Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 26, 1995 TAG: 9505260069
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Kevin Bradley May, 30, of Draper, faces two counts of attempted capital murder.
He also is charged with breaking and entering with intent to commit murder, maliciously wound or assault and batter his former girlfriend and with six misdemeanor charges of impeding police and deputies. He has pleaded innocent to all charges.
May was charged last year after Susan Jones, the mother of his son, made a frantic call to police saying that May was trying to get in to her Fourth Street apartment.
Officer John Goad, 22, was stabbed in the arm and back of his head after forcing open a door leading to Jones' apartment. Authorities allege that May was holding the door shut for several minutes and slashed at Goad when officers finally forced the door ajar.
Goad is expected to testify this morning and it's also likely May will testify in the trial that could run into next week.
Jury selection was protracted Thursday morning and testimony did not get under way until after lunch. A pool of 27 had been called as potential jurors, but seven were dismissed before attorneys began the striking procedure used to select a 12-member jury.
Most of the seven either knew the officers involved or May and his family and said they didn't think they could be impartial. One woman was dismissed because she feared job repercussions if she missed a preschool graduation ceremony today. Another woman asked to be excused, saying her son was in jail and she didn't think she could vote to send anyone else there. She smiled at May and wished him good luck as she walked by the defense table to leave.
Commonwealth's Attorney Everett Shockley told the jury the charges were the culmination of a series of domestic problems between Susan Jones and May.
Jones left May in September 1994 after a 10-year relationship.
"Mr. May was quite the possessive man," Shockley said, and Jones obtained a restraining order against him as well as custody of their child.
Jones will testify, Shockley said, that May "told her in no uncertain terms that there was not going to be any piece of paper to keep him away from her."
Detective Terry Smith testified that Goad was stabbed as he went through an outer door to try to reach May. Smith said he and another officer broke out a picture window to bring Jones and her son outside to safety after May continued to keep officers from breaking through the outer door.
Soon after Jones and her son were brought out, Smith testified, May broke through the apartment door still holding a knife. Smith testified May held officers and deputies at bay with the knife, taunting and yelling, until a deputy finally knocked the knife from his hands and May was taken into custody.
Staff writer Paul Dellinger contributed information for this story
by CNB