EMPLOYEE NOT INDICTED OVER DEATH

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Jason Cort grabbed $130 from the Food Lion cash
register and ran out into the warm May night. A supermarket employee took
off after him.

Cort, the troubled product of a well-to-do suburban family, wasn't fast
enough. Prosecutors say the store employee caught the 23-year-old Cort and
beat him to death with a tree limb.

The thrashing ended the hard-luck life of a young man who had struggled with
depression, a learning disability, alcohol and cocaine.

But the final chapter was written Monday, when a grand jury refused to
indict the store employee, college student Daniel Abram Rodbourn, on
manslaughter charges.

``It's telling the public that in an attempt to recover property, you can
kill somebody,'' said Cort's father, Steven Cort. He and his wife, Cheryl,
said they believe the grand jury was swayed against their son because crack
was found in his body.

``In my opinion, the minute they asked, `Was he on drugs?' the curtain went
down and Jason was on trial,'' Mrs. Cort said.

Cort was a skinny, learning-disabled kid who was so indecisive he would ask
his mother what to order off a restaurant menu. He grew herbs and cooked
with his mother, a neuromuscular therapist. He would scold her if she tossed
their cat off her lap, worried that the drop would hurt the pet.

``He was too sensitive for this world,'' said his father, a chemical
engineer and entrepreneur. ``I think that made him easy prey.''

Rodbourn, a 25-year-old senior at North Carolina State University majoring
in zoology, could not be reached for comment. Neither he nor his parents
have listed telephone numbers, and an entry in the university's student
directory was outdated. Prosecutors did not know if he had hired a lawyer.

Cort's parents had enrolled him in a private school that specialized in
learning-disabled students to help him graduate from high school. He was
hospitalized with depression in his teens and sent to live with a
grandparent so he could break off ties to friends who supplied him with drugs.

Finally, in January, he graduated from a hairstyling academy. His parents
celebrated with a ski trip to Aspen, Colo. A photo of Cort kicking back in
an armchair, his snowboarding boots crossed, sits on a glass tabletop in a
sun room of their home in Cary, a Raleigh suburb.

Trying to stay away from his former drug buddies meant Cort had few friends.
He would turn over his pay from a hair salon to his mother, trying to beat
the temptation of drugs. But his parents suspect someone talked him into
buying a fix and robbing the Food Lion on May 9.

``Jason was not a leader. He was a follower,'' Steven Cort said. ``He was an
easy mark because of his sensitivity and his depression.''

Police told Cort's parents that Cort broke away from two Food Lion customers
who tried to stop him at the door. A woman manager of the supermarket told
Rodbourn, ``Go get him,'' according to police.

Rodbourn caught up with Cort, the two fought, and the 140-pound, 5-foot-10
Cort broke free, police told the family. Rodbourn overtook him again and
beat him, prosecutors said.

Steven Cort said police told him Rodbourn beat his son with a 2-inch-thick,
5-foot-long tree branch. He said police told him one witness reported his
son was struck at least 10 times. A second witness said Cort was hit at
least twice as he lay on the ground. He suffered a broken skull, his parents
said.

Police thought Cort was drunk and had only minor injuries. He was taken to a
hospital to sober up, but lost consciousness. He was taken off life support
on May 13.

A Food Lion spokeswoman refused to discuss the case or the store's policy on
pursuing thieves.

Assistant District Attorney Howard Cummings said he thought there was enough
evidence to indict Rodbourn. ``The message is you get what you deserve, but
I don't want to pass judgment on anybody,'' he told The News & Observer.

District Attorney Colon Willoughby said the grand jury's decision
effectively ends any attempt to prosecute. He said his office has a policy
of not presenting a case to a new grand jury without fresh evidence.

The Corts said they never wanted prison but would have advocated community
service if Rodbourn had been tried and convicted.

``Drugs ruined my family,'' Mrs. Cort said. ``You cocoon them the best you
can and then you have to set them free, and that's the scary part.''

Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett