DATE: Wednesday, November 26, 1997          TAG: 9711260517

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   45 lines

13 YEARS ADDED TO PRISON TERM OF MAN GUILTY OF BEATING MOTHER

A man who received a long prison sentence for beating his mother and gouging out her eye during a 1996 crime spree was sentenced last week to additional prison time for attempting to run down a police officer.

Michael Robert Mitchem, 34, serving 31 years for crimes associated with the attack on his mother, was convicted by a jury on Friday of attempted second-degree murder, reckless driving, eluding a police officer and driving on a suspended license.

He was sentenced to an additional 13 years in prison and fined $25,000 for the attempted murder charge. Mitchem will be formally sentenced Dec. 22.

According to evidence presented during a three-day trial, Mitchem stole an FBI van on the morning of July 20, 1996, from a federal compound in Norfolk and used it in an attempt to run over a Virginia Beach police officer.

On the same day - only hours before he assaulted the police officer - Mitchem attacked his mother, Sandra G. Weber, and then hijacked her car. He left his mother bleeding along Military Highway.

Mitchem claimed that he was high on methamphetamine at the time. Weber testified against her son in February, when Mitchem pleaded guilty to the carjacking and malicious-wounding charges.

Weber and Mitchem drove through the streets of Virginia Beach for hours, as Weber tried to persuade her son to turn himself in to police and seek psychiatric help.

Instead, Mitchem assaulted his mother as the two sat in Weber's parked car on Military Highway. He gouged out her right eyeball and dragged her from the car. Weber has since had several operations to restore her vision.

According to prosecutor Janee Joslin, Mitchem eventually got out of his mother's car and scaled the FBI compound fence in Norfolk. He got into a van that had the keys inside and drove toward his girlfriend's house.

When police spotted Mitchem parked in front of his girlfriend's house, they began a low-speed chase to apprehend him.

During the chase, Mitchem attempted to run into a police officer parked near an intersection on Brant Road. The police officer suffered minor injuries when he attempted to climb atop his car. The officer flipped onto the pavement in an effort to avoid being hit by Mitchem.

Mitchem then drove to the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway, where he was captured. KEYWORDS: ASSAULT INJURIES SENTENCING

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu