Pubdate: Thu, 14 Feb 2002
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA)
Copyright: 2002 Richmond Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  http://www.timesdispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365
Author: Rex Bowman

DEA AGENT PLEADS NOT GUILTY

ROANOKE - A federal drug agent from Texas pleaded not guilty yesterday to 
murdering a Roanoke man after a parking-lot scuffle outside a bar.

But Roanoke prosecutor Donald Caldwell said evidence will show special 
agent Timothy G. Workman, temporarily assigned to Roanoke from the McAllen, 
Texas, office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, shot a man to 
death Tuesday in an argument over a woman after a night of drinking.

"A cursory review of the evidence suggests the big three were involved - 
alcohol, guns and testosterone," Caldwell said. "There were a number of 
people who saw these events, so it's not just going to be a case of one 
person's word against another."

Keith E. Bailey, 41, was shot three times in the chest shortly after 2 a.m. 
Tuesday outside O'Charley's restaurant, which has a bar that closes at 2 
a.m. Bailey died in the parking lot.

Workman, 31, was in Roanoke on a temporary investigative assignment, 
according to a DEA spokesman. Police allege Workman and Bailey were 
drinking in the bar, separately, and began arguing once outside. The 
argument escalated into a fight, and the fight ended in gunshots, according 
to police.

Caldwell said Bailey was unarmed, while Workman wielded a 9-mm revolver. 
Though authorities remained tight-lipped after yesterday's proceedings in 
Roanoke General District Court, during which Workman pleaded not guilty, 
Caldwell said the dispute revolved around a woman. The woman was an 
acquaintance of Bailey's but was with Workman when the argument began.

Caldwell said the woman was in the parking lot during the fight but had 
left by the time police arrived. Investigators later tracked her down, he said.

Tony Anderson, the Roanoke lawyer representing Workman, declined to discuss 
the case in detail outside the courtroom, except to reiterate that Workman 
maintains his innocence.

"I'm not going to make any comments about his version of events," Anderson 
said. "I really can't comment about any of the facts, as much as I'd like to."

Workman is being held in the Roanoke jail without bond. Anderson described 
Workman as "shaken about being behind bars, but he's holding up OK."

The DEA has suspended Workman from duty, with pay, and dispatched an 
internal-affairs team to look into the shooting. Yesterday, several DEA 
agents sat in the courtroom as Workman entered his plea.

Authorities described both Workman and Bailey as married.
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