THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602160495
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FRANKLIN LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Trying to avoid a possible death penalty, Truvelle L. Faulk, 17, pleaded guilty to capital murder and robbery Thursday in the November 1994 beating death of a Union Camp Corp. worker.
In testimony, Faulk admitted his role in the killing of Merrell W. Britt, 47. He also implicated two teenage friends who he said helped him beat and kick Britt, then carry him, still alive, and throw him into the Nottoway River.
Prosecutors had said they planned to ask for the death penalty against all three youths. They are still seeking the death penalty against Lance D. Holland, who was 15 at the time of the crime, and Alex T. Hunt, then 16. Faulk was 16.
All three youths have been certified by the Juvenile Court to stand trial as adults.
Faulk, flanked by his lawyer, Jon Babineau, and his mother, politely answered questions by Circuit Judge Rodham T. Delk Jr. during an hourlong hearing.
Delk accepted plea agreements that called for Faulk to receive a life term on each charge in exchange for testimony against his co-defendants and cooperation with prosecutors. Delk accepted the plea agreements, but took under advisement a finding of guilt or innocence - the plea bargain is void if Faulk does not testify or cooperate with prosecutors.
Because the crime occurred before Virginia's no-parole policy took effect in January 1995, Faulk would be eligible for parole, but not before he had served 25 years.
Britt's family took up the front row of the right side of the Franklin City Council chambers, used as a courtroom because of renovations to the Southampton County courthouse. They said they had mixed feelings about the guilty plea and likely punishment.
Among Britt's relatives at the hearing were three brothers, a sister, a sister-in-law, an aunt and an uncle.
``You have to look at (his) age, yet (he's) committed a crime - a very serious crime,'' said Irene Britt, the victim's sister-in-law. ``It's hard to say what you want the outcome to be. We have lost someone, and (Faulk) is here seeing family and friends. He's had another year to live.
``My heart goes out to the family, but we're family too.''
After the hearing, Cheryl Brown, Faulk's mother, cried softly outside the council chambers. He is her only child.
Faulk was taken back to the Portsmouth City Jail. His next court date will be set after the trials of his co-defendants.
Britt was abducted at gunpoint from an Isle of Wight County 7-Eleven on Nov. 28, 1994. He was forced into the trunk of his 1994 Mazda and driven around for about two hours while his captors drank the beer he had just bought and smoked blunts - cigars filled with marijuana and crack cocaine, authorities said. They then took him to an area by the river, beat him and threw him into the river.
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.
An autopsy report listed the causes of Britt's death as trauma to the head and face, and drowning.
Divers found Britt's body in the Nottoway River near the Hercules Inc. chemical plant nearly a week after he disappeared. Police recovered a
Britt's family first realized something was wrong when he 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 worked at Union Camp for 20 years, had been on vacation for five days and was to have returned to work on Nov. 30. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by L. TODD SPENCER
Truvelle L. Faulk, 17, pleaded guilty to capital murder and robbery
in the beating death of Merrell W. Britt, 47, a worker at Union Camp
Corp.
KEYWORDS: MURDER TRIAL by CNB