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Hamover Man sentenced to 70 Years in Child's Slaying

By Bill Mckelway

Published: January 22, 2009

In a chilling courtroom declaration of innocence, convicted child killer John Bradley Crawford said yesterday that he rejected plea agreements that would have freed him after 15 years, and he promised the mother of his victim that he will win an appeal.

Standing before Judge J. Overton Harris in Hanover County Circuit Court, Crawford denied any role in the brutal slaying of a 6-year-old Highland Springs youth in December 1980. He said his jury was biased, evidence against him was fabricated, and public opinion developed from news-media accounts had assured his eventual conviction.

"Only guilty people take plea bargains," said Crawford, who is 47.

Crawford was convicted of murder and abduction last month by a Hanover jury after two mistrials. Charges against him in the murder came just months before he was to finish serving 25 years of a 50-year sentence for abducting two Hanover girls.

Struggling with handcuffed wrists to turn the pages of a handwritten statement, Crawford empathized yesterday with the mother of victim Alexander Paul Glanz as she sat on the front row of a darkened, otherwise silent courtroom. Nearby, Crawford's father and brother watched.

"I and my family are truly sorry" for your loss, Crawford said. "But two wrongs do not make a right."

He said he will be vindicated on appeal and had accepted guilt in the matter of the two girls because he was guilty.

Diane Glanz, who has waited for justice in her son's death for 28 years, was unmoved by Crawford's statements.

"He's desperate," she said after court. "He's desperate because he's about to be crucified, and he knows it. I have no doubt about his guilt."

Glanz said after the jury verdict in December that Crawford's sentence would be of little significance.

She stuck by that assertion yesterday after Harris imposed the 70-year sentence that the jury had recommended: 35 years each for one count of first-degree murder and one count of abduction.

The sentence seemed of little consequence as well to Crawford, who said during his statement that he would not outlive any sentence within guidelines set by the Virginia Supreme Court.

"It's all a life sentence to me," he said.

Two detectives who had worked on the Glanz case for decades, Robert Hewlett Jr. from Henrico County and Sgt. R. Glenn Schneider from Hanover, shook hands in the back of the courtroom after the proceedings.

"I guess he's entitled to an opinion," Schneider said of the defendant.

Hanover Commonwealth's Attorney R.E. "Trip" Chalkley III, who asked the judge to follow the jury's recommended sentence but offered no evidence at sentencing, said he is happy for Diane Glanz but doubts the case's likely end will bring closure.

"I don't know if anyone gets closure when you lose a child," he said. "We're convinced we convicted the right man."

But defense lawyer Ed Riley said a notice of appeal will be filed within the next 30 days and will challenge the verdict on a number of fronts.

Those matters were spelled out as well by Crawford, who composed his statement without his lawyer's involvement, Riley said.

"He read it to me before court, was all," Riley said.

Crawford said nine members of the jury who heard his case had acknowledged having read or heard about the case, and he said news accounts of his trials tainted the jury.

"I am not guilty of this crime," he said. "Nor am I the pedophile or monster the media has portrayed."

Riley said the appeal will consider the introduction of detailed evidence about Crawford's actions in the abduction of two Hanover girls months after Alex died. In his statement, Crawford suggested he had been framed because investigators initially failed to detect pesticide residues on the clothes, ligatures and body of Alex.

Crawford worked for his father's pesticide company as a youth. His female victims were tied up with bindings that showed traces of pesticides.

Crawford argued yesterday that investigators went back and planted pesticide on Alex's bindings and clothing after they found it on the girls.

Alex disappeared after returning alone from school to his Highland Springs home. His body turned up days later a few feet off Cold Harbor Road after a massive search; he nearly was frozen.

Dressed only in socks and underwear, Alex was face-down, tied at the ankles and wrists. He was clutching clods of earth in his hands when he was lifted from the ground.

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