Virginia, B-C, 1815-1997, Undated

.c The Associated Press

JARRATT, Va. (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court stopped Tuesday's scheduled execution of Douglas M. Buchanan, granting a stay until it
can hear his appeal.

Buchanan, 29, was to have died by injection at 9 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center for the 1987 murders of his father, stepmother
and two young stepbrothers.

In an appeal to the high court, Buchanan's lawyers contend the tral judge should have allowed more testimony about Buchanan's
upbringing. They also argued that the jury should have received more detailed instructions on mitigating circumstances before it
deliberated whether to sentence Buchanan to life or death.

The stay request had been filed with Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who referred it to the full court. The court unanimously agreed
to grant the stay.

The stay will remain in place until the court decides whether to hear his appeal. If the appeal is denied, the stay will end; but if the court
should agree to hear his appeal, the stay would remain in place until a decision was issued.

Buchanan's lawyers did not file a petition for clemency with Gov. George Allen. But Allen said Tuesday he had reviewed the case and
had no reason to intervene, adding “his guilt is clear."

Buchanan told police there was no particular thing that set off the killings.

When investigators questioned himas to the motive, he replied, ‘They never treated me like a son, they treated me like an outsider all
the time. I mean, I don't think they cared ... they never talked to me when I was living there."

Amherst County police discovered the bodies of Buchanan's family at thei Naola home near the Blue Ridge Parkway on Sept. 15, 1987.

Prosecutors at Buchanan's trial said he drove to the home of his father, Douglas M. Buchanan Sr., with a rifle. The two began arguing
overa remark the older man made about Buchanan's natural mother, who had died of cancer when the boy was 10.

The father married his second wife, Geraldine Patterson Buchanan, sixmonths later and Buchanan was never allowed to visit his
mother's grave.

As the father tumed to go inside, Buchanan shot him twice in the head and dragged him inside. Soon after, his stepbrothers Joel, 13, and
Donnie, 10, came home from school. He shot Donnie in the face and shot Joel in the back as he tried to flee.

Last to return home, and last to die, was his stepmother. Buchanan shot her with his father's handgun, stabbed her in the chest and slit
her throat.

Buchanan and his wife, who was waiting in the car, fled to New Mexico after the killings; they were captured 17 days later.
Christianne Buchanan is serving four life terms for helping to plan the murders.

AP-NY-04-08-97 2142EDT

Copyright 1997 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed
without prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Tuesday April 9,1996 America Online: Galba33 Page: 1

The condemned may request anything from the prison's 28-day menu for his last meal, which is served at 6 p.m At 7, he is allowed to
take a shower.

A team of 12 to 15 correctional officers volunteer for the execution. Each one has an assigned task such as securing the prisoner's
limbs, inserting the intravenous drip into his arm or hooking him up to a heart monitor.

Prior to execution, the sentence is read and the prisoner is given the opportunity to make a final statement. These sometimes include
sentiments of remorse, as in the case of Ronald Lee Hoke, who said last Dec. 16: ‘I know I have caused a lot of pain to the victim's
family. I hope one day they can forgive me. I love you, to my girlfriend, Dawn."

Lem Tuggle, who was put to death three days before Hoke, told the assembled witnesses ‘‘Merry Christmas".

10:11 02-18-97

Sunday February 18,1996 America Online: Galba33 Page: 2

oh

Packt. Poort

3-14-43

~ VIRGINIA AND THE REGION

Associated Press

JARRATT, Va., March 18—A |
smiling Douglas M. Buchanan Jr.,
convicted of the September 1987_-

killings of his “father “and -three .

other relatives, was “executed to- =:
night after the Supreme Court
rejected a late request for a stay.
Buchanan, 29, was put to death —
byi injection at the Greensville Cor-~

rectional Center. He _was Pro-

nounced dead at 9:09 p.m: .
Asked whether her had a final _

statement, Buchanan smiled at wit- *
nesses and said, “Basically, get the ~

ride started. I’m ready to go.”
Buchanan had won a temporary
Teprieve Tuesday in federal court .
in Richmond, but lawyers for the’ -
state: ‘immediately appealed, and -
the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap- *.
~peals yesterday overturned the de- -~
lay granted by U.S. District Judge
Robert E. Payne. =
Payne had issued | a ‘temporary

restraining order after Buchanan’ ‘3

attorneys argued that Gov. James .
S. Gilmore II (R) could not be *
unbiased in ‘considering Buchan- **
an’s” request for clemency. In his
previous position as state attorney |
general, Gilmore had. fought Bu-
chanan’s appeals.

The appellate court said, in
overturning that decision, that the

BP Rie eet Bi AS

V. a. Executes Man —
Who Killed Relatives

Appeal Challenged Gilmore’ Impartiality

See ee

same issue had been decided in |
"1994 and that Buchanan was not’
- entitled to a stay because no state
> Official other than the governor. has |
a.the power to grant clemency.

zx+.Gerald Zerkin, -Buchanan’s at-

torney, then’ took the case to the

* Supreme Court, which rejected a

» Stay shortly after 6 p.m.

Attorney General Mark L. Earley
®) praised the 4th Circuit’s deci-

sion and said he was confident that

- Gilmore “Tike all Virginia governors .
before him will fairly consider every

"clemency petition. .
Mark A. Miner,

= governor... But he “said Gilmore
‘ reviewed _ the case _anyway. and
' decided not to intervene, ** >

Buchanan was sentenced to die _
“for ‘the shooting and Stabbing .
deaths of his father, Douglas Bu- 4

. chanan Sr., 44, stepmother, Geral-

dine Patterson Buchanan, 31; and |
"two stepbrothers, Donald, 10, and |

JJ, 13, in Amherst County. ©
- According to trial testimony, Bu-

hana killed them because of pent-

- up rage. He said he felt ostracized

Gilmore’s ©
- spokesman, said Buchanan never
filed a clemency petition with the |

when his father remarried shortly |

after his mother died of cancer.

-Buchanan’s wife, Christianne, is

- serving four life terms for helping
to plan the killings. - ae


BROWN, Jack, hanged State Penitentiary, Richmond, Virginia, January 2, 1903.

"JACK BROWN HANGED, = FIRST EXECUTION EVER WITNESSED ON THE STATE FARM. = NEGRO DEAD IN

SIX MINUTES, = CONVICT'S NECK WAS BROKEN BY THE FALL. = HE WAS CALM AND WALKED TO THE

GALLOWS WITH A FIRM STEP, CRIME WAS THE MURDER OF A FELLOW CONVICT.

"For having killed a fellow convict, Jack Brown was hanged at the State Farm yesterday at
12:45 o'clock. The execution was conducted by Superintendent G. M, Helms, of the peniten-
tiary, and was witnessed by Assistant Superintendent Morgan and City SergeantJ. G. Saun-
ders, of Manchester, and one or two others, Brown was perfectly calm when the death
warrant was read to him and walked to the gallows with a firm step, showing no signs of
fear or nervousness, Father de Moynck walked beside the condemned man and handed him
the crucifix to kiss just before the black cap was placed over his head and the last rays
of earthly light were shot out of his eyes forever, Brown, whough ignorant and depraved,
bade farewell to the attendents after the last comforts of the Catholic Church had been
given him.

"DEAD IN SIX MINUTES, = The trap was sprung and the negro's neck was broken, Exactly six
minutes after the body fell, Dr. Holman, of the penitentiary, pronounced life extinct and

the body was cut down. The remains will be buried on the State Farm, and will mark the |
resting place of the first criminal hanged there since the establishment of the farm, though
it is not the first murder committed there, The crime for which Brown died was committed

las t November, On election day he and another convict named James R. Parker became

involved in a fight and five days later Parker died from the @ffects of the knife wounds hne
flicted by Brown.

"ROPE TO BE USED AGAIN, - The rope used to hang him will also be used to send another

negro, Ernest Davis into eternity next Friday in Manchester, The penitentiary authorities
borrowed the rope, which is a new one, from Sergeant Saunders, The hanging of Ernest Davis
is the first Sergeant Saunders has had to perform, and he witnessed the execution of Brown
yesterday for the purpose of seeing how it was done, The governor was appealed to in

hopes that he would pardon Brown, but he refused to interfere with the findings of the
Goochland County Court by which Brown was convicted," DISPATCH, Rychmond, Vae, January

3, 1903 (2=2.)

"BROWN READY TO DIE, = THE CONVICT MURDERER, WHO HANGS TODAY, RECEIVES THE SACRAMENT,’ =
Jack Brown, the negro convict murderer who will hang at the State penitentiary farm today,
was administered the sacrament of baptism, according to the rites of the Catholic church
on Wednesday. Rev. Father J. B. L'Reilley went up to the farm and spent the day with the
man, giving him spiritual advice, and before leaving administered the sacrament, This
will be the first hanging that ever took place at the State farm, The execution will be

| between the hours of 10 and 2 ofclock, Brown is the murderer of James R, Parker, and

| hails from Norfolk, He was serving a term for house-breaking at the time he committed
the crime. Superintendent Helms and a number of the penitentiary officials will leave
here this morning on the 10:20 Cc. & } for the farm. Rev, Father DeMuynck, formerly of
this city, will administer the last rites of the churth today, on the scaffold," DISPATCH,
R,chmond, Vas, January 2, 1903 (136)


d a half years ear-
2, 1982, Prince
Police Officers
and Robert Bowan
ll from a relative
1 Cha Thomas to
in Dale City, Vir-
, who was waiting
ice for the police-
-d, explained that
to reach Su Cha
1 decided to come
d her.
unlocked sliding
z the kitchen from
use, she felt that
It of place,” and
a sixth sense, im-
ut.
een called by Su
work, who’d told
| not been to work
t was totally un-
-show, especially
ain what was go-
ie supervisor nor
reach Su Cha on

nce and Bowan
) timid. They en-
hrough the rear
lative had. Going
'on one staircase
the back of the
1 the master bed-
ately saw dresser
it, and one even
floor. Nearby, on
hone was off the
e other bedroom

nurderer (right)
e car following
t appearances.

was not so disheveled.

On their way downstairs via the
front stairway, Bowan and Lawrence
couldn’t miss the legs sticking out in
the hallway. As they descended, they
got a clearer view.

Su Cha Thomas had a scarf around
her neck and the scarf was hooked
on the doorknob of a closet. There
was blood coming from her mouth
and nose. Cold and lifeless after per-
haps several days, it appeared as if
she’d hanged herself ...

In a fit of depression.

This was the picture that began to
emerge for Investigator David C.
Lagerveld, who was dispatched from
the Garrison substation in Wood-
bridge, to look into Su Cha Thomas’
death.

Except for the overturned drawers
and some other slight disturbances,
the woman’s home was remarkably
well kept. Lagerveld soon discov-
ered after talking with relatives and
friends of the dead woman that Su
Cha had an obsession with cleanli-
ness, and constantly worked to keep
a spotless house.

The relative who had notified po-
lice, told Lagerveld that the super-
visor first noted Su Cha did not
come to work Friday, January 29.
She added that Su Cha was ex-
tremely depressed in recent weeks
because she’d gotten divorced and
her former husband remarried only
a few months earlier. She was threat-
ening suicide on a number of occa-
sions, threats that were being taken
very seriously, added the relative. In
fact, just a year earlier, there had
been a suicide incident, Lagerveld
learned.

Checking police records, on Jan-
uary 25, 1981, uniformed officers re-
sponded to what was called a sui-
cide-in-progress at Su Cha’s house.
The report noted that when officers
entered, they found Su Cha in a very
depressed state. The officers searched
the house for pills, and after 30 min-
utes, left. Later that same evening
she was seen at a nearby drug store
trying to buy pills to kill herself.
This time she was arrested and
charged with being drunk in public
and released to her pastor.

When her trial came up, the
charges were dismissed with the un-

Commonwealth Attorney Paul
Ebert headed the prosecution.

derstanding that Su Cha would seek
professional help...

A woman dying by her own hand
of a broken heart. That was the pic-

ture. The apparently self-inflicted.

hanging at least suggested that. But
then something totally unexpected
happened at the medical examiner’s
office.

Dr. James C. Beyer, forensic
pathologist assigned to the Northern
Virginia office of the state medical
examiner, was routinely conducting
his autopsy, examining, removing
and weighing the various body parts.
As he was weighing the brain, a
metallic object popped out and fell
onto the floor. It looked like a bul-
let!

The piece of metal was turned over
to the Prince William County Police,
who in turn sent it to the state crime
lab in Virginia for testing. The re-
port received was that it was a .22
caliber Remington bullet. The
firearms examiner determined the
bullet could have been fired from
several brands of .22 caliber guns.

Dr. Beyer further determined that

there was a bullet hole in the vic-
tim’s mouth. He declared the death
a homicide by gunshot wound.

In interviews with friends and rel-
atives of the murder victim, Investi-
gator Donald L. Cahill asked whether
there was any jewelry or valuables
which might be missing. He received
information that Su Cha owned a di-
amond ring worth $15,000, a pearl
valued at $2,400 and a $1,600 Rolex
watch. All were determined missing
from her house and personal posses-
sions.

Only a few days, later the Prince
William Police received a phone call
from a man who said he had some
information about a homicide that
occurred in Dale City.

“How do you know there was a
murder in Dale City?” a communi-
cations officer asked, since no news
accounts of the death or murder had
yet been published.

“My uncle told me,” the man said.

“What do you have to tell us?”
asked the officer.

The man explained that he had a
friend who had recently come back


BUNCH, Timethy Dale, wh, elec. VA (Primce William) December 10, 1992

15,000 VOLTS P32.

was run

| » ] against the sc
+ cution of Tin

» on December

| letters were

and just five

- cluded amor

lants for clem

atives of the

If the condemne

i . iii ~ 3 ace woerememen jeri | wrote one of the r

A ncencsronntnsinon sere Sonera kame = fasting a ' | have to watch two
‘ : a second time ...

been away from ¢

11 years. My me
but I can still rei

... Mourning year
can still picture
ther’s eyes as he

call that would al

er. We all believe
: wid, ie, J | what he’s done,
encutndomcenone ~~ angen eae gf | who is at peace.

I ener : et ieee et CLI a REED En death penalty t
nee ee i ee “Pessina | The governor’s
ee dent included hi

his appeal, askin;

to discuss the mi

Another relat

southern Califor

the condemned n
give our family

tion. It only leav«

sadness to this }

that a lifetime ja

be enough punis

Whether this

received from re]

had an impact o

ernor, is not knov

had a less sangu

Despite pleas for clemency,
condemned killer finally kept
his date with electric chair.

DETECTIVE DRAGNET, August, 1993,p


by KRIST BOARDMAN

irginia Governor L.

Douglas Wilder’s mail

was running heavily
against the scheduled exe-
cution of Timothy Brunch
on December 10, 1992. The
letters were 405 against,
and just five in favor. In-
cluded among the appel-
lants for clemency were rel-
atives of the victim.

If the condemned man should die,
wrote one of the relatives, ““we would
have to watch two deaths, and mourn
a second time ... My dear aunt has
been away from our lives for nearly
11 years. My memories are vague,
but I can still remember my family
... Mourning years after her death. I
can still picture the look in my fa-
ther’s eyes as he received the phone
call that would alter our lives forev-
er. We all believe he should pay for
what he’s done, but even my aunt,
who is at peace. would not want the
death penalty to be placed upon
him.”

The governor’s young correspon-
dent included his phone number in
his appeal, asking Wilder to call him
to discuss the matter.

Another relative, writing from
southern California, said that taking
the condemned man’s life “does not
give our family any joy or satisfac-
tion. It only leaves another death and
sadness to this family.” He added
that a lifetime jail sentence “should
be enough punishment for him.”

Whether this letter, among several
received from relatives of the victim,
had an impact on the Virginia gov-
ernor, is not known. But the governor
had a less sanguine communication

from the former husband of 40-year-
old Su Cha Thomas. He asked that
the execution be allowed to proceed
as scheduled. This was the first time
relatives presented conflicting views
on a death sentence, though the opin-
ion was weighted in favor of clemen-
CY.
Also on Wilder’s desk was the pe-
tition of clemency filed by the de-
fendant’s attorneys, Maria Tildon and

Gov. L. Douglas Wilder held
fate of condemned man in his
hands to the very end.

Thrill killer Timothy Dale Bunch couldn’t beat the chair.

Nancy Voisin, from Washington D.C.

At the same time, outside his of-
fices at the state capitol in Rich-
mond, there were noisy demonstra-
tions favoring commutation of the
sentence.

What would the governor do? In
office just three years, and emerging
victorious from a bruising battle
against the son-in-law of an ex-
president, Senator Charles Robb,
Governor Wilder had already re-
fused to halt ten death penalty exe-
cutions, while staying just two. Vir-
ginia’s and the nation’s first black
governor, who had launched his po-

49

ne ee ee ee


litical career as a liberal, had in-
herited a wave of death penalty cas-
es, and followed through on most
of them. But this was different, or
was it?

Meanwhile, Prince William Coun-
ty’s Circuit Court Clerk David Ma-
bie, himself a veteran of work on
major criminal cases in the county
prosecutor’s office, was selected as
one of the four witnesses to the exe-
cution. He said he was looking for-
ward to witnessing the electrocution,
because he’d seen so many terrible
crimes go unpunished.

“I want to see (the execution) as a
personal affirmation that...our sys-
tem still works,” he told a newspa-
per reporter. “I have examined mur-
der victims at the hospital before the
autopsy and have seen the methods
in which they were killed. I don’t ex-
pect it to be more unsettling than
that. I want to see for myself that

He described shooting her and said it
felt ‘real good’ — so good, in fact, that
he was at the point of having a sexual

climax. Lawmen wondered if there would

be the same effect when he was
strapped into the chair and the switch

was thrown.

these victims receive a measure of
justice.” ’

At the same time, as the hour of
electrocution approached, set at 11
p.m., there were legal maneuvers
over videotaping of the execution.
The condemned man proclaimed that
if the event went forward, he didn’t
want his face concealed by the exe-
cutioner’s hood. He wanted the pain
and agony he would most likely feel
recorded for posterity.

And the man right behind him on
death row wanted it too, so that pos-
sibly the images, after legal review,
would persuade a judge to stay his
own execution. In chambers, lawyers
wrangled over the fate of the planned
videotape, and whether it should be
admitted as an exhibit in the next
condemned man’s appeal. The fate
of one condemned man, and perhaps
also a second, swayed in the balance,
in Governor Wilder’s hands.

More than ten and a half years ear-
lier, on February 2, 1982, Prince
William County Police Officers
William Lawrence and Robert Bowan
responded to a call from a relative
of 40-year-old Su Cha Thomas to
come to her home in Dale City, Vir-
ginia. The relative, who was waiting
outside the residence for the police-
men as they arrived, explained that
she’d been unable to reach Su Cha
for several days and decided to come
to the house to find her.

On entering the unlocked sliding
glass door accessing the kitchen from
the back of the house, she felt that
“things looked out of place,” and
perhaps acting on a sixth sense, im-
mediately backed out.

She said she’d been called by Su
Cha’s supervisor at work, who’d told
her that Su Cha had not been to work
for several days. It was totally un-
like her to be a no-show, especially
not to call to explain what was go-
ing on. Neither the supervisor nor
the relative could reach Su Cha on
the phone.

Officers Lawrence and Bowan
couldn’t be quite so timid. They en-
tered the home through the rear
door, just as the relative had. Going
to the second floor on one staircase
that started from the back of the
house, they entered the master bed-
room and immediately saw dresser
drawers pulled out, and one even
dumped onto the floor. Nearby, on
the bedstand, the phone was off the
hook, beeping. The other bedroom

Convicted sex murderer (right)
is led into police car following
one of his court appearances.

— an = “ ee mene 2 came wae Ee

was not so dish

On their way
front stairway, F
couldn’t miss th:
the hallway. As
got a clearer vic

Su Cha Thom:
her neck and th
on the doorkno!
was blood com
and nose. Cold ¢
haps several da
she’d hanged he

In a fit of dep

This was the 7
emerge for Inv
Lagerveld, who
the Garrison si
bridge, to look i
death.

Except for the
and some other
the woman’s ho
well kept. Lag
ered after talkin
friends of the d
Cha had an obs
ness, and consta
a spotless house

The relative v
lice, told Lage
visor first not
come to work ]
She added tha
tremely depress
because she’d 5
her former hust
a few months ea
ening suicide o1
sions, threats th
very seriously, a
fact, just a yea
been a suicide
learned.

Checking poli
uary 25, 1981, w
sponded to wha
cide-in-progress
The report notec
entered, they fou
depressed state. ‘]
the house for pil
utes, left. Later
she was seen at
trying to buy p
This time she
charged with be
and released to |

When her tr
charges were dis

Commonweal:
Ebert headed

Ciyea Oct. (118 Bedford Co.

NeGRo CAESAR Slave of James Bullock .
LI44 Comp: paid on (Q-(S-78. Get details.

her Book
page 148, Bedford loenty Order Book

Execuléed JA§/777 fir Sipe of
Chtgarrne Mpiapony

“CAESAR (Slave)

"On April 30th, 1776, Caesar, a negro, was tried for
Burglary, found guilty and hung (in Isle of Wight Co.,
Va.)" "Isle of Wight County Records," WILLIAM AND MARY
COLLEGE QUARTERLY, Vol. 7, #h, April, 1899, p 271.

Chmypensetian f° G5 paid on 124-1778 Po Mr
Benjamin Dancey of Unuven County NC; assignee

Robert hicks. Allocatiin no. $67.6 | Vilyihe
hypsleive heb hons.


SLAVE Cansak Executed /0- R- [3. Box 405, =

Prince William County, Virginia. - Certificate
dtd. 1-3-1814, stating that Slave Caesar, pro-
perty of the kstete of Sarah Chahmers had been
executed, No date of execution given, but pro-

bably in 1813,

Auditor's records, a re. of Va., Item 153, Box
6, 1814 envelope.

Highway Nabbery. Yn S18-13 he held Wyo one Ldward Sing sov ated
Took trom bi between Sour and five obthars Cash and a silver wafe/r,

Loommutstin order revoked,

Cne mre na eked Tal
A slave was hesesdin Elizabeth City County, Va., on

April lh, 1747, for an unspecified felony.

Titre dtd, 3-27-1985 from Philip J. Schwartz, Virginia

Commonvealth University, 912 “lest F,anklin St., Rich-

MAAMY XUAXX mond, Vaey 23281-0001. His sources: Eliza-

beth City County Order Book, YRMB¥IZHAYXMEMAKS ARH

Sa MEERA LEIA ARMA ROR SLIT MERTEN IT 1731-1717,
30, and 177-1755, 136 | .

According to ltr, dtd. l-23-1985 from Shwartz, his name

was Caesar and he was the property of Thos, Mingham.

wy XY5. Ordered ‘hanged on The Crossrdads pear
ate, None alowed 0 pounds of tobacco for

pertorming the CXeCuTION.


a

158 NORFOLK: HISTORIC SOUTHERN PORT

and pleasing. His air and manners are altogether affable and
gentlemanly.”*' “In his family circle he was cherished with
unspeakable fondness and affection; and this whole community,
in which he was for so large a portion of his life beloved and
esteemed, will ever honor and revere his memory.’”!?

