ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 5, 1997 TAG: 9703050105
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
THE MAN SAID he saw the victim walking away but later said he helped drive the body to the dumping point, officers testified.
Investigators from the Wythe County Sheriff's Office testified Tuesday that Eric Dwayne Ball changed his story about whether he was involved in the death by exposure of a 17-year-old last year.
Sgt. Doug Tuck said Ball told him once that he had seen Ricky Lee Coleman walking away from the home of Jason Hibbs with a blanket wrapped around him.
Later, the 20-year-old changed his story, Tuck testified. In the new version Ball said he, Hibbs, and Eric Wimmer drove the unconscious Coleman into a rural area; once there, Hibbs stood the victim up, hit him in the face and rolled him down an embankment, Tuck said.
Ball told Lt. Doug King in a videotaped interview that he "didn't lay a finger" on Coleman except to help lift him. The tape was one of two such interviews shown to the jury Tuesday, the second day of trial.
Earlier testimony on Monday indicated that Coleman and another boy went to Hibbs' home on Jan. 18, 1996, while Hibbs' parents were away, and all three began drinking liquor. Hibbs hit Coleman after Coleman overturned some furniture. Coleman lay in the yard of Hibbs' home for 51/2 hours.
Ball and Wimmer arrived later, and Coleman's original companion left. Ball, Wimmer and Hibbs then loaded Coleman into the trunk of Ball's car and went about 2.2 miles down an unpaved road where Coleman was dumped over an embankment.
His body was found several days later after his mother reported him missing. Lt. King said Coleman had no shirt on, and was clad only in jeans and a single boot.
An autopsy showed that Coleman died from exposure, with the alcohol he consumed being a contributing factor.
Hibbs was tried in November, pleading guilty to murder and abduction. He is awaiting sentencing. Wimmer's trial has not been scheduled.
Both officers remembered the weather on Jan. 18 and 19, 1996, as being stormy, windy and rainy.
The autopsy did not reveal exactly when Coleman died. The defense is pushing the theory that he could have been dead before Ball arrived at Hibbs' home, or before he was left in the woods.
LENGTH: Short : 50 linesby CNB