DATE: Friday, March 7, 1997                 TAG: 9703070715

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: HAMPTON                           LENGTH:   36 lines

GROUP LOOKS FOR BIAS IN VA. JUSTICE SYSTEM COMMITTEE TO STUDY CASES BACK TO 1993, INCLUDING ONE THAT INVOLVED IVERSON.

The Virginia Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights met here Thursday to look into whether there is racial bias in the justice system.

The committee, which will meet again today in Newport News, is studying cases on Virginia's Peninsula dating to 1993, including basketball star Allen Iverson's conviction of mob violence in a bowling alley brawl. The conviction later was overturned.

Iverson and two friends who also were convicted are black.

``There's no credence in the attitude that you should just forget about it and move on. We have too many people who will go along with anything . . .,'' committee chairwoman Jessie Rattley said.

``But what we want is a healthy community,'' said Rattley, a former Newport News mayor. ``We don't want the pot to boil over.''

The committee will report its findings to the national commission, which may in turn report the findings to the Justice Department.

Iverson was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a Feb. 14, 1993, chair-throwing brawl at a bowling alley. He was a high school junior and a prep sports standout at the time.

He served four months in jail, then received conditional clemency from then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder. An appeals court later overturned the conviction for insufficient evidence.

He was accepted at Georgetown, but left after his sophomore season when the Philadelphia 76ers made him the No. 1 overall pick in the National Basketball Association draft. KEYWORDS: RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

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