PROBATION GIVEN IN SLAYING PLOT

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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 4, 1993                   TAG: 9303040205
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By DAVID M.  POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
PROBATION GIVEN IN SLAYING PLOT
A Roanoke County man who thought he could save his marriage by hiring someone to torch his wife's house and murder her son got out of jail Wednesday after eight months in custody.
Circuit Judge Kenneth Trabue warned Bobby Wayne Slone that he could end up back behind bars if he has any contact with his now ex-wife, who only minutes earlier had been granted a divorce from Slone.
Trabue ordered five years of intensive probation and recommended that the appliance salesman be fitted with an electronic surveillance device.
Assistant prosecutor Randy Leach argued that Slone believes he did nothing wrong and still harbors hope that he can win back his former wife, Betty Atkins.
The prosecutor introduced a letter in which Slone said he wanted a chance to give Atkins the "true facts" behind secretly taped conversations in which he plotted to burn her house and kill her son.
"I only hope that before she becomes romantically involved with anyone else," Slone wrote, "she will speak with me and allow me to give her the true facts."
Investigators say Slone believed the plot would save his marriage by getting rid of his meddling stepson and giving his wife no choice but to move back into his Boxley Hills home.
Slone maintains that he never intended to go through with the plot, which he described as a "test" for his own son, then 17, who had been in trouble with the law.
Slone was arrested in July. He pleaded no contest last month to solicitation to commit a felony and giving false information to police.
Wednesday, Trabue convicted Slone on both counts and sentenced him to six years in prison, suspended after three years.
Trabue released Slone from custody because he had become eligible for parole after serving eight months.
Slone glanced across at his ex-wife several times during the hearing, but she did not return his gaze.
Atkins declined comment outside the courtroom, except to remind a reporter that her name isn't Slone anymore: She has gone back to her maiden name.
A police officer escorted Atkins to her car. "Hopefully, we can give her some peace of mind," Leach said.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB