ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 22, 1995 TAG: 9512220052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
A Roanoke teen-ager will be imprisoned until he is at least 46 years old for killing a woman last spring at the Lincoln Terrace housing project.
Arthur J. Manns, 18, was sentenced to 33 years in prison Thursday by Roanoke Circuit Judge Diane Strickland. Under no-parole laws that took effect this year, he will not be eligible for release until he serves at least 85 percent of his sentence, or 28 years.
Manns had faced a life sentence for the May 14 shooting of Vickie Michelle Nichols, 31. Nichols was trying to walk away from an early-morning argument with Manns when he fired a warning shot, then shot her twice in the back.
Although he confessed to police shortly after the shooting, Manns has since told a probation officer that he does not remember the incident - a change that Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Dennis Nagel called "troubling."
"If we do not give Arthur Manns life, at some point he will be out on the streets, having rationalized a murder," Nagel said in asking for the maximum sentence.
Manns, who was on probation for two convictions of robbery at the time of the shooting, has admitted that he was dealing crack cocaine and abusing alcohol and drugs.
Strickland said that both Manns and Nichols had turned to drugs to cope with the death of a loved one in their families. Authorities have said there was a drug transaction in the 1700 block of Dunbar Street minutes before Nichols was shot there.
Nagel said earlier that about 4:30 a.m., Nichols showed up at Lincoln Terrace and got into an argument with a bystander. Manns was drawn into the altercation, which some witnesses described as having racial overtones. Manns is black; Nichols was white.
When Nichols went inside a nearby apartment, Manns got a .25-caliber handgun from a car and waited for her to come out. When confronted, Nichols apologized to Manns, only to be shot in the back as she walked away.
Defense attorney Ray Byrd asked Strickland to consider not just what happened that morning, but also the testimony of family, teachers and coaches who described Manns on Thursday as a good student and athlete, an easygoing youngster and a nonviolent person.
"Time moves much more slowly when you're 18 years old," Byrd said in asking Strickland not to impose a life sentence.
Manns, who was sentenced to 30 years for murder and three years for the use of a firearm, said he has changed since receiving treatment for his drug and alcohol problems while incarcerated.
"I don't see myself as a murderer," Manns told the judge.
"Then what the hell are you?" one of Nichols' relatives muttered bitterly from his seat in the courtroom.
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