Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 16, 1994 TAG: 9411160135
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Cory D. Hargraves, 24, is the first person to be sentenced for carjacking in Roanoke since the General Assembly passed a law last year that makes stealing a car by force punishable by up to life in prison.
Hargraves testified he was "bingeing on crack" at the time of the offense and that he needs help to deal with his drug problem.
He had faced up to two life terms, but Roanoke Circuit Judge Roy Willett opted for a more lenient sentence after hearing about Hargraves' accomplishments and potential, including testimony about his days as a star athlete for Glenvar High School.
"He was probably the best athlete we had at Glenvar at that time," said Roger Martin, who coached Hargraves before he went on to play football at Norfolk State University.
But Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Joel Branscom pointed to another part of Hargraves' past - that of a cocaine addict who stole to support his habit and who dropped out of treatment programs last year, only to commit a more serious crime.
Although Hargraves did not use a weapon to force Janice White to give up her car and her purse the night of March 14, Branscom said the crime was nonetheless shocking because of where it happened.
"Valley View Mall is one of those places in Roanoke that everyone goes to," Branscom said, "and you'd like to be able to feel secure in an area like that."
Assistant Public Defender William Fitzpatrick then suggested that prosecutors might not be as concerned if the same crime had happened in a high-crime area. Branscom responded that people who frequent those areas - unlike White - put themselves at risk.
White was not injured, and Fitzpatrick argued that his client's actions constituted "more or less a polite carjacking."
"This is not one of those cases that you hear about trickling down from Northern Virginia, where people are being dragged down the road, or where babies are being thrown out of windows," he said.
Hargraves testified Tuesday that his crack addiction took him to Valley View Mall the night of the crime. He was planning to steal a radio from a car, he said, when he noticed White walking to her car nearby.
Hargraves approached White as she got into the car and told her to slide over to the passenger seat, according to earlier testimony. She resisted, handing him the car keys and suggesting he take the car instead.
Hargraves took White's purse before driving away in her car, leaving her standing in the parking lot. Before the night was over, Hargraves had sold everything he stole to get more crack.
"I had no intention of hurting Ms. White," Hargraves said, apologizing for his actions. "My mind wasn't on nothing but obtaining more crack."
But in sentencing Hargraves to 15 years, Willett asked him to consider how his own mother would feel if she were robbed and abducted by a 6-foot-3-inch, 220-pound man in a dark parking lot.
by CNB