DATE: Tuesday, October 7, 1997              TAG: 9710070295

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: From wire reports 

                                            LENGTH:  120 lines

VIRGINIA

CLINTWOOD - A mother and stepfather accused of torturing and killing their 4-year-old daughter in May were indicted on child abuse and murder charges Monday by a Dickenson County grand jury.

Kenneth Ray Jessie, 34, and Elizabeth Leftwich Jessie, 19, could be sentenced to life in prison if they are convicted at their trial, scheduled to begin Oct. 22.

Each also was indicted on a marijuana possession charge. Kenneth Jessie was indicted on a charge of driving after having been declared a habitual offender, said Melanie Blanton, assistant commonwealth's attorney.

The two had been married five months when Annie Leftwich was killed in their mountainside trailer.

According to testimony from a preliminary hearing, Annie Leftwich was smothered May 2. The autopsy showed the child died after something was placed in her mouth. There were cuts and bruises on the face of the child's corpse, bite marks on her thighs, a severe burn on her foot and puncture wounds. Wads of her hair had been ripped out.

Sheriff's investigator Danny Colley described how Annie was taped to her urine-soaked baby bed as punishment for bed wetting. Her hands were placed behind her back, through the slats in the headboard, and bound with electrical tape. Her feet were brought up over her head and were also bound to the headboard, Colley said at the preliminary hearing in August.

The Jessies blamed each other in statements they made to investigators.

Nancy Dickenson, Jessie's attorney, and Walt Rivers, Elizabeth Jessie's attorney, declined to comment about the case Monday.

The Jessies are being held in the county jail, and their attorneys have not sought their release on bond.

The death of Annie Leftwich deeply disturbed local residents, who erected a memorial outside the courthouse, held candlelight vigils and signed petitions calling for the death penalty in cases like hers.

Del. Clarence ``Bud'' Phillips, D-Castlewood, said he will ask the General Assembly in January to pass a bill that would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty when a child is killed after long-term abuse or torture. SOUTHWEST Man in wheelchair kills wife, then threatens drivers

COEBURN - A man fatally shot his wife and then drove his motorized wheelchair onto a major highway, where he threatened motorists with a gun before he was killed in a shootout with two officers, police said.

Wise County Sheriff's Deputy Joel Marcum was shot in the hand and the chest, but his bulletproof vest deflected a second bullet, State Police special agent Carroll Delp said.

Jack L. Palmer, 62, of Coeburn, was killed about 3 p.m. Sunday when Marcum and Scott Brooks, an off-duty police officer from nearby St. Paul, returned fire, Delp said.

About 15 minutes before the shootout, Palmer's son called an emergency dispatcher and said that his father had just shot his mother, Jane Elizabeth Palmer, 58, in their home.

Palmer drove his wheelchair about a half-mile to U.S. Route 58, where he pointed his .22-caliber handgun at people driving by and threatened to shoot them, Sheriff R.D. Oakes said.

Deputies shut down traffic in both directions on the four-lane highway and ordered Palmer to drop his gun. When he refused, Marcum drove his patrol car toward the wheelchair and planned to slowly tip it over and cause Palmer to lose his weapon, Oakes said.

But when the patrol car got within 10 feet, Palmer shot into the open driver's side window, hitting Marcum in the thumb and chest.

Oakes and Delp said they were unsure which officer fired the shot that killed Palmer, whose body was sent to the state medical examiner's office in Roanoke for an autopsy.

``He had already taken his wife's life, and he was saying to people in vehicles and the officers who arrived, `I'm going to shoot you; I'm going to kill you,' '' Oakes said. ``It was like he wanted to be shot and killed. We had no choice but to return fire.'' CENTRAL Prosecutors disagree on enforcing tobacco ban

RICHMOND - Stores that sell tobacco products to minors could face fines in some areas of Virginia but not in others because prosecutors disagree over who should be blamed for violations.

Since September, teen-agers under 18 working for the department of Alcohol Beverage Control have been testing retailers by trying to buy tobacco products at stores around the state. Under state law, it is illegal to sell cigarettes to minors. A first violation is punishable by a $100 fine, and the penalties go up from there.

Most local prosecutors advised ABC to target the clerks who make the sales when pressing charges, ABC spokeswoman Jennifer Toth said. However, some state delegates and one commonwealth's attorney want a different approach.

Bill Petty, the Lynchburg prosecutor, said ABC's efforts to stop sales to minors would have more impact if stores faced punishment.

Toth said Monday that the department follows local prosecutors' recommendations, which means Petty and like-thinking prosecutors can target stores instead of employees who break the law.

``We've worked with them (ABC) for years on their liquor checks,'' Petty said. ``I've been telling them for years that we need to be charging the stores and not the 19-year-old high school student behind the counter. . . . The stores are the ones that have to supervise these clerks.''

The law says ``no person shall sell'' tobacco to minors. But state law defines ``person'' as an individual or a corporation.

Dels. L. Preston Bryant Jr., R-Lynchburg, and William C. Mims, R-Leesburg, have asked Attorney General Richard Cullen for an opinion on the law's meaning. Cullen's opinion is not binding, but it does carry considerable weight with prosecutors.

If the law includes businesses, ``there should be the option of charging the stores if the local law enforcement agency feels that would be the best way to stop cigarette sales to minors,'' Bryant said.

Alexandria Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Sengel said he recommended prosecuting clerks, not stores. With a fine as small as the one state law provides, targeting a corporation is not worth the effort, Sengel said. ``It's quick, it's easy, and it probably has as much effect'' to fine the clerk instead of the employer, he said. COMING UP Today

FAIRFAX - State Commission on Family Violence holds town meeting, 7 p.m., Fairfax County Government Center.

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