Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 6, 1995 TAG: 9501060108
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
"If I've broken any laws, then I'll eat that," he said.
But minutes later, a jury found Bowman guilty of breaking and entering while armed, and grand larceny.
The jury sentenced the Henry County man to 40 years in prison - one of the stiffest sentences ever handed out on those charges in Franklin County, according to Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood.
Circuit Judge B.A. Davis III ordered Bowman to come back to court today, but Davis did not say if he would impose the sentence then.
Bowman also is one of the oldest people in Franklin County to be convicted of breaking and entering while armed, an unusual charge because few burglars are arrested in the act, Hapgood said.
Franklin County investigators testified Thursday that they were watching a home owned by Buren McAlexander on Virginia 40 in Endicott when they caught Bowman and two other men - Flemon E. Worrell, 32, of Patrick County and James S. Brown, 40, of Henry County - trying to steal furniture from the house Oct. 4.
Worrell was tried on breaking-and-entering and grand larceny charges Thursday, and the jury fined him $750 on each count. He received no jail time.
Worrell, who works for a logging company in Bassett, testified that he had no prior knowledge of the burglary attempt and thought he was going to the Endicott house to "move some furniture" that Bowman had bought.
Brown, who also was scheduled for trial Thursday, pleaded guilty to breaking-and-entering and grand larceny charges before the jury was selected. He will be sentenced later.
The surveillance operation at the Endicott home had been going on for several days after McAlexander reported a break-in there. McAlexander, who lives at Smith Mountain Lake, is restoring the Endicott home.
Late in the afternoon of Oct. 4, Investigator Gary Shively and Lt. Ewell Hunt said Bowman parked his truck at a locked cable across the home's driveway. Bowman, Worrell and Brown then walked about 150 yards to the house, and after knocking to see if anyone was home, pushed the front door open and went inside, the investigators said.
Shively, Hunt and deputies at the scene said they quickly surrounded the home and listened as the three men began milling about and moving furniture.
That's when the investigators moved in, with sirens blaring from Sheriff's Office vehicles.
Shively and Hunt, who were close to the house at that point, said they heard someone inside yell an obscenity.
When another one of the burglars made reference to the deputies, another said: "That's OK; I've got something to take care of them," Shively testified.
Investigators caught Brown as he tried to climb out a window, and Worrell gave himself up by walking out the front door.
Shively testified that he had to fire a shot through a wall to persuade Bowman to come out.
A small, loaded handgun was found inside Bowman's coat pocket.
Bowman said he forgot he had the gun and was planning to return it to its owner, Viola Gilley - a neighbor who testified Thursday that her gun was stolen by Bowman's son, David.
Euell Bowman told the jury Thursday that he did not go to the Endicott home to burglarize it, but only to provide transportation for Brown and Worrell, a close family friend whom he calls "Junior."
"I thought Jimmy [Brown] was doing some work there," he said.
After the jury verdict, Bowman walked slowly out of the county courthouse with his daughter, his son-in-law and his sister.
He wasn't pleased that he got a hefty prison sentence while Worrell got only a fine. And he wasn't happy that his vehicle has been impounded since October.
"I got 40 years for giving two guys a ride," said Bowman, who takes medication for a heart ailment, high blood pressure, gout and other health problems. "And they've still got my truck."
His sister, Sarah Scott Bowman, said her brother won't make it if he's incarcerated.
"He'll die in a week," she said.
Bowman faces 10 other breaking-and-entering and grand larceny charges in Franklin County, as well as similar charges in Patrick County.
Brown and David Bowman, 37, also are charged with related offenses in both counties.
All three face charges relating to two earlier burglaries at Shively's Endicott home.
Shively has gotten back at least two items that were stolen from his home. When Brown was arrested Oct. 4, he was wearing a pair of Shively's camouflage pants, the investigator said. David Bowman was wearing Shively's high school ring when he was questioned several days later.
"I asked him if he went to Franklin County High School," Shively said of David Bowman, "and he told me no, and that he had bought [the ring] several days earlier."
by CNB