DATE: Friday, July 11, 1997                 TAG: 9707110641

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   50 lines

JUDGE ALLOWS TV CAMERA FOR SUFFOLK MURDER TRIAL

A television camera likely will be allowed to photograph the first-degree murder trial of June D. Sykes, one of two teens charged in the December knifing of a bookstore clerk, a judge ruled Thursday.

However, Circuit Judge E. Everett Bagnell said he would not permit the camera to record a security videotape that captured the sounds of Margaret M. ``Peggy'' Lilley's death the week before Christmas.

The judge's decision came over objections by both the prosecution and the defense attorneys.

If he changes his mind, Bagnell said, he would notify the attorneys and the media by Aug. 5.

A jury trial for Sykes, 15, is scheduled for Aug. 15 on the murder charge and a related charge of cut, stab or wound.

Lilley, 55, died after her throat was cut while she was working alone at The Bookhaven in the Suffolk Plaza Shopping Center on Dec. 18.

Bagnell said he had reservations about the camera - requested by WAVY-TV - because only a short excerpt would be aired each day.

``Rather than showing the (legal) process, to get a one-minute slice of a two-day trial . . . does disturb the court,'' he said.

The attorneys said the camera would distract the jury and disrupt the court.

Bagnell also denied a request by Sykes' court-appointed attorneys - Johnnie E. Mizelle and Michael D. Eberhardt to either move the trial to another location or bring in a jury panel from elsewhere. Eberhardt argued that pre-trial coverage would make it difficult for the attorneys to pick unbiased jurors.

``I am satisfied that we can obtain a fair and impartial jury,'' Bagnell said, noting that he would allow both sides great leeway in questioning prospective jurors about their knowledge of the case.

Mizelle asked that the prosecutors indicate whether they would seek a conviction on first-degree murder, which involves premeditation, or simply felony murder.

``We're going with the indictment,'' said Jo Anne Spencer, an assistant commonwealth's attorney.

``Premeditated,'' she added.

Bagnell ordered the defense to indicate by July 25 if they would present an insanity defense.

George M. Fenner Jr., 16, is scheduled to be tried on the same charges on Aug. 5. He was also 15 at the time of the offense.

Both teens were arrested the day after Lilley's death. They are being held at Western Tidewater Regional Jail without bond. KEYWORDS: TRIAL MURDER JUVENILE CAMERA IN THE COURTROOM

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