A Virginia man who was on probation for strangling a Knoxville, Tenn., gay rights activist faces jail time after being charged with being a "peeping tom" in a store bathroom. Chad Allen Conyers, 32, appeared Friday in Knox County criminal court to face a warrant filed by prosecutors alleging that he has violated the terms of a plea agreement that set him free earlier this year.
Conyers killed Joseph Camber, 36, in April 2002 after the two men left a Knoxville nightclub. He was originally charged with second-degree murder but was allowed in March to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter. At the time, Conyers was sentenced to four years with actual jail time suspended. If he obeyed the law for 15 years, the manslaughter charge would be dismissed.
But on July 31, Conyers was charged in Virginia Beach, where he lives and works as a loss prevention manager for a clothing store, with peeping into a bathroom stall at a department store. Inside the stall was an undercover police officer conducting a sting targeting sexual activities in public rest rooms, officials said.
Attorney David M. Eldridge said the alleged offense is minor and that his client contends he is innocent. Assistant District Attorney General Phil Morton said the new charge is enough to rescind the deal Conyers was granted.
Judge Richard Baumgartner set an October 17 hearing to determine if Conyers has violated his probation. If so, his four-year sentence would be reinstated and a conviction entered on his record.
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