Texas wants Mandell Motley - again.

After 10 years building a life as a Christian minister and automobile sales manager, Motley faces the possibility of a return to prison to continue paying a debt he thought he'd satisfied.

In July 2001, Motley, then 35, was arrested in Martinsville when police found him listed as a fugitive from justice on a national crime information network.

Texas asserted that Motley had never served a sentence imposed there in 1990, when he was found to have violated his parole for a series of nonviolent offenses, including burglary, committed in the late 1980s.

But when Texas authorities failed to produce a warrant for Motley after a month, a Martinsville judge declared the extradition request expired and Motley went back to his post-prison life as pastor of Grace Chapel Ministries in Bassett and sales manager for a Ford dealership.

Although he'd always known it was possible that Texas record could come back to haunt him, Motley wasn't expecting it two weeks ago when his name resurfaced after he received a warning for exceeding the speed limit in Salem.

A routine computer check found the extradition request still on file, and he was arrested again.

Texas officials insist they really do want him this time, but that they won't be coming to get him unless he's being held in jail - something a magistrate refused to do, but which the Salem commonwealth's attorney will request next week.

"I was a bad guy," Motley says he freely admitted to the magistrate, "but I've lived a changed life the last 10 years."

Motley doesn't deny the youthful cross-country crime spree he engaged in shortly after his graduation from high school. He was convicted of such nonviolent offenses as burglary, forgery and fencing stolen goods in Virginia, Texas and California.

But when the magistrate heard the story of the Martinsville man's reformation and his life after prison, he released Motley on a personal recognizance bond - an apparent rarity for someone wanted as a fugitive. "That was nothing but the mercy of God," Motley said.

Motley says he rededicated his life to God after he was incarcerated in California's infamous San Quentin prison as a 22-year-old in 1987.

Motley became an assistant to the chaplain and formed a choir that eventually created a top-40 gospel CD produced by a drummer for the Grateful Dead.

In 1990, while he was in San Quentin, Motley was returned to Texas to face violation of parole charges. He says the judge who imposed the 35-year sentence told him it would run concurrently with his California time - and that with good behavior he would only have to serve one month for each year. By Motley's calculation, that amounted to time served.

In 1993, Motley was paroled from the California prison and sent to Virginia - after, he contends, Texas said it didn't want him.

Motley served time here, completing a work-release program in Richmond where he lost three fingers of his left hand in a job-training accident.

He continued to take college courses in religion and was named pastor of Grace Chapel Ministries in Bassett, which had been founded by his mother. He also became sales manager for Martinsville Ford.

"It would be a travesty of justice if he were incarcerated and held and taken to Texas," Motley's attorney, Rena Berry, said Friday.

"I really think having performed as well as he has, as a model citizen, with his contributions to the commonwealth of Virginia, it would be a shame for him to have to go through that process," Berry said.

Even Interim Salem Commonwealth's Attorney Charlene Day says that her "impression is that he's an upstanding citizen."

Nevertheless, Motley is wanted by a legitimate authority in another state, Day said. "I'd want people to do the same for me in another jurisdiction," by holding onto someone wanted in Virginia.

She will comply with Texas authorities' request that she seek a revocation of Motley's bond next week and have him held in custody until they can get him after his extradition hearing, scheduled for April 29.

"If they detain him today ... we could begin extradition procedures," said Bryan Collier, head of the parole division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, in an interview Thursday.

Collier contended that it was contrary to generally accepted procedure for Motley to have been released on bond after Salem authorities knew he was wanted on the fugitive warrant. He said Texas would have to spend several thousand dollars to send a contractor to pick Motley up, and that it wouldn't do that unless he was assured Motley was in custody.

"We're not going to come hunt him," Collier said.

Berry pointed out that Virginia law does allow for release in extradition cases so long as there is "sufficient surety" that the defendant will appear in court.

"My position is that the magistrate was not wrong in establishing a personal recognizance bond. Mr. Motley's word was sufficient surety," Berry said.

Collier, however, sees Motley's resistance to incarceration as futile.

"It would be best for him in the long run to get it over with" by going back to Texas, Collier said, although he acknowledged that probably "somebody dropped the ball" by not having Motley transferred to Texas from either the California or Virginia prison systems.

Once Motley is in custody in Texas, Collier said, "Realistically, he could see a parole panel in a few months," which would then "calculate his parole eligibility. Based on how long he was in custody, he may be pretty close to parole eligible," Collier said.

For Motley, the possibility of returning to Texas in shackles seems almost unbearable.

Shortly after the Salem magistrate released him, Motley, his wife and their daughter "just sat in the parking lot for maybe 45 minutes. Very emotional.

"'Why?' I wondered. The Lord must have something in mind for me" out of this experience, Motley said, perhaps "adding to my testimony."

"It's not where you've been that matters, it's where you're going."

Motley's past

Before Mandell Motley became a pastor and a car sales manager he had a history of legal troubles.

1986: Given probation, discharged for Texas convictions.

1987: After a string of non-violent offenses in Virginia, Texas and California, sent to San Quentin prison at age 22.

1990: Sent from San Quentin to Belton, Texas, on charges of violating probation there. Texas time is to run concurrently with his California time.

1992: Paroled by California, handed over to Virginia authorities.

1993: Serves time in Roanoke City Jail, Henry County prison camp.

2001: Martinsville police discover that Motley is listed as a fugitive wanted by Texas on national crime register. When no one from Texas claims him after 30 days, the extradition claim expires.

2005: After receiving a warning for speeding in Salem, where he now works for Friendly Lincoln Mercury, Motley's name again comes up on the crime registry as a fugitive wanted by Texas.