Young returns to court

by Doug Thompson

The attorney for Jeffrey Young, the 30-year-old Floyd County man facing four felony charges stemming from an attack on an employee of Slaughters’ Supermarket in January, told Circuit Court Judge Ray W. Grubbs Tuesday he is exploring an insanity defense for his client after receiving a psychiatric evaluation.
Under Virginia law, the Commonwealth’s Attorney can also seek it own independent psychiatric evaluation of Young, and Grubbs granted a motion from Stephanie Shortt for that evaluation.
Grubbs ordered a return date of Sept. 2 for the evaluation. Young is scheduled for trial in September on the charges from an attack on Ciera Sowers in the parking lot of Slaughters.
Young was originally charged with malicious wounding, but a county grand jury returned four felony charges against him in June: malicious wounding, two counts of obstruction of justice and assault of a law enforcement.
Witnesses at the supermarket said Young first struck Sowers with his car and then jumped out and attacked her with a wooden club. Young also had a knife, the witnesses reported.
Young is currently being held without bond in the New River Valley Jail following more than two months of mental evaluations.  He is also a suspect in the hit and run death of Roanoke attorney Thomas Ferrell but has not yet been charged with the crime. Police have tied a Jeep Wrangler owned by Young to the hit-and-run and say the case is still under investigation.

The hearing on motions on Young kicked off an unusually long day in Circuit Court.

In another case, Grubbs told a former high school honor student, rescue squad volunteer and Eagle Scout that his case was “the most disappointing case this court has ever encountered” before giving the young man another chance to straighten out his life.

Yada Louis Bean has been in New River Valley jail since Grubbs sent him there in June to awaiting disposition of a gun charges in Radford before deciding on a sentence on felony charges of stealing drugs from a Floyd County veterinarian.

Bean also faced charges of drunk in public and possession of alcohol by a minor in Floyd County and was ordered to perform community service on the charges. He told Grubbs that he has agreed to a plea bargain in Radford that will convict him of a felony from the gun charges.

“You have had many chances and you have squandered them,” Grubbs told Bean. Bean said he had learned some hard lessons in jail and wanted a chance to prove he could turn his life around.

Bean blamed much of his problems on a fraternity he joined while attending Radford University. He said he thought the fraternity was a pre-law group of students but turned out to be “only interested in drinking.”

“I was encouraged to drink and I did,” Bean said.

He said his parents helped him buy a home in Floyd and he felt returning to the county would help him restore his life.

Grubbs sentenced Bean to two consecutive three-year sentences on charges from the break-in and theft of drugs in Floyd and then suspended the sentence and placed the young man on three years probation.  He also ordered him to re-enroll in the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program and to seek other counseling for his abuse problems.

However, Grubb warned Bean that this was his last chance.

“If you come back here again, you will go to jail for six years,” Grubbs said.

In other matters before the court Tuesday:

--Grubbs sentenced Robert Woodrow Huffman Jr. to six months in jail and suspended the remainder of a five year, three month sentence for probation violations;

--The judge sentenced Glenn Perry Collins to 30 days in jail on two counts of forging public records after Collins admitted using another man’s name and social security number when he was charged with traffic offenses in March 2008;

--Kirk Edward Hoffarth Jr. accepted a plea agreement that included a five-year suspended sentence and two years probation on charges from a theft of tools in September 2007;

--Michael Terry Duncan received a 12 months suspended sentence and 12 months probation on grand larceny charges stemming theft involving Hoffarth. A second charge of breaking and entering was dropped;

--Harold Wayne Hughes entered a no contest plea after a felony charge of manufacturing marijuana was reduced to a lesser charge. Grubbs deferred sentencing until Sept. 16 so he can review a pre-sentencing report;

--Grubbs ordered Eric Paul Fisher to serve 300 hours of community service for violating his probation;

--The judge sentenced Julia Elizabeth Ames Willett to a 12 months suspended sentence and ordered her to make restitution of $181.32 on a misdemeanor bad check charge;

--Grubbs remanded Dustin Bain to jail to await a hearing on probation violations;

--The judge continued probation for Angela Hixon and ordered her to continue substance abuse treatment at New Life Recovery Center after she admitted using alcohol and tested positive for drug use;

--Grubbs deferred adjudication for two years for Amason Roosevelt Estes III on breaking & entering and grand larceny charges.