THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120467
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 72 lines
Sandra G. Weber was willing to help her adult son last July when he called from a telephone booth in desperate need of clothing and a ride.
Hours later, at about 3 a.m. on July 20, her son, Michael Robert Mitchem, brutally assaulted Weber as the two sat in her car along the side of Military Highway in Virginia Beach.
Mitchem, 33, tore at her eyes with his hands, gouging out her right eyeball and shattering the bone that encases it. He ripped the left eyelid from his mother's face.
After dragging his mother from the car and kicking her in the side, Mitchem left Weber brutally beaten and fled the scene by stealing her car.
On Tuesday, Mitchem pleaded guilty in Virginia Beach Circuit Court to aggravated malicious wounding and carjacking in the assault against his mother. He could be sentenced to life in prison.
Mitchem's outburst was the continuation of a violent pattern. He had a long history of domestic abuse convictions against his former wife. He also had at least three charges on his record of assaulting law enforcement officers.
This time, Mitchem had quarreled with his girlfriend and claimed that he had left her apartment without the proper complement of clothing.
``He said, `Mom, I'm standing here in my underwear,' '' Weber recalled during testimony Tuesday before Circuit Judge Thomas S. Shadrick.
Weber, 52, dutifully drove to the Birdneck Road telephone booth where her son was waiting - only to be attacked by him later.
But prosecutors say Mitchem was only getting started that July night when he stole his mother's car and left her bleeding by the roadside.
Later that morning, prosecutors say, he stole an FBI surveillance van from a federal compound in Norfolk and used it in an attempt to run over a Virginia Beach police officer.
Mitchem then led police on a chase along the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway, police say.
That resulted in a charge of attempted capital murder against Mitchem. He is scheduled to be tried on that charge and several others in April.
His mother testified Tuesday that she tried to convince her son to seek psychiatric help and to turn himself in to police as they drove around Virginia Beach last July.
``You need to turn yourself in,'' Weber remembered telling her son as she drove along Newtown Road and Virginia Beach Boulevard. ``Why not go to (Tidewater Psychiatric Institute)?''
But Mitchem was obstinate, she testified, and refused to seek help. He repeatedly asked his mother to take him back to his girlfriend's apartment.
``He was getting antsy and aggravated,'' Weber said. ``I could just feel I was in trouble.''
When they reached Military Highway, Weber said, Mitchem reached his foot across the floor of the car and slammed on the brake.
Mitchem slammed her head against the steering wheel, she testified, and grabbed at his mother's face, pushing his fingers into her eyes.
He pulled the right eye from the socket, exploding the orbital bone. He pulled the dome light from the car ceiling and banged it against her head.
``He just went berserk,'' Weber remembered.
As Weber slumped in the car, Mitchem got out and ran to the driver's side. He dragged his mother from the driver's seat and onto the road, screaming obscenities.
`` `Aren't you dead yet, bitch?' '' Weber recalled her son saying.
After her son drove away, paramedics found Weber and took her to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
Surgeons restored both eyes to her sockets and re-attached her left eyelid. Additional surgery and corrective lenses have restored much of her sight, although she still suffers from double vision. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Michael Mitchem is to be tried for attempted capital murder and
other charges in April.
KEYWORDS: MALICIOUS ASSAULT GUILTY PLEA