University of Virginia Library

Greenfield Incident

Court Drops Assault Charges Against Officer

By ROSEMARY COONEY

Charges against
Charlottesville police officer,
R. L. Rhodes, who was accused
of assaulting 17-year-old
murder suspect Ronald W.
Greenfield March 31 in
Charlottesville city jail cell,
have been dropped following a
hearing in Juvenile Court.

In making the ruling,
Substitute Juvenile Court
Judge Richard H. Barrick
criticized Mr. Rhodes for
entering Greenfield's cell. Mr.
Barrick said that Mr. Rhodes'
action was "very poor
conduct" for a police officer
and "an impudent, foolish,
headstrong thing" for him to
do.

Referring to his ruling, Mr.
Barrick said that there was
insufficient evidence to prove
beyond a reasonable doubt
that Mr. Rhodes assaulted the
suspect. However, he added
that the incident could have
gotten out of control and
ended in a killing.

Charged with the Nov. 8,
1972 murder of University
student Mary Francis Jordan,
Greenfield claimed that the
police officer kicked him in the
stomach following an argument
in his cell.

According to Greenfield,
Mr. Rhodes and Officer J. M.
Hensley had just brought a
woman prisoner to her cell.
After doing so, Mr. Hensley
walked down to Greenfield's
cell and said, "You're a big one
with the girls."

This comment, in
connection with the Jordan
murder, "infuriated me and I
tossed water in his direction,"
Greenfield said.

Denied Remarks

Denying having made any
such remark to Greenfield, Mr.
Rhodes testified that he asked
the jailer to let him in the cell
after Greenfield called him a
"pig" and threw water in his
face. Mr. Rhodes said that he
then told the youth, "If you're
such a man do something
now."

According to testimony,
when Mr. Rhodes entered the
cell, Greenfield and Mr.
Hensley were calling each other
names and at the time, in
violation of jail procedures,
both officers were wearing
guns.

Mr. Hensley testified that at
that point he realized he had
made a "bad judgment" by
entering the cell and told Mr.
Rhodes, "Let's get out of
here."

Greenfield Testimony

In his testimony, Greenfield
stated that Mr. Hensley left
and Mr. Rhodes turned to leave
but in a "karate-like" fashion
kicked him in the stomach. Mr.
Rhodes said that Greenfield
tried to grab his gun so he
kicked him.

According to testimony,
after Greenfield was kicked, he
took an 18-inch-long pipe from
under his mattress and tried to
attack Mr. Rhodes. Standing
outside the cell, Mr. Hensley
pulled his pistol and ordered
Greenfield to give him the
pipe. After doing so,
Greenfield was locked in his
cell and the officers left.

The two officers returned
with Sgt. F. D. R. Jackson
about a half hour later.
According to Greenfield, they
took him from his cell, beat
him with their fists and a billy
club and put him in a solitary
confinement cell.

In their testimonies, the
three officers claimed that they
went to Greenfield's cell
because he was causing a
disorder. They denied beating
Greenfield, but said they
forcibly removed him from his
cell to solitary confinement.

Following the incident, Mr.