Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Man is sentenced for sexual assault
Russell Lee Bowles III elected to avoid the risk of a jury trial by entering an Alford plea.
A Troutville man will serve three years of a five-year prison sentence for his role in a sexual assault on another man in September 2006.
A trial for 26-year-old Russell Lee Bowles III had been scheduled to start today in Botetourt County Circuit Court. But he chose instead to enter an Alford plea Thursday afternoon to a charge of unlawful wounding. Bowles’ plea means that he maintains his innocence but chooses to avoid the risk of a jury trial.
His co-defendant, 39-year-old Paul Coffman Graybill Jr., had his sentence fixed at 10 years in prison after a jury found him guilty in February of object sexual penetration and unlawful wounding.
Bowles has also agreed to pay $3,000 in restitution to the victim, who had teeth knocked out during the assault, said Assistant Botetourt County Commonwealth’s Attorney Hilary Griffith.
According to court documents, on Sept. 9, 2006, Graybill and Bowles picked the man up from the Quick-Ette convenience store on U.S. 220 north of Fincastle and told him they would take him to Roanoke.
They first stopped at Graybill’s home on Stony Battery Road in Botetourt, where the man drank several beers. The man, who is now 40, testified at Graybill’s trial that he felt as if he’d been drugged, and that before the two men took him home they sexually assaulted him.
The forensic evidence against Bowles wasn’t as strong as the evidence against Graybill, who prosecutors believe was the leader in the assault, Griffith said.
After Bowles reported to jail Friday, he was charged with possession of contraband for an apparent attempt to smuggle in drugs, the prosecutor said.
A trial for 26-year-old Russell Lee Bowles III had been scheduled to start today in Botetourt County Circuit Court. But he chose instead to enter an Alford plea Thursday afternoon to a charge of unlawful wounding. Bowles’ plea means that he maintains his innocence but chooses to avoid the risk of a jury trial.
His co-defendant, 39-year-old Paul Coffman Graybill Jr., had his sentence fixed at 10 years in prison after a jury found him guilty in February of object sexual penetration and unlawful wounding.
Bowles has also agreed to pay $3,000 in restitution to the victim, who had teeth knocked out during the assault, said Assistant Botetourt County Commonwealth’s Attorney Hilary Griffith.
According to court documents, on Sept. 9, 2006, Graybill and Bowles picked the man up from the Quick-Ette convenience store on U.S. 220 north of Fincastle and told him they would take him to Roanoke.
They first stopped at Graybill’s home on Stony Battery Road in Botetourt, where the man drank several beers. The man, who is now 40, testified at Graybill’s trial that he felt as if he’d been drugged, and that before the two men took him home they sexually assaulted him.
The forensic evidence against Bowles wasn’t as strong as the evidence against Graybill, who prosecutors believe was the leader in the assault, Griffith said.
After Bowles reported to jail Friday, he was charged with possession of contraband for an apparent attempt to smuggle in drugs, the prosecutor said.
