DATE: Wednesday, April 30, 1997             TAG: 9704300582

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   43 lines

BAIL BONDSWOMAN GUILTY OF DISORDERLY CONDUCT

More than three years after her infamous stun-gun fight with another bail bondsman, Sherry D. Battle was convicted Tuesday of disorderly conduct.

The jury acquitted her of misdemeanor assault and battery charges.

The all-female jury in Circuit Court deliberated about 20 minutes before reaching a verdict. Battle was fined $500, which was suspended.

This was the second time the case, dating back to 1994, has gone to trial. This week's case was heard by Judge Benjamin Kendrick, who was brought in from Northern Virginia.

In the case, Battle, a former model turned bail bondswoman, was accused of assaulting fellow bondsman Kenneth E. Roberts with a stun gun in the lobby of Norfolk's General District Court in January 1994. She was convicted in May of that year, and she appealed the case to Circuit Court.

``I basically think you're dealing with a very political situation,'' Battle said after the verdict Tuesday.

Battle said Roberts' attorney, Del. William Robinson, was brought in to prosecute the case for political reasons.

``It was a railroad job done by the City of Norfolk,'' said Battle's attorney, Sa'ad El-Amin, of Richmond. He said he plans to appeal.

The two-day trial may have brought an end to one chapter in the controversial saga involving Battle. The former bail bondswoman had sued most of the city's Circuit Court judges for race discrimination, but lost the case in February on a technicality.

Former Judge Luther C. Edmonds attended some of this week's proceedings, which were held in his former courtroom. Edmonds resigned in September while under investigation for misconduct charges involving Battle.

Edmonds, who recently sued his colleagues in federal court for $50 million, announced last week that he was seeking the House of Delegates' seat now held by Robinson, a friend-turned-critic. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Sherry D. Battle was accused of assaulting a colleague with a stun

gun in the lobby of Norfolk's General District Court in January

1994. KEYWORDS: ASSAULT

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