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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 16, 1994                   TAG: 9411160139
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PROBATION OFFICER CLEARED IN DRUG CASE

Danville Circuit Judge James Ingram ruled last week that what Marjorie McKibbin did was not a crime under the statute under which she was charged, according to McKibbin's attorney, Jim Swanson.

In the motion the judge granted, Swanson argued that McKibbin was not guilty of "concealment of material fact" in order to obtain the drugs, as described in the statute.

Swanson said that after receiving a prescription from one physician, McKibbin went to another doctor and was given another prescription for the same drug. He argued that there was no evidence that the second doctor asked McKibbin about the prescription from the first doctor, and that it is not a crime for McKibbin not to have volunteered the information.

Ingram, who was sitting in for deceased Franklin County Circuit Judge Robert Vines, struck down Swanson's other claim that the statute was unconstitutional, Swanson said.

McKibbin was taking the drugs Xanax, a tranquilizer, and Lortab, a pain-killer, for a variety of medical problems, Swanson said.

She has been employed by the Probation and Parole Department in Roanoke since 1981, but was placed on leave in December.

Swanson said chances are good that McKibbin will be able to return to work soon, now that the charges are behind her.

"It's been a trying year for her," he said.