Burch Millsap, Fairfax Judge Who Presided Over 'Roy Rogers' Murder Case, 85, Washington Post
DGH
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/27/AR2009062702296.html
Burch Millsap, 85
Fairfax Judge Presided Over 'Roy Rogers' Murder Case
Burch Millsap, 85, a retired Fairfax County Circuit Court judge who in 1976
presided over one of the region's most infamous murder trials, died June 6
[2009] of lung disease at Suburban Hospital. He had lived in Silver Spring
in recent years.
Judge Millsap was appointed to the court in 1968 after 18 years as a lawyer
in private practice in Northern Virginia. His most notorious case was the
trial of James L. Breeden in the "Roy Rogers" murders.
Breeden, a 40-year-old ex-convict who first ran afoul of the law when he was
11, was charged with robbing a Roy Rogers restaurant in Fairfax in March
1976. He was accused of herding five people into the restaurant's freezer
and shooting them in the head. Four people were killed, and one survived.
The trial's proceedings stretched across four months and included several
outbursts by Breeden, who clashed with courtroom personnel and once smashed
a window with his handcuffed fists. In jail, he broke the jaw of a fellow
inmate. Judge Millsap denied countless defense attempts to delay the trial
or have the charges dismissed.
A woman who survived the incident despite being shot twice in the head, and
whose husband was one of the victims, testified at the trial and identified
Breeden as the killer. A jury convicted Breeden of four counts of murder and
one count of malicious wounding. Judge Millsap sentenced him to five life
terms, plus 20 years. Breeden died in prison a few years ago.
Judge Millsap retired from the court in 1983 and moved to Englewood, Fla.
He was born in Mansfield, Mo., and served in the Army Air Forces during
World War II as an airplane mechanic. After the war, he attended the
University of Maryland and worked as a clerk with the FBI. He graduated from
law school at American University in 1950.
He practiced law, with a specialty in zoning and real estate law, at the
Falls Church firm of Gibson, Hix, Millsap and Hansbarger until his
appointment to the bench.
He enjoyed playing golf.
His wife of 56 years, Martha V. Millsap, died in 2004.
Survivors include two children, Brian A. Millsap of Sandia Park, N.M., and
Carol Bryant of Bowie; a twin sister; and four granddaughters.
--
Matt Schudel