BY KEITH EPPS
A Stafford County man who was initially facing a 21/2-year prison term for stealing $80 worth of electricity got much better news yesterday.
Eckle Penley Jr., 45, was given a 12-month jail term, but Judge J. Martin Bass suspended all but the five months Penley has already served.
It remains unclear when Penley will actually be free. He is still being held on a parole violation.
Penley was convicted by a Stafford Circuit Court jury in September 2006 on a felony charge of obtaining utility service by fraud.
According to evidence presented at his trial, Dominion Virginia Power turned off Penley's electricity at 787 Warrenton Road in April 2005 because he didn't pay his bill.
A utility-company employee returned to the area later that month and found that someone had jury-rigged a meter and illegally restored power.
By then, Penley had used $82.29 worth of power.
Perhaps swayed by Penley's long criminal record, the jury recommended that he serve 21/2 years in prison. Judge Joseph E. Spruill Jr. later reduced the sentence to six months.
Defense attorney Jim Ilijevich took the case to the state Court of Appeals. Ilijevich argued that the charge should have been a misdemeanor because the theft fell far short of the $200 requirement to make it a felony.
Prosecutor Eric Olsen argued that related costs, such as fees to cut off the meter and turn off power from a pole pushed the tally over $200.
The appeals court sided with Ilijevich and sent the case back to circuit court for re-sentencing as a misdemeanor. A Class 1 misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of 12 months in jail.
Keith Epps: 540/374-5404
Email: kepps@freelancestar.com