Pubdate: Fri, 07 Feb 2003 Source: Roanoke Times (VA) Copyright: 2003 Roanoke Times Contact: http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/368 Author: Jen McCaffery, The Roanoke Times Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) 1989 Killings Result In Capital Murder Charges EX-MAYOR OF COAL TOWN INDICTED IN TRIPLE SLAYING Federal Prosecutors Have Argued Since 2000 That Charles Wesley Gilmore Was The Mastermind Behind The Killings. The former mayor of a one-time coal mining town was arrested Thursday morning and charged with capital murder in connection with the 1989 slaying of three members of a Tazewell County family. The federal indictment of Charles Wesley Gilmore, 72, on charges of conspiracy to commit capital murder; capital murder in the furtherance of a criminal enterprise; and capital murder of a potential federal witness, is the latest development in the investigation of the killings of Robert Davis, Una Mae Davis and her son, Bobby Hopewell Jr. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Giorno said the charges against Gilmore resulted from "a culmination of the information we had before, plus new information that surfaced within the last month." Gilmore made an initial appearance in federal court in Abingdon on Thursday and remains in federal custody. A bond hearing in his case is scheduled for Monday. Gilmore denied any involvement with the slayings in a brief conversation with The Roanoke Times last year. He said he had passed two lie detector tests in connection with the case. Gilmore's attorney, Michael Gibson of Princeton, W.Va., did not return calls for comment. Gilmore's indictment is the climax of allegations that have shadowed the former coal mining capital since soon after the shotgun slayings in the early morning hours of April 16, 1989. Hellen Gravely, the wife of Pocahontas vice mayor Jerry Gravely and a lifelong friend of Una Mae Davis , described Gilmore's arrest as "a prayer answered from God." "It's taken a long time, but maybe it's going to work," Hellen Gravely said of the investigation of the case. "Maybe our little town can move on now and turn into the community that we would all like it to be." Gilmore was charged in connection with the killings by a grand jury in Charlottesville on Wednesday. Federal prosecutors Tony Giorno and Tom Bondurant have argued since 2000 that Gilmore was the mastermind behind the killings. Gilmore, who began a nine-year sentence in 1990 in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a drug kingpin, asked Samuel Stephen Ealy and Walter LeFight "Pete" Church to kill Robert Davis, federal prosecutors have argued. Gilmore had learned that he was under investigation and he suspected that Robert Davis, who held drugs and money for him, was cooperating with federal authorities in the case against him, prosecutors have maintained. Gilmore, who once hosted fund-raisers for prominent Democrats, was known around Pocahontas as "Big Daddy." From 1980 onward, Gilmore imported cocaine into the small town, which now has about 440 residents. Evidence that Gilmore and Church, now 48, could have been involved in the slayings helped lead to Ealy's acquittal on state charges in connection with the slayings in 1991. Federal authorities got involved in the investigation in 1997, after they were contacted by an inmate from Pennsylvania who said Church had confessed to him about the slayings. That led to rare federal capital murder charges against Ealy and Church in 2000. Gilmore was named in the indictment as the impetus behind the killings, but he was not charged then. Ealy, 40, was convicted in connection with the slayings last summer and sentenced to life without parole. At Church's trial last fall, his attorneys, Jimmy Turk and Beverly Davis of Radford, presented evidence that Church also denied to the inmate any role in the slayings. They have also argued that no physical evidence ties Church to the slayings and that Church was with his girlfriend, Sherri Howell, when the slayings occurred. That trial resulted in a hung jury. But in another development, Howell, 42, was also indicted Wednesday for perjury in connection with her testimony in the Church case. Howell has testified that she was with Church at his home when the slayings took place. But she has acknowledged that she changed her story about where the couple was between Ealy's state trial and the federal trial. Howell was also arrested and made an initial appearance in federal court Thursday. She was released on $10,000 unsecured bond. The latest developments in the investigation could affect Church's new trial, which is set for March 3. Gilmore was indicted as a co-defendant of Church's, and prosecutors hope to try the men together, Giorno said. That means they would seek to have a new trial date for both defendants, Giorno said. Neither Turk nor Davis could not be reached for comment. Giorno said his office had not yet decided whether prosecutors are going to ask Attorney General John Ashcroft for permission to seek the death penalty in the case if Gilmore is convicted. - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl