VIRGINIA ESCAPEE PLEADS GUILTY

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) Nearly 25 years after he fled a Virginia
jail work crew, Alfred Odell Martin III pleaded guilty Wednesday to
escaping from his one-year term for selling $10 worth of marijuana.

Martin, 49, who built a respectable life in Michigan, faces up to five
years in prison at his February sentencing, but his family is hoping
for probation.

"There is a huge sense of relief that this cloud that has been over
him now for 24 years is going to be resolved," defense attorney Ben
Gardner said.

The case prosecutor said she would not push for jail time for Martin,
who returned to Virginia in December and is currently serving out his
one-year drug term.

Martin had served less than two days of his sentence when he left a
Martinsville jail work crew in February 1974. He married and settled
in the Detroit suburb of Livonia where he raised three children and
worked for a mortgage company.

Virginia first sought his extradition in 1974, but then-Gov. William
Milliken granted Martin legal asylum. The state sought him again in
November, and this time a Michigan judge ordered him returned.