Man pleads not guilty to Blue Ridge Parkway shootings

The Roanoke Times
© September 9, 2010

HARRISONBURG

A Virginia man accused of shooting two people on the Blue Ridge Parkway has pleaded not guilty to one of the shootings.

The U.S. attorney's office for the Western District of Virginia says 57-year-old Ralph Leon Jackson of Stuarts Draft made his initial federal court appearance in Harrisonburg on Thursday. Jackson pleaded not guilty to three charges in the wounding of Christina Floyd. A judge appointed the public defender's office to represent Jackson.

The federal prosecutor says additional charges are expected in the murder of 27-year-old Tim Davis. State charges against Jackson are expected to be dismissed next week.

Floyd and Davis were shot from behind as they sat on a wall watching the sunset at the parkway's Rock Point Overlook on April 5.

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