Barron was a principal in an unfortunate duel. Commodore
Decatur, famed for his exploits in Tripoli, having made some
slurring remarks concerning Barron’s conduct in the Chesa-
peake-Leopard affair, the latter sent him a challenge. The duel

was fought with pistols at Bladensburg, Md. When all was.

ready, Commodore Bainbridge began to count, and at the word
“two” both fired. Barron was wounded in the hip. Decatur
stood for a moment erect, and then fell. “I am mortally
wounded,” he said. ‘At least, I believe so, and I wish I had
fallen in defence of my country.” He died the same evening
in great agony.*

Like other seaport towns, Norfolk had its share of grog-
shops and gambling houses, its brawls and murders. In the
alleys leading from Water Street to Main were many “filthy,
tobacco-impregnated bar-rooms,” and “licentious dance cel-
lars,” where sailors drank and squabbled. On one occasion, in
1803, bands of drunken sailors rioted in the streets, creating
great excitement and injuring a number of people with stones.
One unfortunate had his head nearly severed from his body
by a stroke with a shingle.t# “From the almost continual riot-
ing in the streets, sometimes for nights together, . . . it might
be doubted whether we have any police, or legal authority what-
ever, to protect the peace of the borough,” complained the
Gazette in February, 1805. At times the denizens of the tip-
pling houses came forth, not to fight, but to make night hideous
with song. “Saturday night about twenty friends of mirth,
fellows of fun, took it into their heads to let the inhabitants
know they were alive,” said the Herald, “and with something
they conceived was music, but which no ear could relish and
no beast dance to, amused themselves and kept awake every
child, and of course every nurse within the sound of their hum-

“Anne Royall, The Black Book, p. 258.

“W. S. Forrest, Sketches of Norfolk. p. 275.
“ Tbid., pp. 274, 275. : “ Norfolk Herald, July 19, 1803.

a Ef me one

——ae

THE TOWN AND ITS PEOPLE 139

drum concert.”*5 Sometimes young men, drunk and armed,
would resort to the theatre, or public gardens, where they were
a nuisance and a danger.46

There was no organized crime in Norfolk, similar to that
in many of our modern cities, but drinking and gambling not
infrequently led to stabbings or shootings. In 1806, two broth-
ers named Davis kept a faro table on the third floor of a house
in Water Street. One night an Italian named Colmini, having
broken the bank, was accused of cheating by the Davises and
one of the other players. When they tried to seize him Col-
mini fled down the narrow, dark stairway, and hid at the land-
ing. As the three men in pursuit passed him, he gave each in
turn a vicious stab with a stiletto, and then made good his
escape. All of his victims died.47

Fifteen years later Norfolk was stirred by the brutal mur-

_der of a Frenchman named Peter Lagaudette, by two Span-

jards, Manuel Garcia and José Castillano. A young man
named Cherry, happening to enter a frame building in the fields
between Church and Cumberland streets south of Bute, was
horrified to find the mutilated remains of a man. . The torso
was on the floor, the head, hands and feet badly burned were
in the first place, the arms and legs ina tub. Ina few minutes
the whole town was aroused. It was learned that the two Span-
iards, a villainous looking pair, had occupied the house with
Lagaudette, and a general alarm was sent out for them. They
were arrested at Lambert’s Point. It is supposed that the three
men had quarreled over the division of booty attained by a rob-
bery, and that the two Spaniards, having murdered Lagaudette,
attempted to dissever the body and dispose of the fragments
piecemeal. They were tried for murder, found guilty, and
executed. The hanging took place in a field near Portsmouth,
in the presence of a crowd of between three thousand and four
thousand persons.*8

Norfolk has always had a large proportion of negroes. In
1821, in a total population of 8,608 there were 3,261 slaves
and 599 free blacks; in 1830 with a total of 9,816 there were

““Tbid., October 2, 1802. “ [bid., April 16, 1802.

“Norfolk Gazette and Public Ledger, November 24, 1806.
“Library of Congress, Miscellaneous Papers, No. 724.

SS ————————————— V6 ll!lLle — ee” oe oe ia re na Hail

CASTILANO and GARCIA, hanged Portsmouth, Va., 1821 - Continued.

other a number of valuable watches, watch chains, and sundry articles of jewelry; on the
floor, too, was an elegant gold patent lever watch. The object in committing the murder
could not have been plunder, or the murderers would have secured these valuables, What
then could heve been the motive? We can imagine no other but revenge. Another idea
suggests itself, however, which does away with this supposition. Their intention evi- .
dently was to cut the whole body in pieces, and burn it at their leisure, and their leaving |
the house was probably only for a time, when they would return, complete their hellish

work, and carry off the property, without exciting suspicion. In one of the turnks was
found a masonic diplowa, from the Grand Lodge of Maryland, filled up in the name of Peter
Lagoardette, and dated, City of Baltimore, 21st December 1820. But, whither that wes the
name of the deceased, or of his companion, or, indeed, of either of them, is a matter of
uncertainty. It was stated by a Frenchman, who said he was acquginted with the person

whom he supposed the deceased to be, that his name was Dade. An examination into this
mysterious case was subsequently instituted by the Mayors; but, after examining a number

of persons, the inquiry resulted in nothing satisfactory. It was stated that the de-

ceased and his companion had frequently been seen in company with two Spaniards who had
lately arrived in town from Baltimore, and about whom there were some suspicions indica-
tions. Should we be too hasty in surmising that the deceased and his companion, together
with the two Spaniards with whom they associated, were a band of depredators upon the
community by all the various arts of robbery and swindling? Their incognito movements;

but, above all, the implements for lock=-picking found amongst the effects of the de-

ceased, leave but little room to doubt that such was their occupation. We regret that

it is not in our power to present a more satisfactory detail of this affair, which has
exckted so much sensation in our town. We trust, however, to the vigilance of our police
will yet afford us the opportunity, by ferreting out the demons who perpetrated this

horrid deed.e-HERALD."

(Later, same paper) "FROM THE BALTIMORE AMERICAN. - On making the requisite inquiries,

we find that Lagoardette was well known in this city, and that he bore a good character,

He came to this place from Savannah about a year ago, and occasionally left Baltimore for

a few days to dispose of jewelry, in which he was a dealer. We are informed that he left
this city for Norfolk, on Thursday morning, the 15th inst., in company (it is believed)
with the man who was his murderer. It is not deemed proper at this time to pbblish his name
nor any of the circumstances which have come to light since yesterday, tending to fix the
horrid crime upon this individual. A description of his person is left with the proper
officers." DAILY NATIONAL INQUIRER, Washington, D. Ce, 3/26/1821 (3/1.)


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fe

BELESSRESSSATASSSESTE SSS SIT aR

CHABROL v. COM. Va. 375
> Cite as 427 S.E.2d 374 (Va. 1993)

der at death, based on a finding of vileness.
The court also sentenced Chabrol to two
terms of life imprisonment for the rape and
the abduction offenses. Following this
hearing, the trial court ordered the proba-
tion office to prepare a post-sentence. re-
port on the capital murder charge. ».Upon
consideration of that report, the trial court
confirmed its prior sentence of death: on the
capital murder charge. bo

~ Chabrol is before this Court solely for
automatic review of his death sentence.
Code § 17-110.1 provides, in material: part:
A. -A-sentence of death; upon the
judgment thereon’ becoming: final inthe
‘circuit ‘court, shall‘ be banaret ‘on the
i record: by- the Seek ais Court. °

| Toi “Trhhe court shall consider and has
termine: —

1. Whether the sentence of death was
imposed under the influence of passion,
prejudice: or any other arbitrary” factor;
and

__.2, Whether the sentence of death’ is
excessive, or disproportionate. to the pen-
alty imposed i in similar cases, considering
both the crime and the ‘defendant.

In accordance with Code § 17-110. 2. we
have given this matter priority on our dock-
et. We review the evidence and all reason-
able inferences fairly deducible therefrom
in the light most favorable to the Common-
wealth, the prevailing party below. ‘Cheng
v. Commonwealth, 240 Va. 26, 42, 393
S.E.2d 599, 608 (1990).

1.

THE EVIDENCE

The evidence showed that, at 6:20 a.m. on
July 9, 1991, Chabrol and his friend, Stan-
ley Berkeley, arrived at the home of Melis-
sa Harrington. Attempting to disguise his
appearance, Chabrol wore sunglasses, a
hat, and a partial wig. He also had
changed the license plates on his: car. As
Harrington approached her car, Chabrol
ran toward her and threw his arms around

1. Although the trial judge ordered a post-sen-
tence report, it was not required under Code
§ 19.2-264.5. See Correll v. Commonwealth,

her. As they fell to the ground, mnligid
ton cried out for help.

Chabrol testified that, after he forced
Harrington into the back seat of the car, he
placed pieces of duct tape over her eyes
and mouth and bound her wrists and an-
kles with packing tape. During the trip to
Chabrol’s house, which lasted approximate-
ly 90 minutes, Berkeley drove the car’ and
Chabrol rode in the’ back seat with Harring-
ton. Disguising his voice, Chabrol ‘told

Harrington that he was taking her’ to see

someone and ‘that she ‘would not be hurt.

When they. arrived at., Chabrol’s house,
Chabrol used.a knife to. cut. the. tape off of
Harrington’s legs. He then led her into
the bedroom of thé house, while Berkeley
stayed in the living room.

Prior to. the - abduction,: Chabrol., “had
placed restraining devices. in. the bedroom.

He .had secured one. looped. section,,of »

clothesline to each lower.corner of the bed.
After Chabrol placed these loops. over. Har-
rington’s ankles, her feet. could: come. no
closer than four inches apart:. .Chabrol. also
had secured clothesline to both posts at the
head of the bed. When he placed Harring-
ton’s hands through the loops that-he. had
fashioned there, her hands:were bound. to-

gether above her head:

Using a stiletto, Chabrol next ‘cut’ the
tape down the bridge of Harrington’s nose
and peeled it back so that she could’ see
him. He told her that he was going to rape
her. When Harrington asked if he would
let her go after the rape, Chabrol replied
that he would. According to Chabrol, Har-
rington then said, “okay,” and he. under-
stood her comment to mean that she con-
sented to having sex with him. Previously,
Harrington had told him that she feared
they “‘would cut her hands and her head off
and throw her body in a ... dump.” :

Chabrol then cut off Harrington’s cloth-
ing with the stiletto. He testified that he
performed oral sodomy on her and then
had sexual intercourse with her. After
these events, he left the room.

232 Va. 454, 466-67, 352 S.E.2d 352, 359, cert.
denied, 482 U.S. 931, 107 S.Ct. 3219, 96 L.Ed.2d
705 (1987).

satening conaizon
heir prison on the
und that nothing yet
i happened to

m. 9?

USTICE BYRON R. WHITE

to cause health problems in
ure, no matter how grave and
ent the threat.

rave great difficulty agreeing
rison authorities may not be
‘ately indifferent to an in-
; current health problems but
gnore a condition of confine-
that is sure or very likely to
serious illness and needless
ng the next week or month or
in Hutto v. Finney (1978), we
that inmates in punitive isola-
ere crowded into cells and that
f them had infectious maladies
as hepatitis and venereal dis-
This was one of the prison condi-
for which the Eighth Amend-
required a remedy, even though
not alleged that the likely harm
occur immediately and even
“the possible infection might
fect all of thse exposed. ...

t the Eighth Amendment pro-
against future harm to inmates
xt a novel proposition. The
dment, as we have said, re-
that inmates be furnished with
asic human needs, one of which
rasonable safety.’ DeShaney, It
uel and unusual punishment to
convicted criminals in unsafe
tions.” Youngberg v. Romeo
). It would be odd to deny an
tion to inmates who plainly
hd an unsafe, life-threatening
tion in their prison on the
d that nothing yet had happened

ty recognized that a remedy for
fe conditions need not await a
ic event.

e Court of Appeals has ruled that

e t

2m. The Courts of Appeals have’

ence, exposed him to levels of E.T.S.
that pose an unreasonable risk of
serious damage to his future health.
We also affirm the remand to the
District Court to provide an opportu-
nity for McKinney to prove his allega-
tions, which will require him to prove
both the subjective and objective ele-
ments necessary to prove an Eighth
Amendment violation. ...

With respect to the objective fac-
tor, McKinney must show that he
himself is being exposed to unreason-
ably high levels of E.T.S, Plainly rele-
vant to this determination is the fact
that McKinney has been moved from
Carson City to Ely State Prison and is
no longer the cellmate of a five-pack-
a-day smoker. While he is subject to
being moved back to Carson City and
to being placed again ina cell with a
heavy smoker, the fact is that at
present he is not so exposed. More-
over, the director of the Nevada State
Prisons adopted a formal smoking
policy on Jan. 10, 1992. This policy
restricts smoking in “‘program, food
preparation/serving, recreational

and medical areas’ to specifically

designated areas. It further provides
that wardens may, contingent on

space availability, designate non- .

smoking areas in dormitory settings
and that institutional classification
committees may make reasonable ef-
forts to respect the wishes of non-
smokers where double bunking ob-
tains. It is possible that the new policy
will be administered in a way that
will minimize the risk to McKinney
and make it impossible for him to
prove that he will be exposed to un-
reasonable risk with respect to his
future health or that he is now enti-
tled to an injunction. Also with re-
spect to the objective factor, deter-
mining whether McKinney’s condi-
tions of confinement violate the
Eighth Amendment requires more
than a scientific and statistical inqui-
ry into the seriousness of the poten-
tial harm and the likelihood that such
injury to health will actually be
caused by exposure to E.T.S. It also

$
ae |
#

veuvw v-

MCNIICy 5 EUUlon: wee
that depending on how the new policy
was administered, it could be very
difficult to demonstrate that prison
authorities are ignoring the possible!
dangers posed by exposure to E.T.S..
The inquiry into this factor also would
be an appropriate vehicle to consider
arguments regarding the realities of
prison administration.
The judgment of the Court of Ap-
peals is affirmed and the case is
remanded for further proceedings
consistent with this opinion.

JUSTICE THOMAS,
dissenting

Last term, in Hudson v. McMillian,
the Court held that the Eighth
Amendment prohibits the use of force
that causes a sagese 2 only minor
injuries. Believing tha the Court had
expanded the Eighth Amendment

“To state a claim under
the cruel and unusual
punishments clause, a
party must prove not
only that the chal-
lenged conduct was
both cruel and unusual,
but also that it consti-

tutes punishment.”
CLARENCE THOMAS

bounds of history and

“beyond all
I dissented. Today the

precedent,”

Court expands the Eighth Amend-
‘ment in yet another direction, holding

that it applies to a prisoner’s mere
risk of injury. Because | find this
holding no more acceptable than the.
Court’s holding in Hudson, | again
dissent.

At the time the Fignti Aimciuiicite
was ratified, the word ‘‘punishment”’
referred to the penalty imposed for
the commission of a crime. *.. And.
this understanding of the word, of
course, does not encompass a prison-
er’s injuries that bear no relation to
his sentence.

Nor, as far as I know, is there any
historical evidence indicating that the
framers and ratifiers of the Eighth
Amendment had anything other than
this common understanding of “‘pun-
ishment’”’ in mind.

To state a claim under the cruel
and unusual punishments clause, a
party must prove not only that the
challenged conduct was both cruel
and unusual, but also that it consti-
tutes punishment. The text and histo-
ry of the Eighth Amendment, togeth-
er with pre-Estelle precedent, raise
substantial doubts in my mind that
the Eighth Amendment proscribes a
prison deprivation that is not @nflicted
as part of a sentence. And Estelle
itself has not dispelled these doubts.
Were the issue squarely presented,
therefore, I might vote to overrule
Estelle. I need not make that decision
today, however, because this case is
not a straightforward application of
Estelle. It is, instead, an extension.

In Hudson, the Court extended Es-
telle to cases in which the prisoner
has suffered only minor injuries;
here, it extends Estelle to cases in
which there has been no injury at all.
Because I seriously doubt that Es-
telle was correctly decided, I decline
to join the Court’s holding. Stare deci-
sis may call for hesitation in overrul-
ing a dubious precedent, but it does
not demand that such a precedent be
expanded to its outer limits. I would
draw the line at actual, serious inju-
ries and reject the claim that expo-
sure to the risk of injury can violate
the Eighth Amendment. Accordingly,

‘| would reverse the judgment of the
Court of Appeals.

Nas York Tones 6/19/93 page 8

e
Smokers’ Family Loses Suit

‘GREENVILLE, Miss., June 18 (AP)
— A judge’s unprecedented ruling that
cigarettes are inherently dangerous
was left moot as jurors ruled that 43
years of smoking did not kill a man
whose family sued the maker of Pall
Mall cigarettes.

Eleven of 12 jurors decided Thurs-
day that Anderson Smith Jr., 63, of
Kosciusko, died from a blood clot
brought on by surgery, rather than
from emphysema or lung cancer
caused by his smoking. :

Former Navy Officer -

had complained about his advances.

ital punishment to resume in 1976.

complained to his superior.
riage. He

to Mrs. Harrington as “Nemesis.”

peake.

The former officer, Andrew J. Cha-
brol, 36, was put to death in the electric
chair at the Greensville Correctional
Center after refusing to fight the death
sentence handed out a year ago. AS a
result, he had the shortest wait of any
of the 20 Virginia inmates executed
since the Supreme Court allowed capi-

Mr. Chabrol said her complaint dam-

He and another man abducted her
from her Virginia Beach home while
her husband was out of town and took ,
her to Mr. Chabrol’s home in Chesa-

‘

Executed for Murder :

JARRATT, Va., June 18 (AP) — A .
former Navy lieutenant was executed .
Thursday night for abducting, raping .
and strangling an enlisted woman who

Mr. Chabrol pleaded guilty to-the .
1991 murder of Melissa Harrington, —
with whom Mr. Chabrol had tried to
develop a romantic relationship when
she was in his command. But Mrs. .
Harrington rejected his advances and

aged his career and ruined his mar- .
left the Navy in 1991 and '
began planning revenge, keeping a

computer journal in which he referred |

ee .

a nicernten emanation enna steamers RHO rH

LL wermn|


CHABROL, Andrew J. + Lyecu~eg = ae, a4
TJ We LF (743 | cana

374 Va. 427 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

Andrew J. CHABROL GE

v.
COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.
Record No. 921464.
Supreme Court of Virginia.

Feb. 26, 1993.

_ Defendant was convicted, pursuant to
his guilty plea, in the Circuit Court, City of
Chesapeake, Russell I. Townsend, Jr., J., of
abduction, rape, and murder. On atitomat-
ic review of the death penalty, the Supreme
Court, Keenan, J., held that: (1) the evi-
dence supported the finding of vileness of
the manner in which the crimes were
planned and committed, and (2) the death
sentence was neither excessive nor dispro-
portionate.

Affirmed.

1. Homicide €=356

No evidence indicated that death sen-
tence imposed on basis of vileness of ab-
duction, rape, and murder had been affect-
ed by passion, prejudice, or any other arbi-
trary factor; trial court relied on complete
record, including offense itself and defen-
dant’s social history. Code 1950, §§ 18.2-
31, subd. 5, 19.2-264.2.

2. Homicide €=356
Evidence supported sentencing courts

determination of vileness of abduction,
rape, and murder of victim and, thus, sup-
ported imposition of death sentence; of-
fenses had been planned and committed in
egregious, methodical manner, victim was
subjected to aggravated battery and to psy-
chological and physical torture, victim ex-
perienced slow and painful death by as-
phyxiation, and conduct far exceeded mini-
mum battery needed to accomplish murder.
Code 1950, §§ 18.2-31, subd. 5, 19.2-264.2.

3. Criminal Law @1134(3)
Proportionality review of death sen-
tence does not require that any particular
capital murder case equal in horror the
worst scenario yet encountered; rather, it

is only necessary to determine whether oth-
er sentencing bodies generally impose su-
preme penalty for comparable or. similar
crimes, considering both crime and defen-
dant. Code 1950, § 17-110.1, subd. E.

4. Homicide 356

Death sentence imposed on defendant
was neither excessive nor disproportionate
to sentences imposed in similar cases in-
volving abduction, rape, and murder. Code
1950, §§ 17-110.1, subd. E, 18.2-31, subd.
5, 19.2-264.2.”

William R. Brown, for. appellant...

Donald R. Curry, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen.
(Mary Sue Terry, Atty. Gen., on brief), for
appellee.

Present: All the Justices.

KEENAN, J ustice. —

On the morning of July 6, 1991, Melissa
Harrington, age 27, was abducted as she
was leaving her home to go to work. Later
that day, her body was found in the home
of Andrew John Chabrol. Chabrol was ar-
rested and indicted for her abduction, rape,
and murder.

At the first stage of a bifurcated trial,
conducted pursuant to Code § 19.2-264.3
and -264.4, Chabrol pleaded guilty to capi-
tal murder in violation of Code § 18. 2-31(5)
(murder in.the commission of, or subse-
quent to, rape). He also pleaded guilty to
rape and abduction with intent to defile.

Before accepting his guilty pleas, the trial -

court examined Chabrol and found that his
pleas were made knowingly, voluntarily,
and intelligently. Upon agreement of
counsel and Chabrol, the court heard from
the prosecutor a partial recitation of the
Commonwealth’s evidence. Thereafter, the
court found Chabrol guilty of all three of-
fenses, ordered a pre-sentence investiga-
tion by the probation office, and scheduled
a hearing for the penalty phase of the
capital murder proceeding.

At the penalty phase hearing, after re-
ceiving the testimony of several witnesses
called on Chabrol’s behalf, the trial court
fixed Chabrol’s punishment for capital mur-


376 Va. 427 SOUTH EASTERN RERORTER, 2d SERIES

“Berkeley. then asked Chabrol of hoe quia

go into the bedroom. Chabrol agreed. Af-
ter Berkeley went into the room, Chabrol
looked in on two occasions. Each time, he
observed Berkeley on top of Harrington.
Chabrol testified that he did not know how
many times Berkeley raped her.

. After Berkeley left the bedroom, Chabrol
went back. in and began questioning Har-
rington. She managed to, remove her hand
from. one restraint. and. struck him across
the face. Chabrol straddled Harrington

and. put his hand over. her mouth. _ Accord-.

ing to Chabrol, he then picked up a “stun
gun,” which he had purchased i in prepara-
tion for these offenses, and: tried to use “it.

 Chabrol testified that, at some point. dur-
ing this struggle, “I lost it. I just went
berserk.” ‘He stated that he remembered
“reaching'for her neck” ‘and, that'“the next
thing [he] ‘knew;”° Harrington® was’ lying
facedown on‘the bed: He'was unable“to
feel a‘pulse on ‘her neck. He testified that,
upon ‘seeing ‘the stiletto lying close to Har-
rington; he ‘feared’ that she ‘would rise ‘and
attack him with it;‘in a' manner similar to’a
scene depicted in-the movie “Fatal. Attrac-
tion.” Therefore, he cut Harrington’s left
hand ‘restraint’ and’ tied the clothesline
around her neck. ‘He then wrapped duct
tape tightly around her head,’ from‘:her
eyebrows to her chin, in order “to cover her
nose to stop her from coming back to life.”
Lastly, he. tied a — grocery bag over
her. head. :.

+ -Chabrol then ran out of the: room and
told Berkeley that he had killed Harring-
ton. Chabrol decided “that since she was
dead [he] might as well continue on with
[his] plan.” Berkeley helped him clean. the
bedroom. Chabrol then placed several
items in a trash bag for disposal. and
Berkeley ordered a pizza. |

The police knocked on Chabrol’s door at
approximately 11:50 a.m. Chabrol invited
them in. Detective Pat Tucker advised
Chabrol that he was not under arrest and
that he did not have. to talk to the police.
When the officers informed Chabrol that
they were concerned about Harrington,
Chabrol stated that he did not “care if
she’s alive or not” and that he was “really

not interested: if Anything has happened to
her.” |

i ee searching Chabrol’s:: bevel pursu-
ant to.a:warrant,.the officers found Har-
rington’s body in Chabrol’s bedroom,. They
also found. a trash bag containing female
underclothes, a-dress, and .a roll of: tape.
The trash bag also:contained some synthet-
ic rope‘and a blue cap with a portion of a
wig tied into it. In Chabrol’s: garage, the
officers. found two five gallon containers
filled with gasoline.

~The officers also. found : a cxpptcter,: -com-
Piet disks, ;and a, box..of..diaries.; The
disks, contained. a. journal and various. let-
ters written by Chabrol, which revealed his
extensive plan‘ to rape. and kill Harrington.
Harrington and Chabrol had been stationed
together, at. the naval base in ‘Norfolk.
Chabrol was one of Harrington’ Ss ‘superior
officers. Chabrol’s journal indicated that,
when he had proposed that he and Harring-
ton. have an. affair, she had refused him.
Following her refusal, Chabrol continued to
approach Harrington on this subject. As a
result, Harrington then informed another
superiir: officer about Chabrol’s conduct.

~ Chabrol’s - computer journal “contained
many entries stating that he would seek
revenge from’ ‘Harrington. These entries
included statements that “she will suffer in
the long run,” “I plan to rape her,” and “I
will give her the final payoff.” The journal
also revealed specific details of Chabrol’s
plan to abduct and kill Harrington. © Cha-
brol indicated that he had purchased pow-
dered magnesium because he believed that
it would burn at a sufficient temperature to
destroy all evidence of Harrington’s body.
He also testified that he had purchased ten
gallons of gasoline to assist in this burning
process. In the journal, Chabrol also men-
tioned that he might try to blame the mur-
der on Harrington’ s husband.

The evidence also showed that, while
Chabrol and Berkeley were both incarcerat-
ed in the Chesapeake City Jail, they ex-
changed notes... In one note, Chabrol. in-
structed Berkeley to ‘remember as little
about me as possible” and to say that he
did not see “any action at all.” This note
also told Berkeley not to mention “necro.”


Charrty ‘ne¢

Lox 148, Exec. fapers of Gov.

Hr pare was
Chastity *

WO SLAVES - CHASTITY and GEORGE.
OREBRUCHOOOMIEIOMX Hanzed 10-28-1803.

"9=3-1803-An attempt was made on Wednesday evening to.poi-

‘son the whole of the white family of Thomas Lawson, Esa,

of Princess Anne County, (Va.), by mixing a quantity of.
arsenic with a pot of coffee, It affected most of them
very severely, but fortunately none of them drunk enough
to prove fatal, The perpetrators of this wicked act were
a man and woman servant (brother and sister) belionging to
the same family, who were on Thursday committed to Kemps-
ville jail." CHARLESTON COURTER, Charleston, SC, 9-1h-

1803 (2:he)

The following from State A,chives of Vae, Auditor's Rec-
ords, Rox h, Enve 1803, Item 153: Chastity and George,
slaves of Thomas Tawson, were tried in Princess Anne Coey


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——

Seepage
| PESORIFTION OF THE OMIMINAL-

Jacob was about forty-fivo ycara of age, medium
height, siteht buiid, was sinewy and athletic; ola
hair ena peurd were tinged with hb his nigh fore-
pead: bul receding nose somewhat Cat, lipa thick,
| skin intensely Diack and. features of that contour
which eiricly and geaulnely negro in
every respect le was @ native of Kings.

,
. &
neg each Hall, was admitted to sce him just as
to

with wate - bis own woe
7’ ‘seod my death} now 1 am to be kule
Hipowe ad ey are bound to have me, and that i

im dO; but
| oll they Tue LORD WE ME iy
gom umes Satan comes, but soun #8 m
. ta to tne Lord ana ne jeaven ine.

raroeny
1 bome to-morruw; Wauk the Lord
knew Leone expressions were all . made

an ejaculatory pervous way, se hands
yoving _ resucasly all the tme from the
pead 10 his pockets and across the body, never re-
Reo more than a few seconds in one piace. He

8 considerable uncasiness as lu Whe disposi.
“on of bis body, which be feared would fail into

*ghe nands of the dootorn at we University of Vir- |

ginta at Charlotteville, and this seenred lo prey more
on Die wind than his smodiale Gaccnilon. Assure
ances were giveo Bim that his body would be taken
care of, and af«r prayors were offered by two vVisil-
ing clergymen tid doors were ewuog back, the boits
cianged 10 their wockets and the condemned man
war icit solitary and alone iu the cold, dark and dis-
wnal cell to pars
B18 LAST NIGHT ON BARTH.

Mle talkcad aud prayed invessantiy danr-
ing tho nigit, and such was the tere
ror hbs impending doom inzpired that his
mind’ wandered, apd hia expressions became 1D00-
herent, rambling aud weaningless Afraid to court
sieep—nature’s sweet reatorer—he rocked. himeelf
to and iro the whole of that terrivie isnt, moaning
piteuusly and awaking the echoes in the jail Wile
Wild and Irepzied appeals fur forgiveness, In vain
ho sougnt thas calm and consoiauon which true
pyre and tah asione Can give the super, bus

ike a negro criminals OF bbs Class be chucavored,

by torced exc}ewmont und wild fervor, to convince

imscif that us peace was inade ‘with his Maker.
Perhaps the siluglo Dut great truths ol Curtsuapity
wero beyond ls r conception, und besetled
lguurance darkened his amali share of Intelicct

versie :

ape INS THUMENT vo
Loutsa is w banging yoanty,

quakes the seveuta within tho

' <1) Sherif was obliged to crec’ th

a balf soulbwest 0 the town,

senneutiy admitted of a jail

sndicatwos Of cher raip of

| ancé c a’, tbe occasion being

: deputies, provested 10 Aregho

and pinioued Jacob W

was to be hanged, 5

| @raikea bervously to the sie
to the Mrovt. Stopping

@iated Into a Wagoo in which

‘apacorered ats head and
, bab was prevented bY

ite
BY B&.

male female, on foot, 20
Toad.

nich oc:
q sosne om the way Werene of mirth Sad metre
sting amoag che ReOgroes, bo seemed to be ulr
gay aud fesirve. shoots and whoops
‘the crowd as it sarges along awoke the aliens
ot weg on every os and wher the
v proceance turned | into the
woods ne thon

tan ipevitavie result ‘peg tre barbarous
strangulation ol the yiouw, Cau ibere net be seme
means adopicd by which this specics os
| barbara Will be avolde. when a ¢rimipat has to
y he extreme ponaity of the law? it showd, at
, ve dono ia & deveat, civilised Way.
TUB CROWDS ABOUND THR SCAFFOLD.

Thoagh the morning was qgioomy, wh serious
both male and femaie,” thro \yed the roads leading
to we Court house 0 witotas the ‘“baugin,’? as
bey called t. Amoug them a individual, yeoantors|

iu the quadraple Baue ot T. Lh C. Graves, 8 OOMmK
} wuite genlugudrove aturtving trade in peanuts, odeal.
-) nueand large apples, keeping Up a scene of mirth
| around ate tsnpromptu stand vy Bruoming fre of
ipteraperaed W

jail was ing with the same verrioie energy, Bet
vou waiting his doun, while bis eavle breturea
enjoying thenise! rea witm the greatest Mmiarity

ip which be was the main actur, .

parronmded by a guard he

this tbe Sherif and tae Yaad (ook a sea 6 Jacabd

then

crn Weg aod Ube procession Look

\ Up iis march

oe tne ecauott. ie

{HX DEATHLY PROCEBION—A BIDE OX Bis COFPIN.
pearing

white, om horseback, and 8 large crowd of pegroca, ;

—_ee

v DEATH.
for there bave oeca

six executons la tue laxt twenty-dve years. Tols

recollection of some

of the old ianabtltants, Dub notwithstauding this 6x-
rience In bbe bangwmau’s art they aid not know |
Mw ww bullda scanuld. There being no public |
lace of exccation, and the citizens generally lo the | .
wicinity of tne Court Mouse ybyecung to have tne |
tragedy take place UpOR their private property, the |

e instroment of death |

| on the pourhouse rounds, avout three mues and |

Jt was a miseravie |

structure; a combination of galioss and BCale |
fuld; two %@ rights supporting & CTOss DCAD, |
| beneath which was & small placiorm wit |
| @ tea in. the cen’re  Tnis platiorm |
was raised only four feet irom the ground, and Con.

not excceding three

w, crowds of negroes,

the impenuing trageJy

over thls be was as-
was Ite coin, and on

eusayel to adureas tne
the onward movemens

deata freight, eur:

dragged ils motes
} tead uf tbe soleme


A RRS ee aR ole Wak ty
BEE ert es 5 oe eas Baty SON ah any
Hi 4 : ” aes
et aie se gute selina: Hae thm. aera tae

rab. Olwadg bie Ree elias
ie een. RN o fa ‘ ia
ai pe tnetaimns tame ears ces

w a Be same ee : a Ie beet .


>

» cated ng ce a ae
have 2B
the torture. Oa" one oocasion, i¢ is seid, she had to
fly jrom his house to & bor’s to escape a beat-
mg. With this exception they lived as appily as
most couples of their class. A. iu vented
account for a mouve ie that JacoD.bad grown tired

fe, having become exam of another
@naky Samael, wham he was eaxions to marry; bus
‘there was ne evidence to prove this, nowever,
- In contradktion of this mied thoury of a
motive for the murler, Jacdo Bimucl! stairs that he
Was urged to the comumissian uf the feul deed by

~

~ THE GREEN-BYBD MUNSTER JRALOUNY. -

He charges that bis wife, who was 8 “likely” and
| Father good i en | woman, was unfaiti fal to the
; marriage vows; and his suspicions In tate were well ‘
| nigh confirmed on more than one occasion, by cir-
| iow at under which be detecied ber. One

thing thas Made this almos; Couctusive in his mind.
was the jact that she {frequently had in her
’ posseusiog sums of mon which she oould
| mot t for and |
have come by - Thus hte mind was
‘tortured by = these dle and onty half
| confirmed suspicions, dnd being driven nearly to
| madness he commitied on the first provocation the
| Crime which brought him to the gallows day,
| However tais may be, there is no sympathy for the
| Murderer in thin commanity. Everybody. no mat.
ter of what race, admis toat the sentence was jst,
and bers I would note a pecultarity of the colo
race, Where the victim of a murder is a white
man aod the murderer a n they are usually in-
diferent about tue ent of the latier, and,.
indeed, alten strenuondly bhp to it. but, asin
this case, the victim being a@ colored woman,
they are Joud in their demands for retrioution,
swift, if possible, but sure, It was with the great.
@xst dificuity that the negroes living neer the ecene
of the murder coald be restrained from lynching
Jacob at the time of his arrest, aud to day they
were almost jubilant over the prospect of his death.
; Several time since bis sentence Jacob
|  ATIMMPTED TO RSCAPR BY BURNING TNE JaIt
; IN which he was Mauacied and confined, put owin
_ tothe vigilance of the oficiais pe ‘was’ prevented
each Ume, The last aitempt was some six weeks
ago, A iirc was made ina small swve in hiv cell,
and (hough he was chained to the wal! atthe fur
ther end of it, yet bo succeeded in reaching some of
the embers and firing hits hed clotuing. With
the burning biankets he fired the cell door, and the
Hames were making some headway, when's colored
Woman, Who was in charge of a Iunatic in the up-
per porti.n of the jail, discovered the fire ana gave
the alarm fn time to save tho vuliding Deiere any
elpeey damage wasdone. Since then Jacub appears
have abaadouncd all hope of Cacape and to have

| Tesigned bimself to his approaching tat
| for mercy in the great unkhowa ham Ape Madi s

OUT SUFrLIGatIoON,

5 ee | 4 a
Last. nigh coinpany with thé Jailor, I vistted the

Condemned Man in his cell, AS We neared the outer
door of the jail, through the Garkness, he could be
hearu shouung bis prayers In the most beseecning
acccnls anc :.itha wild and despairing zeal ‘The
hcavy bolis ob£be doors as they were removed and
che screeching nolze of ng hinges 43 the doors
swuog back utd not distard him In his appeals to

| tue ‘luroue of Grace. He continued uninterrupted,

and when the light from a lantern was thrown upon
Dim he waa found kueeling on his patiet, his clasped
hands raised and bis eyes turned towaris heaven.
In UWhis positiou he rematnod while we entered the
cell, stll calling frantically upon nis Maker jor
succor and at times slapping his: hands to
ge:her with a terribie energy. Woe stood mu

gazing at the criminal in the suadow of death, and
Ixteping with awe to bis wild appeals for meroy,
uDwilliag to Interrupt him. Ina moment ov two be
Ccased and looked at usin an inquiring anger,

‘then arose aud folding bis arms stooa crect,

:


spoceoded ln tying dhe of ber hands with
me suruggic at this (imo was not in favor
, for im kis @ffOr, to secure ihe mother’s
\nat was yet iree Jacob drew her to the door,

har

Bwa oat into the yard, whcre be
and fe full = dengath

agate ber down, and then ticd we
tugetner, her now compiutely Uni’
ed ine bound Woman OF ine
ung to tae loft, where Le
met
nner
1th the Bimoss precision and coutest
Jasov tnen descended 10 the Oe ie
OA gui his bolule of Whisgey, & pall of water, ©
eoveral Bickory switches, BOWS Be
and went inden With Lhese jaucret wee
seemed a, Tire te nS, Marsh of nish
him. First pe took a drink bodes ods
a few mouthfuls of water to aS ue at
ia his throat wed Pago ate
@ Mad Whose Vuniness ik was, he sclec mab ‘pei
the best switches ho Raa, bed ey cat
Qdmeniuon faying me wife in tue Most Oru
¥ The woman's surks ne heeded not, iof
Was De one near w boar eM, anil ber agoniz
orice fur merey ound po ochy io his hardened
oS Oosmacnally

peat Bim untorianule wue uoli they, wo, likey
were reduced to lragments. The bro-
Gil these :netrumcals of torturc were
eeee ta Court, mute and in-
eviacnce Of two uman Dature of

my bik,
4 SROOND FLAYING,
ey Weapuns exbausied upstairs, the
loescaed We pour Wousau from
ercse beam amu dragged her by the rupe down
Gega, Cat of the house and into tue orchild,
Wee edijoiaing the yard of the Bouse. Licre
sate Sart Sian sine pected wrescd
of an ap gud breaki
@ficbe lower boughs anu vfamenes’ iram the sue
wees, be aguin resumed bis provess of
creaicre to deat Al dines ne
werd eanne bloody work, then rest, nomcumed
Lew 7 ike teal Tigereane Ach he wn
» Fest Again, and Oi
se deare. bm thm way feu weed all the

ond Wmbs around nim witain Bis reach,
taal be Batied (he doomid woman fru the eg

Mey hens re gus bei pny fell ut.
on dead woman. —

end Whi theo @harp-edgeu Staves, Lvads and '

be slopped to lake

by @ sudocn and powerful purl, |

on hi.
isferiased buw, ho sprang up and rusned as |
Mem and iremag depicted in hin couite- .

H
E

- gua a
soled rope stil attac
a pte aig and by thie dragged Ber to

yara cabia, whore enucavured to prop |
eer up sgaunst the trank of @ poscR tree which gio ;
>, Bar Ralure Was thoroughly exhaust, au

add openbaar ne stripped oe

hie Soageat us

° worD

ae o wall nese Wer a

etre
nth
is
tH
A
cf
Ee

1
:
,
|

\
al
i
LF
Eg
ef

i
sa
ith
Ht
ayy
He

i

BIVCCOMLAES verrieee night, dacobs.gred
profound ( hebegeden daytrcak, and whe Ke |
ro fo O) ibere, ow ibe hearth, lay tke voll, scare UM

Rs

ot £
iit
il

|

4 i
é ry
rhe
be |

i

Y
§

ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY, 359

Englishman. The last-mentioned person is probably the William R.
Watson named by the coroner’s jury. According to the tradition, he had
been a common loafer in Staunton, but going to England and return- .
ing with a large sum of money, was last seen in the Washington
Tavern. Ora peddler may have been named Watson. No one knows
who or what the supposed victim was,

Dr. Humphreys was an intelligent and learned man, and his im-
mediate connections were the first people in the country. He could
not have used the language attributed to him by the clerk of the in-
quest. Nor would he have ventured to say that the body brought out
of the cave was that of a negro if the evidence of the hair had been
against that supposition, Possibly the cranium of the corpse was
entirely bare, and the jury neither saw nor sought for any hair. One
tradition has it, however, that the body was headless, just what might
have been expected in regard to the ‘“‘subject”’ of young medical
students, But Watson had disappeared and here are human reniains,
so the jury hasten to declare that the latter are all that can be found
of the missing man. The « blood-stained ”’ floor of the tavern cham-
ber of course indicated the scene of the murder, confirming the belief
of the credulous and malignant, and inspiring the superstitious with a
great dread of that particular room.

Within the memory of the writer, the town was thrown into an
excitement by the discovery by boys of human bones in the cave; but
by that time the community was prepared to believe that they were
thrown in by medical students, of whom there were always some in
town in the first forty years of the century,

During the last decade of the 18th century,—how long before and
how long after we have not inquired,—horse-stealing was a capital
offence in Virginia, and matly persons convicted of the crime were
sentenced to death. It would seem from documents printed in
the Calendar of Virginia State Papers, that in every case the sentence
was followed by a petition, more or less numerously signed, asking the
Governor to pardon the condemned, which shows that popular senti-
ment was not in favor of inflicting the death penalty.* At any rate
we know of only one hanging for horse-stealing, and that was at
Staunton. ,

The name of the unhappy man was John Bullitt, the “ black
sheep”’ of a most respectable family. He was arrested in Rocking-
ham county. At that time, and for long afterwards, white persons

* The State penitentiary was not opened till March, 1800.

——— ——s ee a i 2 = a Saree
<a Sees ee a = : : a
Ra : = SSS eT toe See oS = ~
= : “3 Bari aed raver arr es
a, Oe ee > ped Hear ery . aga aa Tas “a ce

seein

Se ann

te ra ams

a ee


360 ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.

accused of felony were arraigned before a Court of five Justices of the
Peace, who heard the testimony and either discharged the accused or
held him for trial before a higher tribunal, first the District Court, and
afterwards the Superior Court for the county. The ‘‘ Examining
Court’’ of Rockingham sent Bullitt on for trial before the District
Court, and in October, 1790, he was committed to jail in Staunton.
He lay in jail the following winter, ‘‘ without a spark of fire and but
little bed covering,’’ as stated in the petition for his pardon. At April
term, 1791, of the District Court, only one Judge attended, and the
prisoner claimed a continuance till the next term. By the time the
September term arrived, the Commonwealth’s Attorney had discovered
that the crime was committed in Augusta, and therefore that the
Justices of Rockingham had not jurisdiction of the case. The indict-
. ment which had been found was dismissed, and the prisoner re-com-
mitted for re-examination in Augusta.

With the prospect of another cold winter before him, to say noth-
ing of the gallows in prospect, Bullitt broke jail and fled. We next
hear of him under arrest in Fauquier county, in May, 1793. It would
seem that after his escape from jail he enlisted, or was believed to have
enlisted, as a soldier in the United States army, and was arrested in
Fauquier as a deserter. He was about to be discharged, however,
when Mr. Archibald Stuart, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for
Augusta, hearing of his arrest, sent for him by a man named Rhodes.
Mr. Stuart said, ina letter to the Governor, dated May 23rd, that he
was anxious for Bullitt to be brought to trial as there was ‘‘an_ illib-
eral suspicion among ye people,’’ that his escape from the Staunton
jail ‘‘ was favored by all concerned, being ye brother of a Judge.*

The Examining Court of Augusta sat on the 26th of August,
1793, and consisted of Alexander Robertson, Alexander St. Clair,
Robert Douthat, William Moffett and Alexander Humphreys, ‘“Gentle-
men Justices.’’ Bullitt was charged with ‘‘feloniously stealing and
carrying away from the plantation of John Nichols, Sr., on the 18th
day of September, 1790, a gray horse of the price of thirty pounds,
and other property belonging to said Nichols of the value of five
pounds. ‘Total value of the stolen property $116.6624. Upon the
testimony of John Nichols, Sr., John Nichols, Jr., Jesse Atkinson and

* It has been stated in print that the brother was holding court in Bath
county at the time of Bullitt’s conviction or execution. This is a mistake. No
court presided over by ‘‘a Judge”? was held in Bath till years afterwards. But
Cuthbert Bullitt, of Prince William county, who died in 1790, was a Judge of the
Supreme Court of Virginia.


ae my ee

=

a cL eee a ag :

i ati ia Ne acl

:

ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY,

peared, and we cannot tell which of the Judges presided, and what
lawyer defended the prisoner.

Popular Sympathy was slow in moving. It was not till the r2th
of October that Robert Gamble wrote to Governor Lee, enclosing a
petition for Bullitt’s pardon. The petition was signed by eighty-eight
Citizens, among them Alexander McClanahan, Jacob Kinney, William
Breckinridge, Vincent Tapp, M. Garber, Sr. and Jr., William Abney,
Moses McCue, Alexander St. Clair, John McDowell, Robert Bailey,
Alexander Nelson, Robert McClanahan,
Bowyer. Tradition Says that Bullitt was feeble-minded; that young

a
harsh man; and that the condemned man was returning with the
‘horse when first arrested. The petition makes no such statements.
It admits Bullitt’s guilt, and says he was a man of bad character; but
pleads that he has suffered much, part of the time in irons, was
“extremely penitent,’ and Promised reformation. ‘The Governor
was inexorable,

The County Court, at its session on October 16th, ordered the
sheriff to erect a gallows ‘‘at the fork of the roads leading from
Staunton to Miller’s iron works and to Peter Hanger’s,”’ and that, the
order says, ‘‘ shall be considered as the place of execution of all con-
demned persons in future, which may by law be executed by the
sheriff of Augusta’? Evidently the court anticipated a brisk business

It is related that the Rey. John McCue was present at the exe-
cution, and betrayed great emotion. The popular feeling was long
expressed by a saying often repeated to puzzle children : “That if a


VY

ee ee ene oki
<p eee

362 ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.

person would go to John Gorden’s house and say, ‘John Bullitt,
what were you hung for?’ he would say nothing.”’

The gallows at the place described gave to all the northern part
of Staunton the name of Gallowstown.

The late James Bell, a young man of twenty-one in 1793, was
deputy sheriff that year, and officiated at the execution.

The County Court, on October 15, 1793, ordered their clerk
(Jacob Kinney) to purchase a bell for the courthouse, which, we
believe, is the one still in use.

The main incidents in the life of George Mathews have been
given already. He is one of the most unique and interesting of the
natives of Augusta county. The life of his second wife is also full of
interest.

The maiden name of Mrs. Mathews was Margaret Cunningham.
She was the daughter of John Cunningham, who owned, and probably
lived in, the low wooden house which formerly stood on the southwest
corner of Augusta street and Spring Lane, (Irish Alley.) Until taken
down to make way for the present brick structure, it was said to be
the oldest house in Staunton. ‘The lot was designated as No. 1, in
the original plan of the town, in 1747. ‘The wife of John Cunning-
ham and mother of Margaret is believed to have been a Miss Davis,
sister of the first Walter Davis. ‘The other children of John Cunning-
ham and wife were, Mrs. Burns, wife of Major Robert Burns, and
mother of Mrs. Dr. Waterman of Rockingham ; Mrs. Smith, wife of
Capt. John Smith, and mother of Mrs. Michael Garber and Mrs.
Moses McCue; and Capt. Walter Cunningham, who removed to
Kentucky in 1788.

Margaret Cunningham was born in, or a little before, 1747, hav-
ing been baptized by the Rev. John Craig in that year. Nothing is
known of her early life, except that, according to tradition, on one
occasion of an alarm about Indians, she mounted a horse, and, doubt-
less with others, fled across the Blue Ridge.

After attaining womanhood, she became the wife of Robert Reed,
at what date is not known, but it was after 1765. Mr. Reed was the
son of ‘‘ John Reed of the Kingdom of Ireland,’’ as he is described in
the papers of an old suit to be mentioned. Like many other residents
of Staunton in his day, he was a tavern keeper. He was also the
owner of 740 acres of land adjoining the town and a house and lot in
town. In the evening of the first Sunday in December, 1775, the


Bunch, Payne,
Smith, Mackall,
Mu’min, George

By JOHN MERCURIO

Journal staff writer

- Joining Timothy Bunch on death
row are five men with few common
threads beyond the fact that they
probably will share a common fate.

