THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605110320
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Two Kill Devil Hills men charged with first-degree murder in the October death of a Maryland state trooper will be back in court in Maryland next week facing federal charges.
Ivan Fitzherbert Lovell, 25, who police say confessed to firing the fatal shot during a routine traffic stop on Maryland's Eastern Shore, is scheduled to appear at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Talbot County Circuit Court for a suppression hearing, Maryland Trooper Joe Gamble said Friday. A trial is scheduled for June 18. But there is speculation that Lovell - who reportedly has said he wants to die - will plead guilty Tuesday.
William Smith Lynch, 21, who was a passenger in the car Lovell was driving at the time of the shooting, is scheduled for a motions hearing at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Cecil County Circuit Court.
On Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted Lynch on five charges related to the Oct. 17 shooting on U.S. Route 13 near Princess Anne, Md. State officials already had charged Lynch with first-degree murder and drug-related crimes after finding a pound of suspected crack and powder cocaine and a .45-caliber handgun in their car. This week is the first time federal officials have charged Lynch.
The charges against Lynch, which came out of the U.S. attorney's office, include:
Murder of Trooper Edward Plank while engaged in the distribution of drugs;
Murder of Trooper Plank while engaging in distribution of drugs and avoiding apprehension;
Use of a handgun during a drug-trafficking crime;
Conspiracy to distribute cocaine;
Possession with intent to distribute crack.
``The state probably will drop its case next week and allow prosecutors to proceed with the federal charges,'' said Baltimore attorney William B. Purpura, who is representing Lynch. ``Mr. Lynch will not plea on Wednesday. He'll probably have a trial by midsummer.''
Murder charges, on both the state and federal levels, can carry life imprisonment sentences. But federal charges have more strict sentencing guidelines for drug offenses, Purpura said. ``With state charges, prosecutors can't seek the death penalty,'' explained the lawyer. With federal charges, prosecutors could seek the death penalty even for the nontrigger man ``if they could prove that my client counseled, coerced or induced the killing,'' said Purpura.
As of Friday, Purpura said he had not received notice about whether federal prosecutors planned to seek the death penalty against Lynch.
Lynch, who had no former felony offenses, listed his home as Brooklyn, N.Y., but had been living with Lovell - and a boa constrictor - in a Kill Devil Hills trailer before the shooting. Lovell, who also used the name Donovan Ault, listed his address as Elizabeth City but had lived on the Outer Banks since at least 1988.
Both are being held in Maryland.
Shortly after midnight Oct. 17, Plank - a 28-year-old Maryland state trooper - pulled over a car with North Carolina license plates for speeding on U.S. 13. The driver signed one name on the ticket, then scratched it out and signed another. The trooper became suspicious and returned to his car to call for back-up.
When Plank approached the suspects' vehicle a second time, shots were fired from the driver's side of the car - hitting the trooper in the face. Plank died a few hours later at a Maryland hospital. He is survived by his wife and 7-month-old daughter.
Plank's partner shot Lovell as the suspects got away. Later, troopers arrested Lovell after he broke into a home a few miles north of the scene of the shooting. Police captured Lynch hiding in some bushes about two miles from the shooting location.
Lovell was on parole in North Carolina until 1999 for cocaine convictions. He was not supposed to leave the state without permission. His parole officer, who was fired after the shooting, said he did not know Lovell had planned to travel to Maryland.
If Lovell had served even one-sixth of the time he was sentenced to prison for the earlier drug charges, he would still be behind bars and would not have been able to travel to the Eastern Shore. ILLUSTRATION: Police say Ivan Fitzherbert Lovell, 25, confessed to firing the
fatal shot during a routine traffic stop on Maryland's Eastern
Shore.
A grand jury on Thursday indicted William Smith Lynch, 21, on five
charges related to the Oct. 17 shooting in Maryland.
KEYWORDS: HEARING MURDER DRUGS ILLEGAL by CNB