Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 2, 1990 TAG: 9006020230
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Stanley Leonard Maxie Jr., 19, entered the plea as part of an agreement reached in Roanoke Circuit Court.
Authorities agreed to reduce the charge against Maxie after learning that he was more interested in collecting the businessman's money than having him killed.
Maxie had been charged with attempted capital murder for hire after he suggested to an undercover police officer that he might be willing to pay to have a businessman killed - with the understanding that he and the hired killer would split the money taken from the victim.
The businessman Maxie selected was Robert Chewning, a used-car salesman whom he knew to carry large amounts of cash.
But as Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jeff Rudd explained Friday, Maxie's involvement did not rise to the level that would support a murder-for-hire charge.
"Although speculating and surmising might bring us to that level, it simply is not there," Rudd said.
While Maxie acknowledged in conversations with undercover police officers that violence might be necessary to obtain Chewning's money, he did not specifically ask that the businessman be killed.
Instead, Maxie seemed most concerned about finding a way to pay off a $3,500 drug debt.
"He was obviously in way over his head," said Maxie's attorney, Roanoke Public Defender Ray Leven. "It is a sign of his desperation that he would hire someone to hire a robber. It just doesn't make good sense."
Rudd gave the following summary of how the deal was struck:
Maxie was talking to an government drug informant the night of April 21 about a debt he was desperate to pay off. When the conversation turned to the possibility of having someone killed, the informant notified police.
An undercover police officer then posed as a "hit man" who agreed to go to Chewning's home, kill him if necessary, and return the money to Maxie.
Maxie agreed to pay the man $2,000. When the detective returned with $1,500 in cash that he said was Chewning's, Maxie gave him $1,000 and was arrested minutes later.
Under a plea agreement accepted by Judge Diane Strickland, Maxie will face a maximum term of 10 years in prison.
He was returned to jail Friday to await sentencing.
by CNB