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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 28, 1995                   TAG: 9504280064
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PRISON GUARD PLEADS GUILTY TO DRUG CHARGE

Buck Heartwell, attorney for Donald Scott Paderick, a former guard at the state correctional facility at Troutville, made a motion that the charge be dropped because he only prepared to commit the offense, but never committed it, according to Botetourt Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Hagan. When Judge George Honts III denied the motion, Paderick changed his plea.

Hagan said Paderick had just heard testimony from inmate Albert Lee Ferris that Paderick was going to pick up the marijuana and split it with him. Ferris told prison officials about the deal with Paderick last April, when he was facing disciplinary action and loss of parole eligibility for drug use, according to Hagan. There also was testimony from a Corrections Department internal affairs agent who went undercover and sold Paderick marijuana at a Daleville truckstop.

Hagan said, based on a ruling in a 1992 appeals court case, a defendant can change his plea at any time before the jury goes into deliberation in order to avoid a jury sentence. In cases where the defendant has a clean record, a judge with a pre-sentence report available may be likely to give a lighter sentence than a jury, Hagan said.

Paderick appeared for trial on the charge twice in the last five months, but a mistrial was declared each time after Heartwell argued that testimony from Ferris about how parole works would lead the jury to give Paderick a stiffer sentence.

Paderick, who is free on bond, will be sentenced July 25. He faces up to 10 years in prison.