Rice arraigned
By Hawes Spencer and Barbara Nordin

In an event that took no more than ten minutes, Darrell David Rice today was arraigned today in U.S. District Court. The judge heeded Rice's request that local attorney Fred Heblich be appointed to represent the man accused of killing two women in Shenandoah National Park in May, 1996.

Wearing a striped jumpsuit that looked like something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon, Rice was escorted past a retinue of six television crews and three still photographers into the courtroom by a phalanx of U.S. Marshalls. His plea: "Not guilty, sir."

Before being handcuffed at the close of the arraignment, Rice waved to his mother and sister before they slipped out through an emergency exit. "We just came here today to support Darryl," said sister.

Her brother's red hair appeared noticably grayer than in the mugshot widely distributed with his April 9 indictment. According to a source, numerous witnesses had been quietly trekking to Charlottesville over the past few months to appear before the grand jury.

The indictment was unsealed April 10 at a press conference in Washington featuring Attorney General John Ashcroft. According to the prosecutor in the case, it will be Ashcroft who makes the decision whether to the government seeks the death penalty.

The government, which has jurisdiction because the murders occurred in a National Park, is treating the deaths of Julianne Williams and Lollie Winans as "hate" crimes-- that these victims were chosen on the basis of their gender and sexual orientation.

As he revealed to investigators after attacking another woman in the Park in 1997, Rice targets women because they're "more vulnerable." The indictment, while not citing a source of the comment, claims that Rice also says he "hates gays." But at least one Rice friend denies that.

After court ajourned, Heblich informed the press that he hasn't seen any evidence, and that he'd only met Rice this morning and that Rice seemed "composed."

"The crime happened in 1996," says Heblich. "They've had five years to investigate it, but it's only now that they've charged him."

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