
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 21, 1990                   TAG: 9006210221
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

JUDGE SUPRESSES TEEN'S ADMISSION TO DRUG KILLING

A Roanoke judge ruled Wednesday that a 15-year-old's confession that he killed a man in a drug-related dispute cannot be used against him in court.

Roanoke Circuit Judge Diane Strickland said she was not convinced that Harold Emanuel Anderson's statement to Ohio police was made voluntarily.

Anderson, now 16, faces trial as an adult on a murder charge. Prosecutors can still use another confession he made - which Strickland did not suppress - and other evidence linking him to the slaying of James P. Ferrell.

Ferrell, 22, died shortly after he was shot in what authorities have said was a drug-related argument at the Lansdowne housing project in February.

In granting a defense motion to suppress a statement that Anderson gave to Ohio police when he was arrested in Akron the day after the killing, Strickland noted several aspects of the interrogation that troubled her.

Among them: Anderson's father was at the bus station when his son was arrested but was not allowed to talk to him; police may have intimidated Anderson when they pushed him against a wall; Anderson is almost mentally retarded and has had few dealings with police; and he had just completed a long bus trip when he made the statement.

by CNB