CLEO gives preview of law school
By TONYA V. SMITH
Chronicle Staff Writer
Aspiring Thurgood Marshalls
and Charlotte Rays have converged
on the campus of Wake Forest Uni
versity where they are undergoing
a grueling six-week introduction to
the rigors of law school.
WFU's Law School is one of
only seven sites in the United
States where the Council on Legal
Education Opportunity (CLEO) is
holding Regional Summer Insti
tutes aimed at evaluating the poten
tial of students to "make it" in law
school, said Thomas E. Roberts, a
WFU law school professor and a
regional director of the CLEO
institute. ?
Thirty-six students, two-thirds^
of which are Afro-Americans, are
participating- in CLEO at WFU.
CLEO is exclusively for students
who have emerged from disadvan
taged backgrounds, Mr. Roberts
said. The institute s purpose is to
assist these students in gaining
admission to- law school, thus
increase the number of attorneys
from disadvantaged backgrounds,
he said. For some CLEO students
the program is their only hope for
getting into law school, Mr.
Roberts said,
"There's no single stereotype^
of a CLEO student in terms of
background,* Mr. Roberts
explained. "We're typically inter
ested in getting students who other
wise may not have been admitted
to a law school. We're not interest
ed in a student who wouldn't have
trouble getting into law school."
Undergraduate students find
out about CLEO from their pre- law
advisers or from word of mouth,
Mr. Roberts said. They apply to the
national program in Washington,
Winston-Salem man freed
after 8-month jail stint
By ROOSEVELT WILSON
Chronicle Staff Writer
The prosecution called it armed
robbery. The defense called it an
illegal food stamp scheme-turned -
scam.
In the end, after eight months
in the Forsyth County Jail, Perry
Lee Pitts, 39, walked away a free
man last week.
Mr. Pitts clenched his fists and
raised his arms above his head
i when the not guilty verdict was
read. Still visibly happy after
Mcavftlg the luumuuin, Mr Pitts
expressed bitterness for having to
go through the ordeal. "I lost my
wife and my job behind this," he
said. "I have been sitting in that jail
since October for something I didn't
do."
Mr. Pitts was charged with rob
bing Gloria Sanders in her home at
1654 N. Cherry St., on Oct. 14,
1988. He could not post the
$50,000 bail and remained in jail,
even after the bond was reduced to
$15,000. Defense attorney
Lawrence J. Fine, who successfully
argued that no robbery had taken
place, said it was a shame that Mr.
Pitts had to spend 240 days in jail
before he got his day in court. He
said it took four months to get the
bond reduced.
"I know they (district attomies)
have a backlog of cases, but the sys
tem makes it awfully difficult when
innocent people have to go through
this."
What Ms. Sanders described as
an armed robbery, Mr. Pitts
described as an illegal food stamp
buy gone awry. Ms. Sanders testi
fied that Mr. Pitts, who came to see
her at her home, pointed what she
thought was a gun at her and
demanded all her money. She said,
"I had $60 in my house coat pocket
and I gave it to him." She said Mr.
Pitts ran, she screamed and her
daughter ran outside and got the
license plate number of the car in
which Mr. Pitts was riding.
Officer C.F. Jones of the Win
ston-Salem Police Department testi
fied that Ms. Sanders said that she
did not know who the perpetrator
was but later identified him from
police photographs. Under cross
examination, Ms. Sanders admitted
that she knew who Mr. Pitts was but
said she did not know his name at
the time.
She also said that Mr. Pitts and
"his girlfriend came to my house
one night for me to cash a check."
She said that on another occasior
Mr. Pitts came with his girlfriend to
pick up some furniture Ms. Sanders
had sold. Also under cross exami
nation, Ms. Sanders acknowledged
Unit she hud licen convicted of run-?
ning a "drinking house."
Mr. Pitts testified that people
were there drinking on the night of
Oct. 14 when he was acting as a go
between for Ms. Sanders, whc
wanted to purchase food stamps,
and a female acquaintance of Mr.
Pitts who was the seller.
Mr. Pitts said, "I told Gloria
(Sanders) that I would get her $120
worth of stamps for $60. She gave
her daughter the money and her
daughter gave it to me and followed
me outside. When I got in the car
and gave it to my lady friend, she
cranked the car and took off. I knew
I was in hot water but I just said
that I would reimburse Gloria
(Sanders) later. The next thing I
knew I was being arrested for
armed robbery."
The jury deliberated for two
hours before being summoned back
to the courtroom by Judge Thatcher
Mills. "I called you back because
you sent me a note asking two ques
tions," he told the jury. r
"First, 'If money is given will
ingly with expectation of goods and
goods are not delivered, does that
constitute robbery?' If money is
given willingly, it cannot be rob
bery," Judge Mills said. "One of the
conditions of robbery is that the
goods or items must be taken by
force."
The other question was similar ,
but moot because of Judge Mills'
answer to the first one.
Following two more minutes of
deliberation the jury returned with
the not guilty verdict.
Tom Roberts, above, is a law
professor and regional direc
tor of the CLEO program at
Wake Forest. Rodney Ray, far
left, and Sam Starks, are stu
dents in the program.
Photos by Mike Cunningham
D.C., as they would to a law
school. An application, undergrad
uate transcript and LSAT (Law
Scholastic Aptitude Test) are
required. In addition, information
about the students' and/or their
families' income is required. The
Washington office examines the
information, and if the student
meets the financial requirements,
his application packet is sent to the
closest summer institute site in the
area. WFU is in the Mid-Atlantic
Region.
Mr. Roberts sifted through
more than 150 applications before
he picked 36 students for the pro
gram. /
"I tried to pick out those stu
dents who I think have demonstrat
ed in some facet in their career that
o
they can be successful," he said.
"Some may have had a lower g.pa.
(grade point average) because they
didn't adjust to college until later,
but their overall g.p.a. is lower and
they will suffer for it when it's time,
to apply to law school."
Some CLEO students have
already been accepted by a law
school, such as Sam Starks of
Ptease see pane A3
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