by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB
Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: THURSDAY, February 20, 1992 TAG: 9202200356 SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY SOURCE: Associated Press DATELINE: BERRYVILLE LENGTH: Short
7-YEAR-OLD'S TATTOO SENDS UNCLE TO JAIL
The 7-year-old boy leaned forward in the witness stand and pulled up the shirt sleeve on his left arm, revealing a tattoo: "B-I-L-L-Y.""Jimmy did it and he was helped by Willie," the boy said.
A Circuit Court jury found a Clarke County man guilty of malicious wounding Tuesday for tattooing his nephew.
The jury deliberated for about 90 minutes before it recommended that Francis James "Jimmy" Dennison, 23, spend 12 months in jail and pay a $2,500 fine.
The boy, William Joseph Dennison Jr., testified that he was tattooed during a visit with his divorced father in August. He said his father held him down while his uncle pressed an ink-filled needle up and down into his skin.
The boy's father faces a similar charge.
Billy's mother, Hazel Donaldson, of Glenville, W.Va., said she discovered the tattoo after Billy came back from the two-week visit: "I was upset. I was mad," she said.