Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 14, 1990 TAG: 9004140252
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Circuit Judge A. Dow Owens dismissed the charge Thursday against William Osborne Williams, 52, after hearing 2 1/2 hours of testimony from six prosecution witnesses.
Owens said he dismissed the charge because Commonwealth's Attorney James Hartley didn't prove that Casey wasn't already dead when Williams ran over him.
"I disagree with Judge Owens' ruling," Hartley said. "I don't think that's the law in Virginia."
Hartley said the law requires anyone involved in an accident where someone is killed or injured to stop immediately, offer assistance and notify police.
"It seems to me that what Judge Owens has held is that the law doesn't apply if the commonwealth can't prove the victim was alive at the time he was hit," Hartley said.
"There was no way that we could have shown that he was alive because there were no witnesses," he said. "So what Judge Owens was saying was that [Casey] could have been dead for over an hour" when Williams ran over him. "I don't think that matters."
Owens could not be reached for comment after the trial.
A jury was sitting to hear the case, but did not get to decide it. Owens ruled that Hartley did not show enough evidence to support the charge. Williams' attorney, Max Jenkins of Radford, did not have to present evidence and Williams did not have to testify.
Williams originally had been charged with hit-and-run, drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident after the July 22 death of Casey, 22, of Giles County.
In a preliminary hearing in September, Williams testified he had been driving behind two cars on U.S. 460 from Blacksburg to Pearisburg when "a heap" fell out of one of the cars near Pembroke and he accidentally ran over it.
He said he drove to Pearisburg, but then turned around to see what he had run over. Later that morning, Williams told a Pearisburg police officer what had happened.
Giles County District Judge Thomas Frith dismissed the charges, ruling that Williams had notified police within the legal time and said there wasn't enough evidence to prove he was driving drunk.
A month later, the case was reopened when a grand jury indicted Williams for leaving the scene of an accident.
by CNB