COUPLE WON'T CONTEST CHARGE OF SUPPLYING DAUGHTER WITH LSD

Teen Said They Urged Her To Sell Drug

Laurie Hicks-Davis Said She And Her Husband, John Henry Davis, Accepted
Plea Agreements Because Their Attorneys Told Them They Couldn't Get A Fair
Trial In Roanoke County.

A father and stepmother accused of supplying their teen-age daughter LSD to
sell at her high school admitted Tuesday in Roanoke County Circuit Court to
charges of distributing and possessing the drug.

John Henry Davis, 45, pleaded no contest, while his wife, Laurie
Hicks-Davis, 34, entered Alford pleas - which allows a defendant to
maintain innocence while acknowledging that the evidence is strong enough
that a judge or jury would convict. In exchange for the couple's pleas, the
prosecution agreed not to prosecute drug conspiracy charges against them.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Leach said he learned Monday that
Hicks-Davis was going to accept a plea agreement, but Davis' case was still
set to go before a jury. Tuesday morning, a jury had been seated before
Davis changed his mind. He did not explain his reasons either during or
after the hearing.

When Judge Diane Strickland questioned Davis about his plea change - Davis
had initially pleaded not guilty - he told her "no comment." Further
pressed by the judge, he said he was pleading no contest "freely and with
respect to everybody."

The couple were charged as an outcome of Operation Babyface, during which a
Roanoke County police officer posed as a student at Northside High School
for 10 months to catch drug dealers. Their 17-year-old daughter was one of
the nine students who sold drugs to Officer Katrina Moulton.

The girl, who is not being named because she is a juvenile, told Moulton
she got LSD from her parents, Leach said in a summary of the evidence
Tuesday. The girl sold five hits to the undercover officer in April and
also sold to a friend, Leach said.

Months later, the teen went to police and told them of drugs being in her
home, which prompted a search of the Davises' Catawba Valley Drive home on
Sept. 6, 2000. According to a search warrant, police found 23 hits of LSD
in the freezer - in a coffee mug and on sugar cubes wrapped in foil.

Leach said that when officers arrived at the home, Hicks-Davis told them
where the LSD was. Initially, Davis told police that the drugs belonged to
his daughter, but later said they were his and his wife's, which they kept
for personal use and to occasionally share at parties, Leach said.

But the teen told police that her father and stepmother obtained 100 hits
of LSD and encouraged her to sell some at her school. Leach said the girl
bought the drugs from her parents to resell.

The teen went to police before she knew about the undercover operation,
authorities have said. Later charged and convicted of selling LSD, the girl
moved to Georgia with her mother and graduated high school. In June, she
was given probation and community service by a Juvenile and Domestic
Relations Court judge.

She has said she went to the police with the goal of getting out of her
father's home.

Tuesday, Davis declined to comment after his hearing. In April, however, he
said the accusations were false and that his daughter was on a "hate
mission." He said the LSD was put in the freezer by his daughter and that
his wife found it the night before the girl went to police.

"I don't know if she was scared that we found out or if she wanted to get
even," he said at the time.

Hicks-Davis said Tuesday that she and her husband accepted the plea
agreements because they were told by their attorneys that they couldn't get
a fair trial in Roanoke County. She said her husband "wanted to fight this
so bad" and that more information will come out when the couple is
sentenced next month.

"We are innocent," she said. "We are good parents. We are old-fashioned
parents. That's what she [their daughter] didn't like about our home."

Leach said after the hearings that he figured the Davises didn't want to
run the risk of going to trial and angering jurors by the nature of the
charges. Had a jury found them guilty, they each could have faced 120 years
in prison. By pleading guilty to two charges, they face a maximum of 50 years.

"Parents are supposed to help their children avoid problems like this and
keep drugs out of schools," Leach said. "Here are parents who are
encouraging their children. I think Roanoke County citizens would be upset
at that. Justifiably so."

Leach said he will seek jail time.