ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 12, 1997 TAG: 9704140046
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HARRISONBURG
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Her enraged husband stabbed and slashed her pimp, the murder defendant said.
A woman accused of killing a halfway house director, who she alleged was her pimp, testified Friday how her husband came into the victim's den with a 10-inch knife in his hand.
``He raised the knife like this,'' Jamie Raymond told jurors as she raised her clenched fist above her head.
Ernie James, 56, was stabbed 31 times, and his throat was slashed. The husband, Jeremy Raymond, was convicted of murder and burglary last month. Prosecutors contend, however, that it was Jamie Raymond who robbed James and stabbed him while her husband watched.
The 20-year-old Harrisonburg woman is charged with capital murder and robbery, and her trial is expected to conclude Monday.
Raymond testified that she went to the house to get money for drugs and her baby. She said James sometimes gave her money, whether or not they had sex.
In 1986, James was convicted of aiding and abetting prostitution and served 14 days in jail. At the time, James was president of the Harrisonburg Chamber of Commerce, managing a tire company and teaching at James Madison University. It was at the university that James found coeds whom he matched up with tire dealers.
Following his conviction, James volunteered at the halfway house for paroled criminals. He became the halfway house's director in 1994.
The defense claims, however, that James never stopped hiring prostitutes for himself and other men.
Jamie Raymond began crying on the witness stand when claiming that James coerced her into prostitution and raped her at his house once when she declined to have sex with him.
``He said he had to try me out for customers,'' she testified.
On June 25, she said, she went to James' house while her husband and a 16-year-old friend waited in the car.
Jeremy Raymond burst into the room moments later while his wife and James were sitting on a couch. ``He said, `Ernie James, it's nice to see you''' and then asked how he liked the way she performed sexually, Jamie Raymond testified.
Then the stabbing began. ``Ernie was yelling, `Jamie, please help me,''' she said. ``The whole room smelled like blood.''
She said her husband tried to give her a bloody $50 bill he took out of the front pocket of James' pajamas, which she said was money she was supposed to get for performing sex.
``I wouldn't take it,'' she testified.
Rockingham County Circuit Judge Dennis Hupp denied defense attempts to introduce further evidence of James' involvement with prostitutes, ruling it was irrelevant to the case.
With the jury out of the courtroom Friday, a witness testified that his former girlfriend was an employee of the halfway house whom James would regularly pay for sex.
``She would meet James at a hotel several times during the week for three or four hours,'' said John Nichols, a former resident of the halfway house.
Jamie Raymond's attorneys subpoenaed the woman, who is now living in Florida, but she did not come to the courthouse.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. Jamie Raymond ponders her answer to anby CNBattorney's question Friday. She says the victim coerced her into
prostitution and raped her.