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Moody Found
Guilty at Trial
By CINDY MAHAN
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Anthony Franklin Moody was found guilty of attempted malicious wounding in a bench trial last Thursday.
Mr. Moody, 38, of Luray, was charged with the felony following an incident at Rappahannock County High School on May 9, 1996. In a stolen Isuzu Trooper, Mr. Moody made numerous stops in Rappahannock County, breaking into parked vehicles and stealing items from inside them. After breaking into a student’s vehicle parked in the rear lot at the high school and taking a wallet and sunglasses, Mr. Moody accelerated and made his getaway from the high school. In the process, Dave van de Graaff, a teacher, tried to get Mr. Moody to stop by jumping in front of the Trooper, telling Mr. Moody to stop both verbally and with hand motions. He did not stop, or even slow down, and Mr. van de Graaff jumped out of the way just in time. “I had to jump out of the way so I wouldn’t be struck,” he said.
Mr. van de Graaff chased the vehicle out of the parking lot so he could get the license plate number off of it, which was “Usherl.” He then called the Sheriff’s Office. During testimony, he said the Trooper was probably going between 20 and 25 mph when it was heading toward him and was accelerating the whole time it was leaving the parking lot. It came within 10 feet of him before he hopped out of the way. “It all came to me that I was in the middle of something that was quite dangerous,” said Mr. van de Graaff.
He further testified that he had gone out to the parking lot to investigate what sounded like two gunshots. It was later determined that those sounds came from Mr. Moody using a rock to break the car window in the student’s vehicle.
This trial was scheduled to have a jury hear the case, but due to Mr. Moody’s behavior the morning of the trial, Commonwealth’s Attorney Peter Luke requested that the jury be waived. He was concerned about safety in the courtroom. Also, if a jury had seen the defendant wearing shackles or handcuffs, it may have been prejudicial toward his case. By eliminating the jury, the possibility of an appeal of the case on the grounds that the jury had seen the defendant
See Trial, Page A-8
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