DATE: Thursday, April 10, 1997              TAG: 9704100384

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   58 lines

``A FACE I'LL NEVER FORGET:'' WITNESS IDENTIFIES MAN IN SHOOTING OF BEACH TEEN

An eyewitness to the January shooting death of a Kellam High School student positively identified in court Wednesday the man accused of pulling the trigger.

In testimony before a Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge, the witness, a juvenile, said he was standing next to Timothy M. Wheaton when Wheaton was shot once in the chest Jan. 25 in a case of mistaken identity.

Asked by a defense attorney how he possibly could remember someone whom he had never seen before and then only for a brief instant, the witness said firmly, ``I saw his face. It's a face I'll never forget.''

It was the first time that defendant James W. Waters, 19, had been publicly confronted in a case that stunned Kellam students and residents of Landstown, where Wheaton, 17, lived.

Moments later, Judge Woodrow Lewis Jr. sent Waters' case to the Circuit Court, where he will be tried June 10 for murder and for using a gun to commit a crime. Waters was returned to the city jail, where he is being held without bond.

Even though Waters is an adult, his case originated in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court becausethe victim was a minor.

After Waters left, Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Albert D. Alberi focused on defendant Ethan Hollingsworth, 18, who also is charged with murder. Hollingsworth's car was used not only in the homicide and subsequent flight from Virginia Beach, Alberi said, but also in another shooting earlier that day.

The first incident, which took place not far from where Wheaton was shot, was described in court testimony as apparently an effort by Waters to settle a score on his friends' behalf.

In that shooting, Waters was accused of leaning from Hollingsworth's car and firing a gun at some people standing on Blackstone Court in Magic Hollow. The bullet did not hit anyone, although it narrowly missed a young girl who was later called upon to testify about the incident.

Alberi argued that once Hollingsworth saw that Waters was apparently willing to use a gun, he must have known that he would use it again.

And when he agreed to let his car be driven to Landstown, he must have known that the gun would be used again.

``It's impossible to believe that the defendant was totally ignorant of the purpose of this trip,'' Alberi said.

Judge Lewis ultimately agreed and sent Hollingsworth's case to the Circuit Court. He will be tried June 16.

A third defendant, Monica Oliver, 17, also is charged with murder. She will be tried May 20.

A fourth defendant, Stephanie Wall, pleaded guilty March 14 to accessory after the fact for her efforts to help Oliver, Waters and Hollingsworth escape Virginia Beach after the Wheaton shooting.

All four, plus a fifth juvenile who was not charged in the case, were arrested one day after the shooting in Long Beach, N.C., where a member of Hollingsworth's family owns a summer home. ILLUSTRATION: Timothy M. Wheaton KEYWORDS: MURDER TRIAL

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu