Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 29, 1992 TAG: 9202290239
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: HILLSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
DOUBLE SLAYING SENT TO CARROLL GRAND JURY
A judge closed the preliminary hearing Friday of a man charged with murdering a 30-year-old Carroll County woman and her 2-year-old daughter.The defendant, Thomas Jefferson "T.J." Midkiff, 27, was ordered held for the grand jury following the two-hour hearing.
Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge J.L. Tompkins declined to listen to arguments from the news media on keeping the hearing open or to talk with reporters afterward about his decision.
"You can do whatever you wish. The court has ruled," he told a reporter who asked to file a written objection.
Midkiff, who is from rural Carroll County, was arrested three days after the bodies of Sheila Marie Ring and her daughter, Jasmine Celene Sutphin, were found in the remains of their home, which had been destroyed by fire. The home was in the Buckwoods section of the county near Woodlawn.
Midkiff came to the sheriff's office voluntarily Dec. 6 after being told that deputies were looking for him. He was arrested after being questioned and has been held since then under a $1 million bond.
Autopsies showed that the victims had not died in the fire but had been stabbed to death. Midkiff is charged with capital murder, two counts of first-degree murder and arson of an occupied dwelling.
Tompkins presided at the joint hearing of both general district and juvenile courts because General District Judge George B. Cooley retired from the bench Friday.
Defense attorney Fred Werth moved that the hearing be closed because it involved a juvenile and a state statute allows excluding the public in such cases.
Commonwealth's Attorney Greg Goad said the statute obviously was meant to apply when the juvenile was the defendant.
"What we have here is where the juvenile is a victim," he said. "I've spoken to the family. They also desire that the hearing be open to the public."
Werth said the wording of the statute is "the child or adult so charged," so it covers adult defendants in cases involving juveniles. Tompkins agreed and ordered the hearing closed, and it took several minutes to clear the packed courtroom of spectators.
The only information released by court officials afterward was that Midkiff was bound over to the grand jury on all charges. Goad said he would take the case before the March 9 grand jury.
Midkiff originally was scheduled for a Jan. 3 hearing, but both sides needed to await more forensic information. Later in January, he was taken to Radford for a psychiatric evaluation requested by defense attorneys Werth and Jonathon Venzie.
A mechanic, Midkiff pleaded guilty in 1985 to abduction, attempted rape and malicious wounding stemming from an attack on a woman. He was sentenced to five years, plus eight years because he was on probation from a 1982 burglary conviction. He was released after three years for good behavior Jan. 30, 1989, and was on probation when he was charged in the latest case.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.