University of Virginia Library

Four Await Sentence
For Assault, Kidnap
Of First-Year Man

A prominent Charlottesville Parole
officer has been assigned to
draw up a pre-sentencing record of
the four men found guilty on
February 14 of "simple assault and
felonious abduction" in the eating
of a first-year man last November.
After this record is submitted, the
men will be sentenced accordingly.

Thomas E. Wilson, chief probation
and parole officer of the
Charlottesville area, was assigned by
District Judge Waddell to construct
an entire life history of the four
Earlysville residents, including all
misdemeanors and offenses committed.

The first-year man, Jay Allen
Goldstein, was picked up while
hitchhiking in front of the Albemarle
Hotel on the Sunday before
Thanksgiving vacation. He was
taken ten miles outside of Charlottesville,
beaten, stripped, and
thrown into a river.

The trial of the four men that
beat Mr. Goldstein was held on
Thursday and Friday, February 13
and 14. The four men accused and
found guilty of both charges are:
Jesse McDaniels, 20; Kenneth Ger,
19: Wayne Woodward. 21; and
Ronald Morris, 24.

Mr. Goldstein described the
main involvement of the four
principles to The Cavalier Daily
yesterday. "McDaniels stranged
me, Geer drove the car, Woodward
ripped my pants off with a
knife and Morris was the leader of
the assault," he said.

Officer Marshall, who was involved
in the case, publicly expressed
after the trial that the four men will
probably get five years each for
abduction, and one year for the
assault charge. Final sentencing will
come on April 7.

A young girl, mentioned in the
original account of the crime in
November, was also identified. She
is Agnes Meadows, from Richmond.
It came out in the trial that she was
in the car with the four others
expressly to commit illicit acts with
the leader, Mr. Morris. The girl was
not charged.

The trial two weeks ago was
divided into two parts. On Thursday,
February 13, Mr. Geer and Mr.
McDaniels were tried. They pleaded
guilty of the charges, but told the
court that they did not harbor any
sinister intent against the first-year
man they subsequently strangled
and beat.

Judge Waddell found both
defendents guilty of "simple assault
and felonious abduction.

On Friday. Mr. Woodward and
Mr. Morris were tried. Their defense
took a different track: they pleaded
innocent. During the course of the
trial, their accounts of the incident
were found contradictory, and
discounted.

Once again. Judge Waddell
found both men guilty on both
counts. He also publicly called the
statements of both principals "outrageous
lies."

Independent sources present at
the trial indicated to The Cavalier
Daily that if Mr. Morris and Mr.
Woodward had pleaded guilty, the
charges against them might have
been reduced. But their delaying
tactics, as it turned out, worked to
their disadvantage, it was reported.

Mr. Goldstein, the victim of the
entire affair, suffered lacerations
and a sprained neck. He has since
recovered from his injuries.