A judge yesterday dropped five attempted capital murder charges against a Spotsylvania County man accused of barricading himself in his house and firing on deputies earlier this year.

Officers at the scene of the April 22 incident on Millridge Lane testified yesterday they heard shots fired as they tried to talk Edward A. Melerski, 56, into surrendering that day.

But General District Judge Gordon Willis ruled there was no evidence that deputies saw Melerski with a gun in his hand.

Willis refused to send the five attempted capital murder charges and a firearms charge to a grand jury. Melerski, who was hospitalized after the barricade, left the courtroom a free man yesterday--at least temporarily.

Prosecutor Donna Van Winkle could bring direct indictments against Melerski in the future.

He also faces an August trial in connection with a car accident that took two lives.

Melerski, a Vietnam veteran and retired Secret Service agent, called police and The Free Lance-Star that afternoon, saying he couldn't live with the guilt of killing a mother and daughter in the accident last year.

He surrendered peacefully on his front porch after a tense two-hour standoff.

Melerski is set to stand trial in August on charges of involuntary manslaughter and drunken driving in the September crash in Orange County that killed the two southwest Virginia women.

State police said he was driving on State Route 20 on Sept. 22 when he crossed the double-yellow line and struck a 1993 Buick Park Avenue head-on. Patricia Werth, 54, and her daughter, Sally, 23, were killed instantly in that collision. Frederick Werth, 54, the husband and father of the victims and a lawyer in Galax, survived.

Melerski had been receiving counseling since the accident.

The former Marine, twice wounded in Vietnam, also suffers severe depression around Easter and Thanksgiving, when he was hurt overseas. After Melerski's arrest in April, defense attorney Mark Murphy helped him bond out of jail and made sure he went to the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Richmond for help.

Melerski is now back on medication and living with his son, Murphy said.

"He's doing well, and he's trying to get on with his life," Murphy said.