ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 9, 1996 TAG: 9602090061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FAIRFAX
SOURCE: Associated Press
A 44-year-old ex-convict charged in the death of a 13-year-old boy told police he only watched while another teen-ager stabbed the boy repeatedly, police said Thursday.
James ``Buck'' Murray confessed to helping drag the body of Jonathan Hall to a half-frozen drainage pond near the suburban neighborhood where all three lived, Fairfax County police detective Robert J. Murphy testified.
A statement the 15-year-old gave to police says the opposite, Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Horan said.
The youth heard screaming the night of Dec. 15 and went to investigate, Horan said.
Reading from the statement, Horan quoted the youth: ```I ran out there and Buck was sitting on top of there stabbing him. Buck told me to grab his throat, and that's the reason he shut up real quick.'''
Murray is charged with first-degree murder. Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge Gaylord Finch sent Murray's case to a grand jury Thursday.
The 15-year-old, whose name was not released by police, faces charges as an accessory. A juvenile court will decide next week whether to charge the boy as an adult.
A police diver found Jonathan's body Dec. 28, 12 days after his family reported him missing. The boy's family and some neighbors criticized police for considering the boy a runaway and delaying a vigorous search.
The diver testified he saw a hand and arm protruding from the water, and his testimony left open the possibility the boy was still alive when dumped in the pond.
``His hand was grabbing a piece of elephant grass'' along the shore, Officer Dempsey Wilson testified.
Murray has a long criminal record that includes a killing in prison while he was serving time on another charge.
He has been jailed without bond since his arrest a few days after the body was found.
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB