Trouble with the law

Tony Adams’ convictions and charges include the following:

North Carolina

1997

Convicted — Speeding

2003

Convicted — Possession of drug paraphernalia

Not guilty — Reckless driving

Dismissed — Possession of marijuana

2006

Convicted — Speeding; driving while impaired

Pittsylvania County

1997

Not prosecuted — Contributing to the delinquency of a minor

1998

Convicted — Defective equipment; no seat belt

2000

Convicted — Reckless driving; expired registration; reckless driving

Montgomery County

2003

Convicted — Safety beltviolation

2004

Convicted — Failure to appear for trial; expired registration

Not prosecuted — Eluding police; reckless driving

2007

Convicted — Speeding

Pending charges — Speeding; DUI; grand larceny; breaking and entering; leaving the scene of a fatal car wreck

Roanoke County

2004

Convicted — Improper controlof brakes

2007

Convicted — Speeding

Floyd County

2001

Convicted — Reckless driving

2004

Convicted — Reckless driving; improper driving

Dismissed — Injuring a highway sign; failure to obey highway lanes; assault and battery; assault and battery; reckless driving; improper lane change; failure to appear for trial

Not guilty — Failure to yield right of way

2005

Not prosecuted — Child abuse and neglect; reckless driving

2007

Convicted — Assault and battery; failure to appear for trial

Not prosecuted — Trespassing

Florida

2004

Convicted — Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs; possession of drug paraphernalia; possession of marijuana

In the darkness of the early morning hours of Sept. 7, a violent wreck on a Christiansburg street left recent Virginia Tech graduate Greg Jackson dead and another man facing the latest in a long string of driving-related charges.

Tony Adams of Floyd County -- a former car salesman convicted in three states since 1997 of at least 22 driving-related offenses -- is now charged with leaving the scene of the fatal crash at North Franklin and Cambria streets in a vehicle police think he stole earlier that morning.

The two men's lives, according to those who know them, were heading in different directions at the moment of the crash. Twenty-two-year-old Greg Jackson had put behind him an armed robbery charge from 2005, was working at his first real job, and was living on his own in an Orange Leaf Court town house not far from where he died.

But Adams, who friends and family say had tried to turn his life around in recent years, was once again in a tailspin, adding new charges to his already lengthy record. Strung together, his past guilty verdicts read like a road map to tragedy: driving while intoxicated, driving while impaired, possession of marijuana, speeding, reckless driving and assault and battery.

According to court records and interviews with police and others who know Adams, his car-salesman charm and a series of court-appointed defense attorneys for years has allowed him to keep returning to the road despite the string of charges. .

When convicted, he was often punished with fines of $250 or less. Even his most serious offenses were punished with probation, temporary suspensions of his driving privileges and court-ordered alcohol and driver safety programs. His stints in jail have so far been short, lasting only until the charges were dropped or until he could post bail and get back on the road.

Last week Adams, 47, was released from the Montgomery County Jail on $100,000 bond on charges of leaving the scene of a fatal accident, breaking and entering, and grand larceny related to the Christiansburg crash. According to Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Brad Finch, additional charges could be filed against Adams through a grand jury. That could come as early as Tuesday.

An unidentified woman who answered the phone Wednesday at Adams' home on Woods Gap Road in Floyd said Adams would not comment on the wreck. Nor, she said, would he discuss his convictions in North Carolina, Florida and various Virginia localities.

Police have not said what caused the Sept. 7 wreck, or exactly how Jackson was killed. According to search warrant affidavits, the stolen vehicle was found abandoned a few miles away from the crash site with significant damage, and paint found on it matched Jackson's Suzuki GSX motorcycle. The affidavits cite eyewitnesses who may tie Adams to the vehicle and the wreck.

After years spent in and out of courts, Adams could now lose his license and his freedom for years, or longer. But some say Adams and other drivers like him should face stiffer penalties before tragedy strikes.

For those such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving's Virginia Executive Director Chris Konschak, Adams is one more example of a dangerous driver slipping through a traffic court system that often fails to adequately punish repeat offenders using available sentencing laws.

"MADD believes when the law is strictly enforced, people start following the law," he said.

