GEORGE E. B. HOLDING

CONTACT: 919/856-4530

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2007

LIFE SENTENCE FOR MAN CHARGED WITH PREMEDITATED MURDER

Greenville - United States Attorney George E. B. Holding announced that in federal court on September 12, 2007, Chief United States District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced ARTHUR JAMES CHARLAND, JR., of Fayetteville, North Carolina to life imprisonment. A Federal Grand Jury indicted CHARLAND on January 11, 2006, charging him with first degree premeditated murder in the death of Linda Owens at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina on December 12, 2005. CHARLAND entered a guilty plea to the charge on April 19, 2007.

Investigation of the case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General, the Veterans Affairs Police Department, and the Fayetteville Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney David L. Hayden prosecuted the case for the government.

News releases are available on the U. S. Attorney’s web page at www.usdoj.gov/usao/nce within 48 hours of release.