DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 1997            TAG: 9710080493

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  103 lines

WATERS GETS LIFE FOR MURDER DRIVER ALSO FOUND GUILTY IN TEEN BOY'S DRIVE-BY DEATH

James W. Waters Jr. was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday by a jury that found him guilty of first-degree murder for firing the single, fatal shot to Timothy M. Wheaton's chest on Jan. 25 in a drive-by shooting.

The jury also convicted Monica Oliver, 18, who drove the car that night, of voluntary manslaughter for her role in the slaying of Wheaton, a 17-year-old Kellam High School soccer star. Oliver, who had been charged with first-degree murder, will be sentenced Dec. 15 by Circuit Judge Thomas Shadrick.

That brings to four the number of teen-agers convicted in the slaying of Wheaton in the Landstown Meadows neighborhood. Richard Ethan Hollingsworth, 19, was convicted in August of first-degree murder. He is scheduled to be sentenced today.

Stephanie Grace Wall, now 18 but a juvenile when the killing occurred, was convicted of several lesser charges and has been sentenced as a juvenile.

The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for four hours before finding Waters, 19, and Oliver guilty at the end of their joint trial, which lasted seven days.

The jury heard stories of revenge between rival youth gangs in Virginia Beach. They heard a tale of two teens with clean records - Hollingsworth and Oliver - caught up in the violent acts of Waters, a fellow teen with multiple felony convictions.

And Monday, they heard Waters, testifying in his own defense, admit for the first time that he shot Wheaton, although he said it was an accident.

Prosecutor Albert Alberi told the jury that Waters ``selected a life where violence was a part, and where guns were an integral part. . . . Violence is a tool to James Waters, a part of his personality.

``He chose it, he selected it.''

Parents of the victim and the two defendants sat quietly in the courtroom as the verdicts were read. Waters and Oliver registered no emotion.

``It's not what I wanted, but it's better than murder,'' said Cindy Oliver, Monica's mother.

J. Brian Donnelly, Monica Oliver's attorney, said the verdict ``obviously shows the jury drew a distinction between her participation and the others'. I consider it a victory.''

Alberi said, after the sentence: ``I would like to think that anybody contemplating a similar violent act will remember that the last person who did it got the max.''

Waters also was convicted on two firearms charges and charges of attempted malicious wounding and conspiracy to commit a felony. He was sentenced to a total of 28 years on those charges.

He is not eligible for parole. He will be formally sentenced by Shadrick on Oct. 22.

Donnelly argued in Oliver's defense that she ``had no motive for revenge.'' The other defendants did, however, he said.

The violence began several days before Wheaton was shot, when a friend of Waters was beaten in a gang fight. For about three days, according to testimony, Waters contemplated how to seek revenge.

Early on Jan. 25, Hollingsworth and Wall were assaulted in the Magic Hollow section of Virginia Beach. Wall recruited Waters to help her seek revenge for the assault. She also arranged transportation for Waters by recruiting Oliver to drive Hollingsworth's car.

Hollingsworth, Oliver and Waters drove to Magic Hollow late on the afternoon of Jan. 25. As the car rolled past the place where Hollingsworth and Wall had been assaulted, Waters fired a single shot at three teens standing on the corner. No one was injured.

Waters then asked to be driven to Landstown Meadows to search for one of the teens involved in the beating of his friend. After vandalizing a car and attempting to confront the teen-ager at his house, Waters got back into the car. The three teens then began driving as they conducted a ``neighborhood combing,'' Alberi said in court.

With Oliver behind the wheel and Hollingsworth in the back seat, they encountered Wheaton and two friends walking along Barberry Lane. After a brief conversation, Waters pointed his gun at Wheaton and accused him of being the youth Waters was searching for. Wheaton denied it. Waters shot him once in the chest with a .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol.

Wheaton ran for about 40 feet, collapsed and died. Waters, Hollingsworth and Oliver then picked up Wall and another teen and they drove to North Carolina, where they were arrested the next day.

Initially, the teens told a variety of stories about how Wheaton was killed. Wall and Oliver took the blame for the killing when first arrested in North Carolina, but soon changed their stories and said that Hollingsworth was the trigger man. Later, they named Waters.

Waters lied about his role in the shooting for nine months until, on the witness stand Monday, he admitted shooting Wheaton.

But, to the end, Waters maintained that it was Hollingsworth who had fired the gun during the first shooting at Magic Hollow, where no one was injured.

Waters' final story, because he incriminated himself, was the truth about how events unfolded last January, said Waters' attorney, Arthur C. Ermlich Jr.

Oliver could be sentenced to as many as 23 years for her convictions on manslaughter, attempted malicious wounding and a weapons violation. Donnelly argued that Oliver was a ``good, basic kid'' who had trouble making friends.

``You do not go from the type of person Monica was to a cold-blooded killer overnight,'' Donnelly said. ``She was in that car because they were her friends.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MARK MITCHELL/The Virginian-Pilot

James Waters, above, admitted he shot Timothy M. Wheaton, 17.

Photo

Monica Oliver KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING DRIVE-BY SHOOTING

TRIAL SENTENCING

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