DATE: Saturday, September 13, 1997          TAG: 9709130356

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: From staff reports 

                                            LENGTH:   82 lines

COURTS & CRIME

SUFFOLK

Teen is convicted of robbing 2 people in auto parts store

Michael D. Lawrence was convicted Friday of robbing two people at gunpoint in a downtown business in December.

Lawrence, 19, pleaded guilty in Circuit Court to two counts of robbery and one count of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

According to court testimony, Lawrence entered Western Auto on West Washington Street Dec. 3 with Rashard Leary, while Antonio Brown remained outside. Lawrence and Leary, both armed with semi-automatic handguns, forced the clerk and a customer to lie on the floor while they took money from the cash register, a drawer and the clerk's pocket.

Ramona D. Baldwin, an assistant commonwealth's attorney who prosecuted the case, told Judge Westbrook J. Parker that she would present a motion on seven other charges against Lawrence at his sentencing Nov. 7. He also was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery, two counts of abduction and three other firearms charges, all stemming from the same incident.

Lawrence, who faces five years to life in prison on each robbery charge and three years on the firearm charge, was returned to Western Tidewater Regional Jail to await sentencing.

Man convicted in shooting death, gets 18-year term

Rodney Q. Davis was sentenced to 18 years in prison Friday for the shooting death of George L. ``Butch'' Scott last November after an argument over drugs turned violent.

After a two-day jury trial in Circuit Court, Davis, 32, was convicted of manslaughter, using a firearm in the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a felon.

The jury imposed the maximum sentence on each charge - 10 years for manslaughter, three for using a firearm and five for possession.

Davis had been arrested Nov. 29, the day after Scott's death, and charged with first-degree murder. If convicted of that charge, he would have faced life in prison.

NORFOLK

Husband charged with murder in woman's death

A 20-year-old woman was found dead in her apartment in the Sherwood Forest section Friday morning, police said.

Her husband has been charged with her death.

The victim, identified as Katrina Cowell of the 4700 block of Little John Drive, was found by a neighbor about 7 a.m.

Police charged Charles Cowell, 37, with murder.

Larry Hill, a police spokesman, said the man had no known address. While he and the victim were married, they had been living apart, he said.

The woman's body was found after her 3-year-old son wandered out of their apartment, Hill said. Cowell lived in Nottingham Apartments.

The toddler ``couldn't wake his mother,'' Hill said. Cowell's 2-year-old daughter was missing Friday morning, but police later found her safe with relatives, Hill said. Both children were said to be staying with relatives Friday afternoon.

``All I know is she was a wonderful person,'' said the apartment manager, who declined to give her name.

Cowell's body was taken to the state medical examiner's office for an examination to determine the cause of death.

PORTSMOUTH

Chesapeake man charged with intimidating witness

A 23-year-old Chesapeake man was charged with two counts of intimidating a witness, according to police spokesman, Amber Whittaker.

Whittaker said police arrested Damien K. Clark after the witnessreported being threatened.

Clark, of the 200 block of Wexford Drive, is being held in the Portsmouth City Jail on $25,000 bond with stipulations.

The stipulations are that he reside with his father; that he have no contact with the victim; that he not come into the city of Portsmouth except to go to court, and that if he wants to visit his children, they come to him.

Whittaker would not say in what case the witness was to testify.

Court records show that Clark is charged in Portsmouth with use of a firearm while attempting to commit assault and battery and attempted grand larceny.

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