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.