ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602160059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: LEWISBURG, W.VA.
SOURCE: Associated Press
Citing good behavior, a judge has cut in half a former Virginia beauty queen's two-year sentence for trying to kill the parents of a romantic rival.
Wednesday's ruling would make 24-year-old Tracy Lippard eligible for parole at the end of April.
``I suspect Miss Lippard has had enough,'' Circuit Judge Charles Lobban said in approving a motion to allow her to serve two consecutive one-year sentences concurrently.
Lippard received the sentence last year for seven misdemeanor convictions, including two counts of second-degree attempted murder.
Prosecutors said Lippard crowned her successor as Miss Williamsburg in February 1994, then embarked on a 250-mile journey to the Lewisburg home of Rodney and Lynn Weikle.
Lippard and the Weikles' daughter, Melissa, had been dating the same man, Todd Scott. Melissa Weikle was pregnant with Scott's child at the time of the attack. Lippard said she went to the Weikle home to confront Scott after he didn't show up at the pageant.
Authorities said Lippard cracked Rodney Weikle on the head with a hammer and pointed a gun at his wife. Weikle, a former Secret Service agent, put her in a headlock and disarmed her.
LENGTH: Short : 34 linesby CNB