Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 12, 1990 TAG: 9004120316
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: VICTORIA RATCLIFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Martha Ann McGeorge, 39, of 914 Cottage Ave., was in very serious condition Wednesday with shotgun wounds in her hip and head.
Earl Eugene Meece, 56, was being held without bond in the Roanoke County/Salem Jail on charges of malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and possession of an illegal weapon - a single-shot sawed-off shotgun, according to Vinton Police Chief R.R. Foutz.
Meece had been charged four times previously with harassing the woman and served time in jail for brandishing a firearm at her, court records show.
At his arraignment Wednesday, Meece said he moved from Vinton to Mississippi six weeks ago.
Burkart said that when McGeorge called him Tuesday afternoon, she had said she had seen Meece following her in March and on April 5 and 6. McGeorge told the prosecutor that Meece had not threatened her or acted in a violent manner, but she was concerned, Burkart said.
Circuit Judge G.O. Clemens had placed Meece on five years' inactive probation in August for brandishing a firearm at McGeorge in June, Roanoke County Circuit Court records show. A condition of that probation was that Meece not possess any firearms and not have any contact with McGeorge or her family.
Burkart said he told McGeorge on Tuesday that he would ask Clemens the next day to issue an order asking Meece to show why he should not be held in contempt for violating the condition of his probation.
McGeorge had charged Meece twice with trespassing at her home after she had forbidden him to come on her property and once with destroying her property.
General District Judge John Apostolou took a Dec. 25, 1988, trespassing charge under advisement for 12 months and ordered Meece not to have any contact with McGeorge directly or indirectly. That charge was later dismissed.
In February 1989, McGeorge again charged Meece with trespassing at her home and defacing her property. Apostolou also took those charges under advisement for 12 months and later dismissed them.
General District Court Substitute Judge Ellen Weinman convicted Meece of brandishing a firearm at McGeorge in June 1989 and sentenced him to six months in jail.
In that case, Burkart said, Meece had confronted McGeorge at a Vinton gas station and brandished a firearm at her and her teen-age son. According to Burkart, Meece said from the witness stand that he had wanted to scare her.
Meece appealed the six-month jail sentence to Circuit Court, and in August, Clemens gave him a 12-month suspended jail sentence and placed him on probation.
At that time, Burkart said, McGeorge became hysterical in the courtroom and cried that she would have to live her life in fear of Meece.
But, the prosecutor said, he had not heard from McGeorge about any problems with Meece until Tuesday afternoon.
"It's frustrating for me," Burkart said. "I feel terribly sorry for this woman. But she did what she was supposed to do; I did what I was supposed to do. There is absolutely nothing I could do or anyone could have done to keep him in jail."
Even if Meece had served the entire six-month jail sentence, he would have been out of jail Tuesday night, Burkart said.
Meece was apprehended by Vinton police Tuesday night as he was leaving the scene of the shooting in the parking lot of the Berkshire Health Care Center at 705 Clearview Drive. McGeorge, an employee of the health care center, was on her way to work around 10:30 p.m., according to Bill Brown, chief investigator with the Vinton Police Department.
She was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Police were called to the health care center at 10:37 p.m. after reports of several gunshots having been fired in the parking lot.
An officer arriving at the scene blocked the exit from the parking lot and stopped Meece as he was leaving, Foutz said.
by CNB