University of Virginia Library

Abductors Sentenced Eleven Years
For Assaulting First-Year Student

By Peter Shea
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Circuit Court Judge Lyttelton
Waddell sentenced three of the men
involved in last November's
abduction and assault of a first-year
student at the University to a total
of eleven years imprisonment each.

Kenneth Geer, 19, Ronald J.
Morris, 24, and Robert W.
Woodward, 21, were each given ten
years for the abduction charge and
an additional year for the assault
offense. The three were convicted
in mid-February for the attack on
Jay Goldstein.

Jesse McDaniel, 21, the fourth
man convicted in the case, was not
present at the Monday hearing as he
is still recovering from injuries he
suffered in an automobile accident.

Before sentencing the trio,
Judge Waddell called the assault
"the nearest thing to a gang type
procedure I have ever had in my
court." However, he suspended six
of the ten years for abduction that
he gave Mr. Woodward and Mr.
Geer. He left the assault sentence
intact, giving the two a total of five
years each to serve.

Judge Waddell reduced Mr.
Morris' sentence to two years for
the abduction offense and one for
the assault charge, citing the latter's
clean military record, including two
Bronze Stars, as the reason for his
leniency.

Commonwealth's Attorney
Downing L. Smith termed the
Goldstein case "one of the most
outrageous things to happen in this
community in my career." He
asked for a sentence at would
correspond to the severity of the
crime.

Although he agreed with Mr.
Smith on the "outrageousness" of
the offense, George St. John,
attorney for Mr. Woodward and Mr.
Morris, argued that there was no
premeditation involved and that
liquor motivated the attack.

Mr. Geer's counsel, Robert M.
Callaghan, asked that his client be
judged specially, claiming that he
did not "realize the seriousness of
the crime at the time."