EX-MAYOR INDICTED IN DEATHS

ABINGDON -- A former Tazewell County politician faces a federal indictment
accusing him of giving the order that led to a drug-related triple killing
more than a decade ago. Charles Wesley "Charlie" Gilmore, 72, was indicted
Wednesday by a federal grand jury sitting in Charlottesville. The indictment
was unsealed after his arrest at his Pocahontas home Thursday morning.

Investigators said Gilmore was cooperative when arrested but made no
statements about the case.

Gilmore has been accused of giving the order that led to the 1989 killings
of Robert Davis and his wife, Una Mae Davis, both 32, and his 14-year-old
stepson Robert "Bobby" Hopewell Jr. at their home in Pocahontas -- a former
coal-mining town on the West Virginia border.

He was indicted on one count of conspiracy, three counts of murder during a
continuing criminal enterprise and one count of murder of a federal witness.
The indictment claims Gilmore ordered the death of Robert Davis and aided
and abetted in the other slayings.

"Obviously, Charlie Gilmore was an unindicted co-conspirator from day one,"
said Assistant District Attorney General Tony Giorno, the lead prosecutor.
"This indictment allows us to get into court all the players and ultimately
let a jury decide their guilt or innocence."

The indictment alleges that Gilmore hired two men, Samuel Stephen "Sam"
Ealy, 40, and Walter L. "Pete" Church, 48, to kill Robert Davis, who had
worked for Gilmore in his illegal drug business.

Gilmore was convicted years ago of running a major drug ring in the
Southwest Virginia coalfields but never had been charged in the slayings.

Ealy was found guilty of the killings last year after a trial in federal
court and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Church was tried
later in the year; his trial ended in a hung jury.

Church is set to be tried again in March, but that could be delayed because
of Gilmore's indictment, Giorno said.

"We would like to try Church and Gilmore together, but there are some
evidentiary issues the judge will have to decide," he said. "Obviously, if
they are tried together, they will not be tried in March."

Meanwhile, Gilmore made his first appearance in federal court here Thursday
afternoon. The elderly man, wearing leg irons, limped slightly as federal
marshals led him into the courtroom.

Gilmore spoke only once -- telling U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela Sargent he
understood the charges against him. His arraignment on the charges was
delayed until Monday at the prosecution's request.

Sargent ordered Gilmore held without bond until Monday's hearing.

Gilmore's indictment came almost 14 years after the members of the Davis
family were gunned down at their Pocahontas home on April 16, 1989.

Robert Davis was shot to death as he leaned into a car driven by Ealy,
witnesses testified at Ealy's and Church's trials. Una Davis was shot twice
with a shotgun as she ran from the home, witnesses said.

The teenager was killed as he cowered behind a dresser in a closet,
witnesses testified.

The Davises' daughter, Angela Davis Fritz, who was 8 at the time, escaped
the slaughter because she had spent the night at her grandmother's home.

Witnesses testified at the earlier trials that Gilmore recruited Ealy and
Church to kill Robert Davis because he believed Davis was preparing to
cooperate with a federal drug investigation of him.

Gilmore, a former Pocahontas mayor and former Tazewell County supervisor,
had received a letter telling him he was a target of a federal drug probe
just days before the killings.

"We don't believe Gilmore ordered a hit on Una Mae Davis and Bobby
Hopewell," Giorno, the prosecutor, said.

Prosecutors have alleged Church and Ealy killed Una Davis and Bobby Hopewell
to eliminate them as witnesses to the killing of Robert Davis.

Ealy first was tried in connection with the killings in state court in
Tazewell County in 1991 and was acquitted -- bringing an end to the state
prosecution. Federal investigators opened a new probe into the killings in
1997 after an informant told them Church had bragged about them while in
prison on other charges, witnesses said earlier.

That new probe led to the indictments against Church and Ealy but initially
did not result in charges against Gilmore. But the probe never ended, Giorno
said.

"Within the last month, we generated enough evidence to put together an
indictment," he said, offering no elaboration.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Church and may seek it
against Gilmore, but his case must be reviewed by Attorney General John
Ashcroft before a decision is made, Giorno said. That decision could take
several weeks, he said.

The indictment included legal criteria under which the death penalty could
be sought for both men. It alleged the killings were carried out by Church
to obtain payment of cocaine and money and that Gilmore offered to pay Ealy
and Church with drugs or money for the hit.

It also alleged that both Church and Gilmore had prior drug-dealing
convictions and that the crime involved substantial planning or
premeditation.

The same grand jury that indicted Gilmore also returned a perjury indictment
against a Tazewell County woman, Sheri Lynn Howell Nichols. The indictment
alleged Nichols lied when she gave testimony at Church's trial in September.

Nichols told jurors Church couldn't have killed the family because he was
having sex with her at his home at the time of the slayings.

Nichols pleaded not guilty to the perjury charge and has been set to stand
trial April 17. She was free on a $10,000 bond.

Gilmore is to be back in court Monday for arraignment and a bond hearing.
Church is to be in court Feb. 14 for a pretrial motions hearing.

Church and Gilmore were being held locally in federal custody.