BRILEY BROTHERS: More victims’ kin say they oppose parole for Meekins

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/special_report/briley/>SPECIAL REPORT: Briley Brothers

More relatives of victims in a triple murder committed by one of the Briley brothers and accomplice Duncan Eric Meekins are opposing parole for Meekins.

Shurrane Webb, whose sister Judy Diane Barton was killed along with her boyfriend, Harvey W. Wilkerson, and their 5-year-old son in Richmond on Oct. 19, 1979, contacted the Virginia Parole Board this week. Webb said she is writing a letter to the board opposing Meekins' parole, which is under consideration.

"Who's to say he won't get out of here and do it again?" Webb said.

Webb, 44, of Greensboro, N.C., said she remembers watching from a police detective's car as black body bags were removed from Barton's house in Highland Park two days after the killings. Webb had just gotten home from church.

"Those are just memories, memories, memories," Webb said. "They will always haunt me."

The notorious Briley gang -- which included Meekins and brothers Linwood, James and Anthony Briley -- murdered at least 11 people in the Richmond area in 1979.

Meekins was 16 when he and the Brileys were arrested, the day after police discovered the bodies on Barton Avenue. The teenager quickly began cooperating with authorities and ultimately would become the prosecution's key witness.

In exchange for his testimony against the Brileys, prosecutors Robert J. Rice and Warren Von Schuch told Meekins they would speak on his behalf when he was up for parole. They say he testified truthfully and has behaved well in prison.

Rice, now a criminal defense attorney, and Von Schuch, still a Richmond-area prosecutor, met June 17 with Rudolph C. McCollum Jr., a former Richmond mayor who sits on the parole board. The two attorneys emphasize that Meekins' testimony enabled the capital-murder convictions of Linwood and James Briley and probably stopped the killing rampage.

Linwood and James Briley staged the nation's largest successful escape from death row in 1984, but they were captured after 19 days and later executed. Anthony Briley is serving a term of life plus 139 years.

Meekins, now 45, has served nearly 30 years in prison and is being held out of state under an assumed name for his protection. He has been denied parole six times since 1993.

Meekins was sentenced to life plus 100 years in prison for his role in two murders and two robberies and for fatally shooting Wilkerson. Authorities say Meekins killed another man, but they didn't prosecute that case.

Meekins and two of the Brileys raped Barton, who was pregnant, before James Briley shot her four times in the head, killing her. James Briley also shot and killed the couple's son, Harvey Wayne Barton.

Barton's mother, Shirley B. Archie, 72, said she had a nervous breakdown about three months after the murders. She recalls sitting in a courthouse hallway crying as she waited to testify at one of the hearings, when Meekins' mother approached her.

Meekins' mother told her Meekins was sorry and that the Brileys had made him take part in the slayings, Archie said.

Archie said she has prayed for Meekins and his family. "I don't think he should make parole, although he's somebody's child, too," Archie said.

Webb said, "If I don't forgive them, then God won't forgive me of my sins. But I will never, never, never forget."

Members of Meekins' family have declined requests to be interviewed.

Four of the parole board's five members must agree to free Meekins. They are expected to finish voting within the next few weeks.

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or .