ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 6, 1996 TAG: 9602060063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WINCHESTER
SOURCE: Associated Press
The lawyer for a woman accused in the slaying of her 12-year-old daughter said Monday that he plans to force a Virginia state senator to testify about publicity in the case.
Sen. H. Russell Potts, R-Winchester, featured the death of Valerie Smelser in radio and print advertisements for his re-election bid last fall. Potts also discussed the case at length in campaign appearances.
``Let's stop giving murderers life and start giving them the death penalty,'' Potts said in one ad.
Her lawyer has argued in court papers that publicity in the case means Wanda Smelser cannot get a fair trial in Winchester.
Smelser is charged with first-degree murder and could face life in prison if convicted. She sat hunched and silent throughout most of a 45-minute hearing Monday.
The child's battered, 51-pound body was dumped along a rural road in January 1995. An autopsy showed she was beaten to death. Smelser's live-in boyfriend, Norman Hoverter, is serving a life term for first-degree murder. Smelser is accused of standing by while Hoverter beat the girl to death.
Defense lawyer William Crane plans to call Potts and possibly Del. David Brickley, D-Woodbridge, who headed a legislative panel that investigated the child's death.
Frederick County Circuit Judge James L. Berry will hear Smelser's request to move the trial at a hearing April 4. Berry had planned to rule earlier on whether to move the trial, but granted the delay when he learned Crane wants to subpoena a lawmaker. The hearing will take place after the General Assembly session concludes.
Crane complained Monday that ``muckraking media'' have prejudiced potential jurors. He said he may subpoena reporters covering the case, which has attracted national attention.
Smelser, 43, probably will be tried before summer, Commonwealth's Attorney Lawrence Ambrogi said after the hearing. She was indicted last month. Her case has been repeatedly delayed because of concern she was mentally incompetent for trial. She has spent most of the past year in state mental hospitals, where she has been treated for depression and a suicide attempt.
Crane has said he is considering an insanity defense. Key to that argument is his claim that Smelser was battered and emotionally controlled by Hoverter.
The child was kept chained in the basement of the family's ramshackle Middletown house and forced to use a tin cup to urinate, police who investigated the death have testified. Police said she died after Hoverter slammed her head through a wall and kicked her down the basement stairs.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Wanda Smelser, flanked at a Monday hearing byby CNBinvestigator John Bauknecht (left) and attorney William Crane, is
accused of watching her boyfriend beat her daughter to death.