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News (Media Awareness Project) - US VA: DEA Agent Pleads Not Guilty In Slaying
Title:US VA: DEA Agent Pleads Not Guilty In Slaying
Published On:2002-02-14
Source:Roanoke Times (VA)
Fetched On:2008-01-24 20:58:51
Timothy Glenn Workman Of Texas, Free On $100,000 Bond, Is Not Considered A
Flight Risk

DEA AGENT PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN SLAYING

Slaying Not Linked To Drug Investigation

Former colleagues in Texas, one of whom was involved in a case with Workman
as recently as last week, said they have never seen him get angry or lose
his cool.

A fatal shooting outside a Valley View Boulevard restaurant Tuesday morning
apparently was not related to a federal drug investigation, Roanoke
Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell said.

The death of 41-year-old Keith Edward Bailey was more likely the result of
three elements: alcohol, a gun and testosterone, Caldwell said.

"This just appears to be like events that I have seen in the past, taking
place in bar settings," Caldwell said Wednesday. "It's unusual only in that
it involves an off-duty law enforcement officer, and a person was killed."

Both Bailey and suspect Timothy Glenn Workman appeared to have been
drinking, though the evidence so far shows that only one of the men,
Workman, had a weapon - a 9 mm pistol - Caldwell said after the hearing. He
also confirmed that a woman apparently was involved "to some degree."

Workman, 31, a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent, pleaded not
guilty during his arraignment on charges of murder and using a firearm in
the early morning shooting in the O'Charley's restaurant parking lot.

In a second hearing later Wednesday, Roanoke General District Judge
Jacqueline Talevi set a $100,000 bond for Workman. He had posted bond and
was released by late Wednesday afternoon. Until then, he had been held in a
cell separate from the jail's general population, for his own protection,
said Major Jim Brubaker of the Roanoke Sheriff's Office.

Caldwell said he told Bailey's family that such a bond is not unusual.

"I don't consider him to be a particular risk for flight," he said.

The DEA said that Workman, based in its office in McAllen, Texas, was on
temporary assignment in Roanoke. Authorities initially were looking into
whether the shooting was related to his work here. On Wednesday, Caldwell
said that he did not think Bailey was part of Workman's assignment.

Workman's attorney, Tony Anderson, said after the arraignment that his
client's not-guilty pleas were based on his "actual innocence." He declined
to comment further.

According to search warrants filed Wednesday, Workman told police in the
parking lot that he shot Bailey, then he handed over his gun to an officer.
Witnesses told investigators that Workman drank for several hours in the
bar at O'Charley's, and identified him as the man who shot Bailey after "an
argument" between the two, according to the warrants.

When Roanoke police Det. S.P. Lukacs spoke with Workman, the agent smelled
strongly of alcohol and had bloodshot, glassy eyes, the warrants state.
Investigators found that Workman's pants legs had red stains consistent
with blood stains, according to the warrants.

Workman was arrested shortly after the shooting. Police have said Workman
and Bailey, who did not know each other, got into a "verbal exchange" that
led to a physical fight, then to the shooting just after 2 a.m.

Bailey's brother, Michael Patterson, said police told him the suspect,
sitting in a car with a woman after the bar closed, became upset that
Bailey and a friend of his were talking to the woman. Bailey and his friend
may have been previously acquainted with the woman, while Workman did not
know her before going to the restaurant, Caldwell said.

Talevi scheduled a March 29 preliminary hearing for Workman, but the date
is tentative.

The charges against Workman, a married father of three, surprised at least
one of his colleagues. A police investigator in Texas who has worked with
Workman on several occasions said Wednesday that he finds it hard to
believe that the events surround the shooting happened the way they have
been reported so far.

"There's more to it," said Sgt. Israel Pacheco of the Texas Rangers, a
division of the Texas State Police. "Tim wouldn't go off like that."

Pacheco said he and his colleagues have never seen Workman angry or lose
his cool. Pacheco has known Workman for about two years and has worked on
three cases with him, including one Friday that involved a pharmacy.

"He's very laid-back and reserved," Pacheco said. "I've never even heard
him cuss. I've never seen him abuse anyone or fight."

A woman who answered the phone at Workman's home Wednesday afternoon said
she had no comment, then hung up.

As state authorities continue to investigate Bailey's death, a leader of
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Roanoke chapter said he
plans to ask for a federal investigation.

Jeff Artis, board chairman for the Roanoke chapter of the SCLC, said the
organization is categorizing the shooting as a hate crime - because Workman
is white and Bailey is black - and plans to ask the Justice Department to
look into the matter.

Bailey's family approached the SCLC on Tuesday, said Artis, who is also
running for Roanoke City Council .

"You have a situation where a DEA agent is playing cowboy," Artis said.

Caldwell declined to comment on whether race played a role in the shooting.

The DEA released nothing new on the shooting Wednesday and would not
comment on Workman's job performance during his four and a half years as a
special agent.

Special Agent Michael Chapman, a DEA spokesman, said the agency's alcohol
policy is "strict in regards to alcohol overindulgence."

Agents can't be under the influence of alcohol while they're on duty or
when operating a government vehicle, Chapman said. They cannot drink on
government premises. Agents can drink as part of an undercover
investigation, but must receive permission first.

When off duty, agents "should not engage in consumption of alcohol to such
an extent that you're not fit to return to duty," Chapman said.

Agents can be called to duty at any time.
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