While some grew up here and
were products of the county school
system, one wandered in for the first
time the night he murdered a gas sta-
tion attendant in Woodbridge. Some
were seen as loners; others were de-
scribed as social butterflies in their
high school yearbooks.

But one similarity does exist:
None of these men — who make up
the largest group of death-row in-
mates currently being held from any
county in the commonwealth —
knew their victims.

@ In 1981, Joseph Payne walked
into Winslow's Groceries on Route
28 in Nokesville. There, he robbed
the store and then shot and killed the
Store's 49-year-old proprietor, Lou-
ise Winslow.

+ Payne was sentenced to life im-
prisonment, a term he began serving
in'Powhatan Correctional Institute
later in 1981. But after five years at
Powhatan, Payne locked a fellow in-
mate in his cell, doused him with gas-
oline and threw a match through the
door's iron bars, setting the inmate
on fire and killing him.

‘; Payne, who committed a capital
offense when he murdered the in-
mate, was convicted in February
1982 and sent to Mecklenburg Cor-
rectional Facility in Boydton, where
he awaits an execution date.

Mi In late November 1986, Antho-
ny Mackall escaped from a halfway
house in Washington. Twelve days
later, he arrived at a Shell station in
Woodbridge, where hé shot and
killed Mary Dahn, the attendant on
duty that night.

Mackall, who was in his early 20s,
pointed a gun at Dahn, who was sit-
ting behind the glass of the cashier's
booth, and demanded the contents
of the cash register. .

As Dahn hastily scooped money -

from the register, her husband stoud
on a ladder nearby, stringing Christ-
mas decorations. While Dahn’s chil-
dren played at her feet, Mackall shot
her in the head and fled the station
with the money.
_ Mackall has been on death row
since December 1987.
@ The only death-row inmate who

OS Seago ae

Prince William’s death row inmates
Here's a look at the six men convicted of capital murder in Prince William County who are awaiting
execution in Virginia's electric chair. All were prosecuted by Paul Ebert.
CRIME NAME CRIME
Killed Louise Winslow Killed Su Cha Thomas
while robbing of Dale City while
Winslow's Grocery in committing robbery.
Nokesville. For that — On death row since
crime, was sentenced own Nov. 1982
to life imprisonment, . és
but was sentenced to 4%.
death for later killing oe
another inmate. %\ ae
On death row since l ee )
Feb. 1982
Timothy Bunch
Killed Mary Dahn while Killed Manassas Police
robbing the Sgt. John Connor with
Woodbridge gas an assaut rifle.
Station where she On death row since
worked. May 1989
On death row since
Dec. 1987
| ne ‘Ss
Tony Mackall
, Stabbed Gladys Killed Alex Sztanko of
Nopwasky to death Woodbridge after
while robbing her Dale robbing him and
City store. torturing him with an
On death row since electric stun gun.
June 1989 On death row since
Feb. 1991
Dawud Mu’Min

pulled the trigger without first rob-
bing his victim is Roy Bruce Smith,
46, who shot and killed Manassas
police Sgt. John Connor in 1988.

Connor, 38, was one of five offi-
cers dispatched to Smith's Manassas
townhouse, where he lived with his
wife. Police were investigating
neighbors’ complaints that Smith
was sitting on his front porch, firing
an AR-15 semi-automatic assault n-
fle into the air.

Connor, who had been with the
force for seven years and was to be-
come the first city police officer to

ie in the line of duty, was covering
the back yard when Smith, desporn-
dent over a faltering relationship
with his wife, emerged from a back

door.

Connor ordered Smith to drop his
weapon. When Smith refused to
comply, the two exchanged gunfire,
during which Connor was shot four
times.

Smith was convicted in May 1989
and was sentenced to die. He awaits
an execution date.

M On Sept. 22, 1988, Dawud Mu-
‘mim was serving a 48-year sentence
for murder and grand larceny he
committed in Grayson County in
1973. That morning, Mu'min, also
known as David Michael Allen, fled a
highway maintenance shop on Tele-
graph Road in Woodbridge, where
he was working in a prison workers
program.

A few minutes later, he walled
into Dale City Floors, a store in vag
dale Plaza off Dale Boulevard, whew
he stabbed shopkeeper Gladys '
wasky with a sharp, pointed ob ect.
Mu'min, 36, returned to his wort de-
tail within the hour, wearing
pants inside out and his clothes .ov-
ered with blood.

Mi In June 1990, Michael '
George used an electric shock “'s hw
gun” on 15-year-old Manassas s&&<
dent Alexander Sztanko, whose body
was found in a wooded area of .
City. George robbed and terror;
Sztanko by firing the gun at as
thighs and testicles of the tee1. bc-
fore shooting him in the back 0: thu

head with a 9-mm handgun. IL

By JOHN MERCURIO
Journal staff weter

Timothy Bunch, the Quantico Ma-
rine scheduled to die Dec. 10 in Vir-
ginia’s electric chair. would be the
first county resident executed by the
state. ‘

Bunch has been on death row
since his 1982 conviction for the
murder of a Woodbridge woman,
and his attomeys have exhausted ap-
peals filed on his behalf.

While Bunch’s execution would be
the first of a Prince William resident.
the county has more inmates on
death row — six — than any other
jurisdiction in the state.

On Jan. 31, 1982, Bunch, a ser-
geant with the Quantico Security
Battalion who had spent only a few
months on the marine base, shot and
strangled Su Cha Thomas in her
home at 14428 Meridian Drive in
Woodbridge and stole more than
$20,000 worth of jewelry and an un-
known sum of money, according to
court records.

Thomas, 40, was a secretary for
Meradcom, a credit union at Fort
Belvoir.

Bunch. who had asked Thomas to
dinner earlier that day. arnved at he:
one-story. white-paneled house,
where the couple engaged in a game
of “hide and seek”’ at his request, ac-
cording to a statement made by
Bunch at the time of his arrest, au-
thorities said. Bunch hid; Thomas
sought.

“Bunch had made up his mind to
kill her, so he was just playing with
her mind before he shot her,’ said
Commonwealth's Attorney Paul
Ebert. who prosecuted the case. “He
knew what he was planning to do the
whole time.”

Minutes later. after Thomas had
found Bunch hiding in a bathtub be-
hind a yellow shower curtain, she
suggested they quit the game and
leave for dinner. Bunch then pulled a
.22-caliber pistol from under his
jacket and shot Thomas in the tem-
ple, according to court records

When Bunch determined that the
shot had not killed Thomas, he
dragged the unconscious victim
across the hall to her bedroom,
where he wrapped a scarf around
her neck and hanyved her froma
doorknob, according to the records.

, A bat Bie cin AT Abe Pte 5
16-17, 1992 AO

THE PRINCE WILLIAM JOURNAL/MANASSAS WEDNESDAY. THURSDAY’SEPTEMAEH

Six from county await death in electric chair

After 10-year delay,
Bunch will die first

A neighbor found Thomas’ body
the following afternvon.

Before he left several days later
for a one-vear assignment at the US.
Marine base in Iwakuni, Japan
Bunch hawked most of Thomas’ jew-
elry to a pawn shop im Arlington,
Ebert said. Investigators asce rained
from the store's records that Bunch
had pawned the jewelm — evidence
used to link him to the murder.

Bunch was arrested in Japan on
Feb. 17. His five-day tnal began Aug.
11,1982.

Bunch has been held at the Meck-
lenburg Correctional Center in
Boydton — about 160 miles south vu!
Prince William — since his sentenc-
ing in 1982. His execuuun is sched-
uled for the Greensville Correctional
Center in Jarratt.

Several death sentences have been
overturned by presiding governors
since the General Assembly legalized
capital pumishinent following a land-
mark Supreme Court decision in
1976. But Eben said Bunch’s attor-
neys have exhausted the state ap-
peals process and that the execution
likely will take place as planned.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied
Bunch’'s request for habeas corpus
last June, leaving clemency by Gov.
L. Douglas Wilder his only recourse.

Inmates frequently request writs
ot habeas corpus, which umply thes
are being imprisoned withuut just
Cause.

Dawud Mu'min, a death row in-
mate convicted of murdenng a Dale
City shopkeeper in September 198%
after he fled a pnson camp in Hay-
market won a wnt of habeas corpus
from the Circuit Court on Aug. 10

Mu'min. also known as David M:-
chael Allen. was to receive an execu-
tion date with Bunch, but Ebert's of-
lice withdrew that request pending
the outcome of the most recent cour
order.

“The court will net do anything in
the case until [defense attorneys |
have exhausted their legal reme-
dies,’’ said Ebert. “That's what takes
so long to get these people executed.
[His attorneys} conunue ty file writs
of habeas corpus, and the process
takes so long WH get through the sys-
tem that they manager to take as long
as they possibly can.”

Sept 16/11, (4 Fz, PAF

B12 Thursday, December 10, 1992

Ka

Killer recants sexual motive;
aim was to be judged insane |

BY FRANK GREEN
‘* ‘TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Barring an 11th-hour reprieve,
Timothy Dale Bunch, a former Ma-
rine who claimed in a confession that
hte became sexually aroused while
killing a Dale City woman during a
1982 robbery, will be executed to-
njght.

. In an interview yesterday, Bunch
said he lied about experiencing sexu-
al release when he shot Su Cha
Thomas in the head. He then
dragged her across the floor to hang
her from a doorknob.

‘He said he made it up hoping he

would be sent to a mental institution .

and not prison. Ironically, it was the
sexual aspects of. the murder-rob-
bery that the jury apparently found so
vile as to warrant the death penalty.

- The pleas being made by the fam-
ily of the murdered woman, Su Cha
Thomas, to spare Bunch’s life are
perhaps the most unusual aspect of
the case. A brother, Tong Yi, and
nephew, Peter Yi, flew here from
California last weekend to attend a
rally for Bunch.

o. All I can really say is that I’m
hopeful that the Yi family’s message
will shine through,” said Bunch,
reached by telephone at the Greens-
ville Correctional Center where the

=

electric chair is housed.

“T really want to tell the truth be-
hind this,” said Bunch. “If I’m a devi-
ant-type person, why can’t they test
me?”

“T thought that someone would see
through this Freudian thing of the
gun going off and I’m having an or-
gasm.” &

If executed, Bunch will be the 17th

person sent to the electric chair in.

the state since Virginia resumed cap-
ital punishment in 1982, the same
year Ms. Thomas was slain.

He would be the ninth person exe-
cuted during the Wilder administra-
tion. Wilder has commuted two death
sentences, but on Monday he an-

nounced he would not interfere in.

Bunch’s case.

Wilder has received requests from
Ms. Thomas’ family not to execute
Bunch. He has also received a letter

from Ms. Thomas’ former husband -

asking that the execution go forward.
A new round of appeals — his case
has already been turned down by

state and federal appeals courts — —

was in progress yesterday and is ex-
pected to continue today.

Bunch was convicted of the Jan.
31, 1982, capital murder and robbery
of Ms. Thomas, and a Prince William
County jury sentenced him to death.

Bunch, a sergeant who served as a

correctional officer, and Ms. Thomas, -
a divorcee, had an intimate relation-
ship while Bunch was temporarily
stationed at the Marine Corps base in
Quantico. Soon after the slaying, he »
was transferred to his permanent |
duty station in Japan. |

Ms. Thomas was shot in the head
and then hanged from. a doorknob
with one of her scarves during a
robbery. Using a sexual expletive to
describe her, Bunch also told an in-
vestigator that the victim reminded
him of his ex-wife. . |

Bunch said yesterday that while he
served as a correctional officer at the
base in Quantico he became familiar
with the John W. Hinckley Jr. case.
Hinckley shot President Reagan’ in
an attempt to impress an actress and
was sent to a mental institution.

Bunch said he hoped the same
thing would happen in his case. Re-
gardless, he said yesterday that he is
gratified that Ms. Thomas’ family has
forgiven him.

