By MATT CHITTUM
ROANOKE TIMES

The former VMI freshman pursued charges after the school declined to call the beatings hazing.

The former Virginia Military Institute freshman seeking assault charges against three senior cadets who whipped him is requesting a special prosecutor be appointed to review the case, his father said.

Commonwealth's Attorney Gordon Saunders declined to prosecute the case last week after a state police investigation in the matter, but offered George Wade Jr. several other options, including requesting a special prosecutor to review the case.

Saunders said he wanted to be "above reproach" when it came to Wade's concerns that he had a conflict of interest in the case because Saunders' father was a VMI professor for more than 40 years.

"You have never treated me as the victim of a crime, but as a suspect in this investigation," Wade wrote in a letter he is sending to the Rockbridge-Lexington commonwealth's attorney.

Wade also wants an attorney general's opinion on Virginia's hazing law, which, in Saunders' interpretation, says that any hazing charge must originate with the president of the college where the hazing occurred.

Wade began pursuing assault charges against the three seniors he said struck him repeatedly with belts and a coat hanger over a two-month period last fall after VMI declined to call the beatings hazing.

Saunders asked the state police to investigate the matter, but according to George Wade Sr., the investigators and Saunders said the assault charges would be difficult to prosecute because there is evidence Wade consented to the beatings.