University of Virginia Library

Preliminary Hearing

Rape Suspect Confesses Guilt

By JOAN BAECHER

James Grey Livesay testified
during a preliminary hearing in
Albemarle County Court last
Thursday and admitted he and
three others abducted and
raped a 20-year-old University
coed March 19.

The 23-year-old Lewisburg,
W. Va. man said he and his
friends, James Melvin Johnson
Jr., 22, David Jerome Skeen,
18 and a 16-year-old boy, all of
Scottsville, had been drinking
beer and "looking for girls" for
three hours before they
forcibly abducted and raped
the coed.

Blindfolded

The victim, a third-year
College student, also testified
that she was raped seven times.
However, she said she was
blindfolded during the assaults,
and was unable to identify any
of the attackers.

After the preliminary
hearing for Johnson and Skeen
and upon receiving a written
statement from Skeen
admitting the charges, County
Court Judge Herbert A.
Pickford ordered the two to be
held in lieu of $50,000 bond
each pending grand jury action
during the June session of
Circuit Court.

Livesay, who is also being
held for $50,000 bond, waived
his right to a preliminary
hearing the same day. Charges
against him will also be
presented to the grand jury,
according to Asst.
Commonwealth Atty. Stephen
H. Helvin.

Lt. James L. Higgins, who
conducted much of the
investigation for the Albemarle
Sheriff's office, testified that
the 16-year-old has admitted to
the charges in a written
statement. He is currently in
the custody of his parents and
is scheduled for a hearing in
Albemarle Juvenile Court May
5.

Abduction

According to the coed, she
was raped and forced to
commit unnatural sexual
acts. She said she was
abducted at about 9:45 p.m.
on McCormick Road near the
Law School as she was
returning from a babysitting
job.

She was raped twice in the
car, and four more times after
being driven to a secluded area,
she said.

One assailant drove away
with her, raped her once more,
and then let her out on the
side of a country road with a
dime to call for help, she said.

She said she was so "scared"
that she decided not to call the
police, but her roommate
called and informed the
sheriff's office.

Albemarle Sheriff George
Bailey said his only initial
information was a vague
description of the car from the
girl and reports from two
University students who heard
the girl scream when she was
abducted and glimpsed the car
as it sped away.

The break in the case came
when two sisters from Esmont
told investigators that the four
defendants, whom they were
familiar with, had approached
them earlier in the evening of
March 19, Mr. Bailey said.

With this information he
picked up three of the
defendants in Scottsville. The
fourth defendant, Livesay, fled
the state but returned March
28 and turned himself in.