Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Jurors look at self-defense, not gun, in Workman trial
The jury said it believed the federal agent had good reason to fear for his life during the attack.
Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times
Defense attorney Chris Kowalczuk demonstrates last week how he believes Timothy Workman was attacked.
Related
Story
In the second trial of Timothy Glen Workman, prosecution and defense battled over the issue of whether James Albert Bumbry II had a gun.
But the jurors who acquitted Workman of voluntary manslaughter in the killing of Keith Edward Bailey said the gun didn't matter.
According to evidence, about 2 a.m. on Feb. 12, 2002, in a Valley View Mall parking lot, Workman had a confrontation with Bailey and Bumbry that ended with Workman shooting Bailey point-blank in the chest.
Regardless of whether Bumbry was armed, the jury felt Workman had good reason to fear for his life.
Jurors interviewed Monday and Tuesday felt the evidence showed that after Workman made an obscene gesture, Bailey went after Workman and accosted him, grabbing him by the throat.
"Basically, it was two on one," juror Timothy Hanley said. "He didn't know what their intentions were, and he didn't have time to find out."
Key testimony came from a prosecution witness, Sylvia Harmon, who was in the parking lot that night. She said she saw Workman and Bailey exchange words, then saw Bailey grab Workman by the throat. This backed up Workman's own claim that he was being choked.
The jurors went over the evidence once, then took a vote, which came out 10-2 in favor of acquittal. They went over the evidence again and reviewed the standards for self-defense in their instructions. When they voted a second time, their verdict was unanimous.
Their deliberations stand in contrast to what happened at the end of Workman's first trial, on a murder charge, in October 2002. Jurors focused then on what Workman could have done differently in the situation. Some jurors wanted to put Workman away, some wanted to acquit and others took the middle ground.
Eventually that jury reached a compromise, convicting him of voluntary manslaughter.
Bailey's brother, Michael Patterson, has questioned whether the fact that all the jurors in the second trial were white made a difference in their decision. Workman is white, Bailey was black.
Jurors said race was never part of their discussion. "It wasn't about that. It was about what happened," juror Nancy Gondar said.
"What was important to me was that the Bailey family understand that we didn't come to this decision lightly," Gondar said. Though all the parties involved, including Workman "behaved incredibly stupidly, it was a matter of what the law allowed us."
