DATE: Tuesday, November 4, 1997             TAG: 9711040274

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: SALEM                             LENGTH:   37 lines

JURY WILL CHOOSE LIFE IN PRISON OR DEATH FOR MAN WHO KILLED 4

Several women testified Monday that convicted killer Earl Bramblett either sexually assaulted or terrorized them in the past.

The testimony came at a sentencing hearing for Bramblett, who was convicted Friday of capital murder in the 1994 slayings of a family of four. He could get a death sentence or life in prison.

One of the women, now 33, said Bramblett initiated sex with her when she was 12 or 13 years old. Another said Bramblett dragged her into the kitchen of his Bedford home in the late 1970s, held a gun to her head and then fired a shot into the floor.

But several of Bramblett's family members testified that Bramblett, the youngest of five children, grew up in poverty and with a mother who drank more and more heavily as her son grew.

Bramblett's ex-wife, Mary Miller of Roanoke, described him as paranoid during their seven-year marriage in the 1970s. The trait grew worse when he drank heavily, she said.

``Earl has always felt that everybody was out to get him, I guess more so with the police,'' Miller said. ``He trusted no one.''

Bramblett, a 55-year-old sign painter, was convicted of killing Blaine and Teresa Hodges of Vinton and their two daughters. Prosecutors said Bramblett was obsessed with one of the daughters, 11-year-old Winter, and believed she was being used as ``sexual bait'' in a police sting.

Bramblett also was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson. A jury recommended four life terms for those crimes.

Bramblett sought to personally question the women who testified Monday, but the prosecution objected, and Roanoke County Circuit Judge Roy Willett refused to allow the questioning by Bramblett.

Sentencing testimony is expected to resume today.

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