ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 TAG: 9702040078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
Keith Riles said all he did was get the gun, but that was enough for a judge to certify a murder charge against the 17-year-old in connection with an apparently random killing in Southwest Roanoke.
Riles faces indictment by a grand jury and trial as an adult for the death of Larry E. Donahue, who was shot in the back of the head as he walked down Chapman Avenue the night of Dec. 30.
At a hearing Monday in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, Detective N.W. Tolrud testified that Riles said he got a semi-automatic handgun from a home on 13th Street and gave it to Michael S. Benton, a 19-year-old also charged with Donahue's murder.
Riles had no idea that the gun was going to be used minutes later in a shooting, said Onzlee Ware, a Roanoke lawyer who represents the teen.
Last week, a 15-year-old girl testified that Benton apparently picked Donahue at random. Earlier in the evening Benton said that he was going to shoot someone, the girl said. Donahue, 33, was shot after he walked out of a convenience store and past Benton, who was hanging out with a group of friends on the 1300 block of Chapman.
The girl testified that Donahue did nothing to provoke the shooting.
After several shots were fired, the group scattered. Donahue was found lying face down on the sidewalk.
There was testimony last week that someone in the group of young people made a racial comment - "we don't have no love for whities" - but it was not clear if race played a role in the killing. Donahue was white; Benton is black.
Riles initially had been charged with being an accessory before the fact to murder, but prosecutors changed the charge to murder at his first court appearance last month.
Even if Riles did not pull the trigger, he could still be convicted of murder. The same principle applies to someone who drives a getaway car in a bank robbery; he or she could be convicted without ever setting foot in the bank.
As a result of new laws passed last year to deal with violent juvenile crime, there was no argument about whether Riles should be tried as a juvenile or an adult. Once Judge Joseph Clarke found probable cause to support the murder charge, the case was automatically transferred to Circuit Court for an adult trial.
Several hours after Riles' hearing Monday, a grand jury indicted Benton on charges of murder and use of a firearm. Benton is being held in the Roanoke City Jail. Riles is free on a $10,000 bond.
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