Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 16, 1993 TAG: 9310160073
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Gregory John Margerum, 36, formerly of Christiansburg, was charged last December with abducting and attempting to rape a 15-year-old girl.
"Sometimes you have to make a deal with the devil to get an even bigger devil," Phil Keith, commonwealth's attorney, said after court.
"He [Margerum] was a necessary witness to convict Mr. Morehead, so he did do a service to the commonwealth. And I don't think it's safe for him to go to prison being a stool pigeon."
Morehead was recently sentenced to life in prison after a jury convicted him of the June 1992 murder of Lorna Raines Crockett, a Christiansburg shoe store manager.
As part of a plea agreement - which was reached between Keith, Margerum and his attorney, Robbie Jenkins of Radford, in the last two weeks - Margerum is not to live in Montgomery County.
Keith and Jenkins said Margerum is planning to move out of state.
Keith told Circuit Judge Kenneth Devore that Margerum called the teen-ager on Dec. 19, 1992, and told her he wanted her to go Christmas shopping with him for his wife.
But, Keith said, he took her to a house where he said he had been working and began to kiss her. The girl refused his advances and they left, but he said he needed to return to the house to retrieve some tools. When the two re-entered the house, Keith said, Margerum attempted to force her to have sexual intercourse with him but the girl was able to resist. Margerum then took her home.
Devore dismissed the abduction charge - following a recommendation by Keith - but found Margerum guilty of attempted rape, imposed a 10-year suspended prison sentence and placed him on probation for 10 years.
Earlier this year, Margerum testified for the prosecution that Morehead had told him while the two were in jail together that he had shot Crockett because he couldn't stand to see her suffer after she was shot by another man, also convicted in the case.
Morehead's attorney, Jeff Rudd of Roanoke, said Margerum - who has also been convicted of obtaining drugs by fraud - was not a credible witness and told Keith the story in an effort to gain favor.
Margerum was charged with the attempted rape and abduction before reporting to jail on a previous conviction of exposing himself to another teen-age girl, a 13-year-old baby sitter. He was sentenced to two years in prison and three years probation for that felony charge.
He still had a week left to serve on that sentence when he contacted Keith to offer his testimony against Morehead. Keith obtained a court order allowing Margerum to be released from jail so he would not be near Morehead before or after testifying against him. Friday, Devore suspended that remaining time.
by CNB