Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 29, 1990 TAG: 9006290215
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Sisler, who serves as a W&L attorney as well as a prosecutor, said he made his decision after the family of the dead student, Mary Ashley Scarborough, expressed concern about a possible conflict of interest.
"I don't consider it to be a conflict," Sisler said in a telephone interview Thursday. "I want to be sensitive to the Scarborough family. They have been through a lot. I want them to have full confidence in the system. I think my stepping down is the right thing to do."
Sisler will be replaced by Buena Vista Commonwealth's Attorney Michael S. Irvine.
Scarborough was hit and killed on Washington Street in Lexington about 2 a.m. on March 16, 1989.
Charles B. "Blake" Comer, who has since left W&L, faces involuntary manslaughter and hit-and-run charges in connection with the her death. He is scheduled to go on trial July 25.
"The case is in a posture to go," Sisler said, adding that he will review the case file with Irvine.
Earlier this month, Ronald C. Dilthey, an attorney for the Scarborough family, had raised the conflict-of-interest question in a February letter to Sisler.
"If there is even an outward appearance of conflict, I suggest you should withdraw from the case and substitute a new prosecutor," Dilthey wrote.
Dilthey could not be reached for comment Thursday and Dr. D.E. Scarborough, Mary Ashley Scarborough's father, declined comment on Sisler's withdrawal.
Police conducted an eight-month search for the suspect car before an informant led them to Comer. Police said he then admitted to them during questioning that he had struck Scarborough.
by CNB