ``He already seen all of our faces. We've got to kill him,'' Lindsey told police.
At one point (the 17-year-old) found a bottle and used it as a weapon, Lindsey said. ``He took the bottle, broke a little piece of the neck off, took the bottle and held it down in the guy's neck for possibly about a minute, and then took it up and we left, and when we was leaving, he was trying to figure out what we should do with the bottle. Skip took the bottle and busted the bottle in the middle of the street.''
Lindsey said he and the youths walked by the dying man on their way to buy marijuana.
``(I) took a lighter and put the lighter by the guy's face, and we seen that the guy - right above the guy's left eye was busted open. Blood was gushing out of his eye.''
KEYWORDS: MURDER TRIAL by CNB