No answer

Wanda Jackson didn't worry that her son -- who still carried the childhood nickname "Scoooby" -- didn't answer her first wake-up call that Friday morning, Sept. 7.

The calls were a tradition between them. They often talked at least twice a day. But she knew Jackson had been out late, first at "A Concert for Virginia Tech" and then at a friend's house. She assumed he was in the shower, she said.

Ten minutes later, she called back.

No answer.

Twenty minutes later, still no answer. Fear set in.

Then police arrived at her Falls Church home.

Wanda Jackson said she immediately thought, "Oh my God, my son is dead." "They don't come except for death notification," she said later.

A smile echoes in her voice when she tells how her son took his lifelong nickname "Scoooby" -- his spelling -- from the cartoon character Scooby Doo.

It started out as a safety word the Jacksons used when their son was in elementary school. If anyone other than his mom or dad came to pick him up but didn't give the "Scooby Doo" password, Greg Jackson would know to stay put, his mother said.

The name stuck, and Jackson wrote the word Scoooby on his graduation gown in May.

Despite her grief, Wanda Jackson is composed when she talks about how her son gave up playing league football in middle school because she worried about his asthma.

She speaks dispassionately about how he used gift money from his 2002 high school graduation to buy his first motorcycle, and how she would never buy him one.

She is calm when she talks about her son's graduation from Tech, how he liked his new job with the Pepsi Bottling Group in Wytheville, and that he hoped to parlay it into a lucrative career.

And, she's philosophical about his 2005 brush with police and the courts, an event that could have derailed everything the family had worked to give Jackson. Then 20 years old, Jackson and his 21-year-old friend Chris Hines were charged in the armed robbery of a Roanoke man, who was forced to the ground on a September morning as he walked on South Main Street in Blacksburg.

The man's missing credit cards were found in Jackson's burgundy Cadillac De Ville, and a handgun was found at Hines' residence. The two friends were charged with assault and battery and credit card theft. They eventually struck deals, each ending up with suspended prison sentences and three years' supervised probation.

"He did not actually commit any offense," Wanda Jackson said of her son. "But through association, sometimes you get the same charge. Kids drink, and they do crazy stuff. I think it was one of those things."

It was a life decision point, when Greg Jackson could have turned in the wrong direction. But after his arrest, Jackson told his mother, "This is not me."

He got back on track. Jackson's probation officer gave him good reviews, Wanda Jackson said. And in May, he graduated from Tech with a business information technology degree.

He was well-thought of by his professors, including Deborah Cook, who said Jackson was smart, good with computers and fun to have in class. Cook even advised Jackson on which of two job offers he should accept after graduation, she said. He chose Pepsi Bottling Group and was hoping for a transfer that would take him closer to home, Wanda Jackson said.

Out of control

For a time, Tony Adams appeared to be moving his life in a new direction. Court records show that the continual stream of traffic citations for speeding, reckless driving and more serious incidents from 1997 to 2004 ceased for more than three years. No new charges were filed against Adams between March 2004 and July 2007.

Adams' stepfather, Robert Beresford, and Floyd County Sheriff's deputy Tim Dulaney -- who knew Adams mostly from his legal troubles -- say Adams joined a local church, and became very devout.

"It seemed like here lately he had straightened himself up and was doing real good," Dulaney said of Adams. "I even told him he'd be an inspiration to some of the kids up at the high school because of the way he turned his life around."

The sudden return of Adams' name to the police blotter "came as a shock to me," Dulaney said.

The latest downward spiral began with the assault and battery of a Floyd County man in July. Adams was later found guilty of assaulting James Michael Munn after a confrontation at a local bar. Adams had followed Munn to his home and attacked him there as Munn slept, according to court records.

A week after the assault, Adams was charged with trespassing on his stepson's property on Morning Dew Lane in Floyd. It was not prosecuted when the stepson, Steve English, requested the charge be dropped. According to Floyd County Commonwealth's Attorney Gordon Hannett, English came to him after the Sept. 7 wreck and said he hadn't wanted to add to Adams' troubles in Christiansburg.

The spiral continued in Montgomery County in August. According to court records, Adams was charged with speeding in Christiansburg on Aug. 5, and fined $60. On Aug. 8, he was charged again in Christiansburg with speeding, and with driving under the influence.

