THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 11, 1996 TAG: 9601110344
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Shirley Revering thought she had finally rescued her granddaughter from an abusive boyfriend when Tracey Dawn Crafton jumped into the Reverings' van in a convenience store parking lot last March.
Revering told her husband, Ronald Revering, to ``floor it'' once 24-year-old Crafton was safely inside.
``She got into the car, and it was too late,'' Shirley Revering said in a barely audible voice during opening testimony Wednesday in the murder trial of Richard S. ``Ricky'' Hogarth.
After Crafton climbed into the rear seat, Hogarth appeared with a gun pointed at Crafton's head, Revering testified.
``The gun fired, and she fell toward me. All I could hear after that was it sounded like a thousand bullets going off, but I knew it wasn't'' that many, she said through tears.
Crafton was killed in the shooting. Ron Revering, a 48-year-old former plumber and electrician, suffered severe wounds to his arm, chest and stomach.
After Hogarth shot Crafton for a second time, he apparently turned the gun on her grandmother, who was crouched in the front seat. But the gun was out of bullets, testimony indicated.
Hogarth, 31, went on trial Tuesday for first-degree murder and felony assault with the intent to kill.
If he is found guilty by a Pasquotank Superior Court jury of eight men and four women, he could be sentenced to the death penalty.
Assistant District Attorney Samantha Edwards told the jury Hogarth was ``manipulative, controlling and violent, especially when it came to Tracey Crafton.''
``Their short relationship became a slow dance to death,'' Edwards said during opening statements.
Hogarth's court-appointed attorneys, Samuel B. Dixon of Edenton and Gary Underhill of Elizabeth City, did not make any opening remarks.
Dixon did, however, say during jury selection Wednesday that Hogarth may take the witness stand and admit to the shootings - but not to the crimes being premeditated.
``He is basically going to tell you he committed second-degree murder,'' Dixon told jurors. ``That's totally unusual in a case like this.''
At the start of Wednesday morning's session, Dixon also advised Senior Resident Superior Court Judge J. Richard Parker of Manteo that Hogarth's health was deteriorating.
On Tuesday, Hogarth's mother said in an interview that her son has AIDS. Wednesday she showed a letter from a Charlottesville physician who wrote that Hogarth had a life expectancy of eight to 10 months.
The letter also indicated that Hogarth could live longer if he begins drug therapy.
Betty Cooper said her son has refused such treatment. ``I guess he don't see the need for it,'' she said. ``They say even if he takes it, he'll only live another three years at the most.''
Dixon told Parker, ``He's getting worse. I bet he's got a fever, and he says he can't eat. He's much worse then he was yesterday.''
The trial was initially scheduled to last two or three weeks. Parker indicated that deliberations may begin by the middle of next week.
Revering's recount of the evening of March 8, 1995, began the prosecution's case against Hogarth, who sat calmly through the proceedings.
Crafton called her grandmother in Virginia Beach and said she wanted to visit. They agreed to meet at Southland Restaurant in Moyock.
But Crafton didn't show up, so Revering called and arranged to meet closer to Elizabeth City - at a caution light in Camden County. It was the only landmark Revering was familiar with.
When Crafton again did not show, the Reverings drove into Elizabeth City. They called Crafton, who was at the home of Hogarth's mother on West Main Street Extended, north of Elizabeth City.
Crafton gave directions to the home, but the Reverings could not find it. They eventually stopped at the Zoom-In at the corner of Main Street Extended and U.S. 17, and convinced Hogarth by telephone to bring Crafton to the isolated convenience store.
Hogarth had earlier told Revering to go back to Virginia and forget about Crafton. Revering said she offered Hogarth money if he'd bring Crafton to the store parking lot.
KEYWORDS: MURDER TRIAL by CNB