ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 7, 1996 TAG: 9611070063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
A Montgomery County grand jury indicted seven Virginia Tech football players and one former player Wednesday in connection with an August brawl that left another student with a broken collarbone.
Seven of the eight - including All-America defensive end Cornell Brown - face misdemeanor assault and battery charges, rather than a more serious felony.
The grand jury also indicted a ninth player on a felony abduction charge stemming from a separate July incident. In that incident, a visiting student was forced to drink liquor until he passed out, and was later found dumped on a Blacksburg sidewalk.
Tech's head football coach, Frank Beamer, announced Wednesday that the two players facing felony indictments had been suspended for the rest of the season. Five players indicted on misdemeanors will be benched only for Saturday's game against East Carolina. An eighth player is no longer on the team.
A ninth player, starting fullback Brian Edmonds, was suspended for one game immediately after the Aug. 31 incident and will not face any more suspensions. He faces one count of assault and battery, which carries a maximum of 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
The university's decision to discipline the players before the trials was not intended as a reflection of their guilt or innocence, but officials believed the players were "in the wrong place at the wrong time," according to statements issued by Beamer, Athletic Director Dave Braine and President Paul Torgersen.
Angelo Harrison, a wide receiver from Spotsylvania, faces an attempted malicious wounding charge, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Sean Sullivan, a tight end, was indicted on two misdemeanor counts of assault and battery. The remaining players each face one misdemeanor count of assault and battery. Those players include: Michael T. Hawkes, a linebacker; Nathaniel L. Williams, a defensive tackle; Tyron J. Edmond, a linebacker; and Greg L. Melvin, a former tailback who left the team over the summer.
Harrison's attorney, Marc Long, said the way the charges were handled was unusual.
Long called Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith's choice to directly indict the players - instead of charging them and going through preliminary hearings in General District Court - "political grandstanding."
In an Oct. 29 statement, Keith said the delay stemmed from the extensive police investigation, which included nearly 100 interviews, and a recent 10-day capital murder trial. Keith could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Long said the delay was driven by other motives.
"It's very odd; it just shows some kind of potential bias against football players," Long said.
"I would be disappointed [if it was], because I think that office always treats people fairly."
William Cleveland, lead defense attorney for Brown, said he tried to speak to the grand jury Wednesday about the victims' credibility but was denied access by Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs. He said the charge could affect Brown's status and future income if he is drafted by the National Football League.
Joe Painter, defense attorney for Edmonds, said the suspension of players before trials smacks of racism, even though two of the players are white.
"There is more than a hint of institutional racism involved here," he said.
Painter said he has talked to witnesses who were at the fight and said his client never touched the two students who were injured.
Hilliard Sumner III of the Bronx, N.Y., said in a September interview that he was attacked by 15 to 20 Tech football players after leaving a party at Squires Student Center. Sumner said Jonathan Nelson, the other victim in the assault, got in an argument that escalated into a fight.
When Sumner tried to help Nelson, he said in September, he was briefly chased down College Avenue, until he was on the ground being kicked, hit and beaten with a cane. Afterward, he was treated for a broken collarbone and bruises.
Sumner could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The ninth player indicted Wednesday was Brad Baylor, a defensive tackle from Augusta County.
Blacksburg police Lt. Bruce Bradbery said the felony abduction charge stems from a July 27 incident in which a University of Virginia student was held against his will, threatened and forced to drink several shots of liquor until he passed out.
Police found Jason T. Pringle, 19, unconscious on a South Main Street sidewalk with portions of his head shaved, according to Bradbery and court records.
Bradbery said officers took Pringle to the hospital, where his blood-alcohol content was determined to be 0.346 percent - more than four times Virginia's definition of intoxication for drivers.
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. Noticeably shaken head coach Frankby CNBBeamer announces the suspensions of seven players from his Virginia
Tech football team. color.