A hearing on the DUI charge -- his third since 2003 -- is scheduled for Oct. 17 in Montgomery County General District Court. If Adams is convicted, he could face another license revocation and a jail sentence.

Adams' record in Floyd goes back to 2001, when he was convicted of reckless driving for doing 88 mph along a stretch of Virginia 8 on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. In that case, he was fined, and his license was suspended for 30 days.

Worse was to come, however. Court records show that 2003 was a particularly bad year for the former car salesman. That year in North Carolina he was pulled over in Hyde and Pitt counties, and later convicted of possession of drug paraphernalia, speeding and driving while impaired. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail, but the time was suspended. He was also fined, his driver's license was revoked for 30 days, and he was put on one year's probation.

About the same time, in Daytona Beach, Fla., Adams was charged with driving under the influence and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. The judge there suspended his license for six months and put him on six months' probation. Adams was also ordered to submit to random urinalysis, to attend driving school and substance abuse counseling and to perform 50 hours of community service. According to records, he violated some of his parole conditions, but court officials could not provide information on those violations.

By February 2004, Adams was again menacing Floyd County roads. An off-duty Christiansburg police officer reported seeing Adams, driving a red Mazda, pass a truck over a double yellow line near Webbs Mill Road, then do a 360-degree turn in a business intersection while going about 50 mph. Adams was convicted of reckless driving and fined.

On March 4, 2004, Adams was caught speeding in a parking lot and later convicted of improper driving. He was fined $75.

But on March 13, 2004, Adams found himself in a much more serious situation. That day, 7-year-old Theo Price was injured when Adams lost control of the truck in which the two were riding. Adams was later charged with child abuse and reckless driving and put in jail to await trail.

The boy's mother, Lisa Demaine, was reportedly dating Adams at the time and was to be the key witness in the case. She was expected to testify that Adams had been drinking that day, said Hannett, the Floyd County prosecutor.

But Adams escaped prosecution when Demaine died in a separate car wreck in Riner a few weeks before the trial. The charges were dropped, and Adams was released from jail. Theo was later adopted by a local family, Hannett said.

The prosecutor still shakes his head when he looks at a file photo of the smiling child standing beside the mangled truck.

"It was a very sad case," he said.

Back on the road

Despite repeat offenses and at least three court-ordered suspensions of his driving privileges over the past decade, Adams held a valid Virginia driver's license Sept. 7. To Konschak of MADD Virginia, that illustrates a problem whereby existing laws are not always effectively enforced.

It's also unlear if all records of Adams' offenses in North Carolina and Florida were transferred to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. By law, Virginia driving records are confidential. Even if all were transferred, differences between various state's laws and other factors may have allowed Adams to avoid some punishments.

In fact, many contributing factors can help keep dangerous drivers on the road. Sometimes prosecutors, and even judges don't view traffic offenses as particularly serious, Konschak said.

More often, lack of resources play a role.The sheer number of traffic offenses committed in localities, combined with a lack of funding for extra judges and prosecutors can make plea deals more common, thereby diluting consequences for problem drivers.

Overcrowded jails and a limited number of beds in substance abuse treatment centers can stymie judicial orders that could keep some offenders off the roads.

Even in cases where judges exact strict penalties such as the revocation of a driver's license, it's not uncommon for offenders to continue driving illegally, sometimes causing a cascading effect in the legal system, according to Hannett.

The scenario goes like this: Police catch the offender driving without a valid license. The offender is sent back to court, where a judge extends the revocation. The offender continues to drive on the suspended license, and continues to be charged.

Keeping dangerous drivers off the roads "is a mental health problem, a social problem, a substance abuse problem. There is no perfect solution," said Susan Marchon of the New River Valley Alcohol Safety Action Program, which is part of a statewide effort to identify problem drivers and address their ongoing issues, including addiction and substance abuse.

Combating it, she said, requires multiple agencies working together in a cohesive system.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics gathered from Jan. 2001 to Sept. 2006, of the 5,342 people who died on Virginia roads, 62 percent were killed in accidents involving alcohol use or speeding.

News researcher Belinda Harris contributed to this report.`