DATE: Friday, September 26, 1997            TAG: 9709260763

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   51 lines

PSYCHOLOGIST TO TEST TEEN WHO KILLED SUFFOLK WOMAN

A court-appointed specialist will try to answer the question that has plagued many in and out of the court: Why did June D. Sykes slash the throat of a bookstore clerk in December?

Circuit Judge Westbrook J. Parker agreed Thursday to allow Evan Nelson, a Midlothian psychologist, to examine the teen-ager before he is sentenced for first-degree murder.

Parker also granted a request for a neuro-psychological evaluation for Sykes, 16.

For more than a month, Sykes has been on suicide watch at the Western Tidewater Regional Jail and is suffering from depression, according to the motions filed on his behalf.

Defense attorneys Michael D. Eberhardt and Johnnie E. Mizelle offered to turn in their fees if that would help pay the examination costs.

Sykes faces 20 years to life in prison for killing Margaret M. ``Peggy'' Lilley on Dec. 18.

``The most important question is, `Why?' '' Eberhardt said. ``Mr. Mizelle and I do not feel we can effectively assist in answering that question.''

Sykes, who was 15 at the time of the murder, has no prior criminal record though he has a history of mental problems, Eberhardt said.

The court is concerned with rehabilitation as well as punishment and sentencing, he said.

And Eberhardt said he is concerned that his client may not be emotionally stable enough to get through the sentencing phase.

At first, Parker had been reluctant to appoint a mitigation specialist who evaluates prisoners and makes suggestions for their sentencing.

Parker, however, said he was swayed by the psychologist's reputation.

``This is an unusual case for a lot of reasons,'' he said. ``I'm not saying I am going to appoint one for every case.''

He said he had granted such a request once before in another first-degree murder case.

``When we got to trial, I didn't think the mitigation specialist added anything,'' said Parker, who set a $2,500 limit on Nelson's bill.

Jo Anne Spencer, an assistant commonwealth's attorney, argued that the taxpayers should not have to pay anything further for Sykes, who had been examined by a psychologist who determined he was sane and competent to stand trial.

Because of the added evaluations, sentencing was rescheduled for Dec. 4. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

A judge allowed the examination to help determine why June D. Sykes,

above, cut the throat of a bookstore clerk. KEYWORDS: MURDER SENTENCE

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