THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 4, 1996 TAG: 9605040364
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
Suffolk Del. Robert E. Nelms said Friday that he passed a polygraph test, the most extraordinary step yet in his battle to contain legal and political fallout from his indecent exposure arrest at a Richmond park.
With his wife, Diane, at his side, Nelms asserted the polygraph test proves he is telling the truth. All along, he has said he did nothing more than step off a walking path to relieve himself during the Feb. 15 incident.
``I am hopeful that with these results, the commonwealth's attorney will refuse to waste the taxpayers' money and put an end to this witch hunt,'' Nelms said at a Capitol news conference.
Nelms, 36, refused to release the test results or provide a list of questions he was asked.
``I can't do that today,'' he said. ``We'll have to wait and see what the commonwealth's attorney does.''
Later, Richmond prosecutors said the news conference did nothing to change their plans to ask a grand jury to reinstate an indecent exposure charge against Nelms on Monday.
``This case will be tried in court, and I will do everything I can to make sure Mr. Nelms has a fair trail,'' said Claire Cardwell, a deputy commonwealth's attorney.
She declined to discuss the circumstances leading to his arrest. When asked why a vice officer did not charge Nelms with the lesser crime of urinating in public, she said, ``He was charged with an appropriate charge based on his conduct.''
While the polygraph test would be inadmissible in court, Nelms can still make good use of it in the broader court of public opinion, according to Scott Leake, director of the Joint Republican Caucus.
``I think that's what's important to his voters and his constituents - that he's being truthful,'' Leake said.
At his news conference, a defiant Nelms lashed out at media coverage of his case, which has identified the park where he was arrested as a meeting spot for homosexuals.
``Politics is a nasty game, but Diane and I feel that the media has crossed the line of responsible journalism,'' he said. ``Many questions have been intrusive to the point of being offensive.''
Diane Nelms said some press reports have been ``almost humorous.''
``I'm married to him; I know the facts,'' she said.
Robert Nelms also dropped what sounded like a bombshell: Another General Assembly member had been arrested ``in the same place for the same thing'' two weeks before the Feb. 15 incident.
``Mysteriously, not one word regarding that member has been reported,'' he said. ``. . . I hope you will pursue the identity of that member, and write with the same enthusiasm that you have shown me.''
Nelms declined to provide a name.
The Virginian-Pilot could find no evidence to back this claim. Carl Holzbach, a Richmond police spokesman, said a search of incident reports turned up no record of any such arrest.
A computer search of Richmond General District Court records for all 140 members of the General Assembly turned up only one arrest: Robert Nelms for indecent exposure. MEMO: Staff writers Warren Fiske and Robert Little contributed to this story.
NELM'S STATEMENT
Friday morning, Del. Robert Nelms, R-Suffolk, his wife by his side,
held a news conference at the State Capitol in Richmond. These are
excerpts of his prepared statement:
``I have told you all along that I was innocent of the charge against
me. To prove my innocence, I voluntarily submitted to a polygraph. The
test questions were taken from the arresting officer's statement and my
statement regarding the events of Feb. 15. The polygraph results showed
me to be 100 percent truthful.
That means only one thing. Both of us cannot be telling the truth. .
. . I had nothing to hide and gladly submitted to the polygraph. If
Officer Tignor has nothing to hide, then I believe (he) should take the
same polygraph I took.
I have been tried in the press. Enough is enough . . . .
I have talked to many attorneys and police officers, and no one can
recall a single case where a commonwealth's attorney sought a grand
jury indictment of a single misdemeanor. Apparently, this action is
unprecedented.
We recognize that this is only over if the commonwealth's attorney
says it's over. I am hopeful that with these results, the commonwealth's
attorney will refuse to waste the taxpayers' money and put an end to
this witch hunt.
The coverage of Robert Nelms by the media has raised a great deal of
questions in our minds. Politics is a nasty game, but Diane and I think
that the media has crossed the line of responsible journalism. Many
questions have been intrusive to the point of being offensive.
The results of this polygraph test leave no doubt that the charges
against me are completely inaccurate. If the commonwealth's attorney
insists on going forward with this charge in light of the polygraph
results, I am completely confident that I will be totally exonerated.
There can no longer be any doubt that this charge is frivolous and
baseless, and I therefore call on the commonwealth's attorney to drop
this case, and get back to pursuing the cases that are truly in the
interest of Virginia.'' ILLUSTRATION: AP color photo
Suffolk Del. Robert E. Nelms, with his wife, Diane, says Friday that
a lie detector test backs his story about what happened Feb. 15.
by CNB