ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 30, 1996 TAG: 9601300080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
A Roanoke man was sentenced Monday to three years in prison for raping a severely retarded woman last summer.
Joel A. Craighead received the sentence after pleading no contest as part of a plea agreement reached in Roanoke Circuit Court.
Craighead, 29, had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison. But prosecutors struck the agreement because of concerns about the impact of a trial on the victim - a 35-year-old woman with an IQ of 32 and a serious speech impediment.
After testifying last year at a preliminary hearing, the woman was reluctant to return to court, fearing that authorities would put her in jail, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Greg Phillips said.
"She's very confused," Phillips said. The plea agreement "keeps [the victim] off the witness stand."
The offense happened last June, when the woman and her two brothers were visiting at Craighead's house. When the two brothers went to a store, Craighead raped her, the woman told police.
After returning and discovering what had happened, the brothers chased Craighead from the house. "They would testify they were going to kick his butt if they caught him," Phillips said in summarizing the evidence.
Craighead called police for help, but ended up confessing to the crime. He did not testify or present evidence at Monday's hearing. Craighead, who has already spent six months in jail awaiting trial, will have to serve at least 85 percent of this three-year sentence - about 31 months - under the state's new no-parole law.
In accepting the plea agreement, Judge Robert Doherty noted that voluntary sentencing guidelines called for a punishment in the range of seven to 15 years for Craighead's crime. But, Doherty said, "I can understand the circumstances, and how this plea agreement came into being."
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