“I have as special thanks to the Yi
family for having come out 3,000
miles and missing three days of their
employment in order to express their
desire that I not be executed.”

“It’s given me a new lease on life
and peace no matter what happens,”
he said.

Oe


B4_ Friday, December 1, 1992 : Richmond Times-Dispatch

Bunch executed; Bid to videotape it denied

flew here from California last week- execution via cellular phone.” clouds.
YW BUNCH FROM PAGE B1 end to attend a rally for Bunch. Bunch, who held the rank of ser- Tim Lietzke, who lives near Farm-
look me in the face,’ and then they Bunch said in the interview geant, and Ms. Thomas had an inti- ville, met Bunch about three years

put the death mask on,” Page said. Wednesday that he could die in peace mate relationship while Bunch was ago when the inmate inquired about th
Bunch said he first considered knowing her family had forgiven him. temporarily stationed at the U.S. Ma- the Society of Friends, of which I wanted you to
“going into a full lotus position” and His sister, Tina Schnebelt, of Mad- rine Corps base in Quantico, where Lietzke is a member. ‘ th
making the execution team carry him ison, Ind., sought to make a last- he was a correctional officer. Bunch became a Quaker within have to look me in we
in, Page recounted. “‘ButIdeemedI minute plea to Wilder but was told he Ms. Thomas was shot in the head __ the past year, said Lietzke, who held yy
was not ready for that,’ ” he said that. could not see her when she arrived at and then hanged from a doorknob a sign reading “We Love You face.
Bunch stated. his office late yesterday. Instead, she with one of her scarves during a Timbo.”
Witnesses said Bunch was accom- read to reporters a letter she had_ robbery. Bunch said he had a sexual “To me it’s a very tragic night,” he TIMOTHY DALE BUNCH
panied by Bishop Walter F. Sullivan written for Wilder: orgasm when he killed her. said. “Tragic because of the barbaric, ADDRESSING EXECUTION WITNESSES
of the Roman Catholic Diocese of “As stand in proxy for my brother In a Wednesday interview, Bunch _ sadistic, ritualistic murder in the first
Richmond and two unidentified peo- and all the death row inmates Iam said he made up the story about hav- degree that’s taking place here.” 2 ee
ple. During his last statement, Bunch lost for words to describe the pain ingan orgasm, hoping he’d be sent to Two students from Greensville tee ETON
—s = thanked the Society of Friends, his and sorrow I feel for the people who 4 mental institution, not prison. County High School, joined by six, ’ h
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS family and the family of Ms. Thomas. believe in capital punishment.” As the minutes ticked down to- friends, came out last night to work lives next to the prison, before she
AWAITING EXECUTION. Timothy Another unusual aspect of the case She conceded, “Yes, he did do ward the hour of execution, 16 death on a sociology project. started to question opponents.

* . : ; Pag es wae

Bunch said he could die in peace were pleas made by Ms. Thomas’ Wrong, but he is at peace, forgiven by _ penalty opponents braved the cold We're interviewing people to find Se a a ~
knowing his victim’s family had for- family to spare Bunch’s life. A broth- the victims’ family who will attend and huddled in solidarity forBunchas out what they think about this,” said Staff writer P amela Stallsmith con-
given him. ‘er, Tong Yi, and nephew, Peter Yi, with me — in support of Tim — his a full moon peeked out from some Jaime Parker, a 10th-grader who tributed to this report.


Wednesday, December 9, 1992 B3:

Victims nephew
also asks clemency

BY MIKE ALLEN
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Another relative of a murdered
Dale City woman wrote to Virginia’s
governor yesterday in an effort to
head off tomorrow’s scheduled exe-
cution of Timothy Bunch.

Gov. L. Douglas Wilder says

Bunch’s case is the first during his
three years in office in which a vic-
tim’s relatives have sought clemency
for a killer.

The five-page letter, from a 17-
year-old nephew of Su Cha Thomas,
followed a November plea by her
brother. Both relatives appeared this
weekend at a Richmond rally urging
mercy for Bunch.

“Our family has already mourned,
and we feel that the Bunch family

should not go through the same

pain,” wrote the nephew, Peter Yi.
“If Mr. Bunch should die ... we
would have to watch two deaths, and
mourn for a second time.”

Also yesterday, Bunch’s lawyers
began a series of. final appeals by
filing a petition in Prince William
County Circuit Court.

“From there, we’ll exercise all av-
enues of appeal for Mr. Bunch,” said
one of his lawyers, Maria Harris Til-
don of Washington.

“There are a couple of very signifi-
cant constitutional issues regarding
the application of Virginia’s death

penalty that the court has, to date,
not addressed in Mr. Bunch’s case.” |

Yi, a high school senior who wants
to become a lawyer, included his
phone number in his letter and invit-
ed Wilder to call him.

“My dear aunt has been away from
our lives for nearly 11 years,” he
wrote. ‘My memories are vague, but-:
I can still remember my family here’ *
in the U.S. and in Korea mourning ©
years after her death. I can still pic-
ture the look in my father’s eyes as
he received the phone call that would
alter our lives forever. ...

“We all believe he should pay for
what he’s done, but even my aunt,
who is at peace, would not want the
death penalty to be placed upon
him.” -

Yi said in a phone interview: “If
Mr. Bunch comes out of jail right
now, I believe he’d be one of the best.
people. He knows how valuable life-
is. You and I -haven’t been in the’
position of saying, ‘I’m going to die.
next week.’ It’s like if you were blind -
for a week and you got'to see.”

Wilder said Monday that he would
not stop the execution. His state-

ment noted that Ms. Thomas’ hus: ~

band had written to ask that the sen-, ’
tence be carried out.

Through last week, his office had
received 405 messages urging clem-
ency for Bunch and five opposing
clemency.

ee

- ww

REFLECTIONS ON TIM BUNCH’S DEATH

BECOMES
A LENS

hen I awakened this moming
Wir 1/92}, the radio news had
the information I had dreaded to
hear and had avoided trying to learn last
night before I tured in: Indeed, at 11
p.m. EST on International Human Rights
Day, the state of Virginia deliberately,
methodically, irrevocably, and violently
extinguished the life of Tim Bunch, a
convinced Friend.

I say the “state of Virginia,” and blush
that I thereby perpetuate the deadly myth
that governments have minds and wills.
In fact, it was prison guards and officers,
ordinary employees, human beings like
me with feelings and families, who were
commanded to put Tim into the instru-
ment of death and let loose the energy
hat killed him. One of the lies and hor-
ors of capital punishment, as with war,
s that it tries to legitimize the passing of
he buck; somehow it’s always someone
-lse who is responsible, in this conscious
ict of prematurely ending the life of a
sister or brother. Surely Governor Wilder
nust have consoled himself that it wasn't
ris decision; he just was letting the courts’
iue process be fulfilled. Everybody, up
und down the line, was just “doing what

hey had to do,” “just following orders.”
Vhat terrible things must be conjured up
is being let loose if compassionate hu-
nan emotion, empathy, sympathy, for-

Javid Finke, a self-employed printer in Chi-

ago, is clerk of 57th Street (Ill.) Meeting.

fe wrote these thoughts on the “Quaker
“lectronic Project,” which had mobilized
‘forts following an alert by Jim Cahalan of
ndiana (Pa.) Meeting. Mike Conner, clerk
f Indiana Meeting, corresponded with Tim

tunch in prison, where Tim had joined the
“harlottesville (Va.) Meeting.

by David Finke

Hundreds more may
be executed before we
leave the shameful
ranks of countries
that still all
their own citizens
in the name of justice.

giveness, or mercy were allowed to in-
terfere with the mechanical grinding on
of the social “order™!

I realize, somewhat to my embarrass-
ment, that I had tried hard in the previous
two days not to obséss on the fact of
Tim's impending doom. At some level,
both conscious and unconscious, | was
trying to honor him and me and our shared
tradition by “getting on with life.” The
partial irony is that since Tuesday, I had
been involved in another person's death
and thereby her life: I had been on the
road with my Dad to an out-of-state fu-
neral of his last surviving aunt, a woman
of 88 years who had been exceptionally
good and kind to each of us. Only a
dozen people were present at her memo-
rial (almost all somewhat distant rela-
tives). There would have been no pall-
bearers other than the undertakers had
Dad and I not offered to carry her to the
grave, lower her down, and toss in a few
cold clods with our blessings and thanks-
giving to her. And then we strolled around
the little snowy hillside hunting up the

names of ancestors of ours dating well
into the last century, and feeling very
connected to them and to each other,
somehow feeling both sober and fulfilled.

Once more I was deeply convinced
that death becomes a lens that puts life
into focus, makes us consider what our
days are about, and forces us to acknowl-
edge that we have a finite span of con-
sciousness upon our good earth. And then
the life-death continuum asks, “What will
you do with this?”

On our drive back, I felt a tangible
sense of the meaning and direction and
purposes of our lives, and the debt that
generations owe each other in constant
learning as well as support. By yesterday
morning, with just the two of us, my
father and [ experienced a breakthrough
in the ability to talk about deep and hard
and puzzling things having to do with
family relationships, more than once
speaking the unspeakable and laying
aside the myths and taboos, in a common
pursuit of Truth, letting Reality speak to
and through us. These were the kinds of
conversations and mutual searching that
become possible between a person of 51
and one of 83, that we longed for but
couldn't approach when | was a teenager
and young adult. And I am convinced it
was in large measure potentiated because
we had become more aware of our own
mortality—the limitedness of life. We
had been in the presence of Death, and
we knew we didn’t have unlimited years
in which to talk together.

Does it seem I have wandered from
reflecting on the recent death of Tim
Bunch? It is all of a piece. For one thing,
I (as I believe was the case for Tim) find
a comfort and a renewal in trying to put

TTT

Paul M. Schrock

things into words. Sometimes we're not
entirely sure what we're thinking or feel-
ing until we write it out and share it in the
public space. I was especially pleased
that in the national news bulletin of two
sentences, they saw fit to say that before
dying Tim gave a six-minute speech about
how society treats the poor and the dis-

Frienps JourNAL October 1993

possessed and the imprisoned. With his
life, he bought a platform on which to
bear witness to Truth. I envision that in
that grim and ghastly chamber of death
there was for a few moments a meeting
for worship in which even the most re-
luctant had to hear the preaching of the
Word. And my Quaker faith asserts that

“that of God” in the executioners was
reached to and perhaps touched.

I spoke earlier of a sense of embar-
rassment. This goes beyond the state-
ment of “chagrin” with which I intro-
duced my public messages of clemency
appeal; that had to do with the unseemly
nature of Quakers appealing for the life
of a fellow-Quaker, but being too silent
too often for the lives of others not per-
sonally known to us. The emotion of
embarrassment goes back many years. I
remember when the State of Illinois had
last executed a prisoner about 1961, and
I ferventl¥ praycd at that time that when |
had children, I wouldn't have to acknowl-
edge that our government killed people
“in the name of the people of the state of
Illinois.” For many years thereafter, there
were sentences but no executions in capi-
tal cases in my state ( true even until this
last year.)

But I was still not spared the personal
pain of involvement in this atrocity of the
death penalty: I vividly recall the sinking
feeling when my daughter, around 2nd
or 3rd grade, asked me if it were really
true that there were such things as elec-
tric chairs (as an older playmate had
graphically described to her). I was deeply
ashamed of my society that I had to say
yes. Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could
have said it was like slavery or child
sacrifice or drawing-and-quartering—
abominations that were true in the past
but which we had, gratefully, outgrown
and rejected as humanity became more
civilized. Having to admit to this dark
side in‘our organized life was somewhat
similar to having to explain to her, years
earlier, that one of her grandfathers had
been killed in a war. How does one make
the violently irrational fit into the reason-
able presumptions of Life?! | warn those
contemplating parenthood. that there-are
some burdens we would much rather not
bear, and we must ask the forgiveness of
a newer generation for what is laid upon
them.

I regret that (away from a computer
and modem for several days) | had not
extended my heart in open sympathy and
support to our Friend Mike Conner, who
spent these last days and hours with Tim
Bunch. As always, I think there are di-
mensions of suffering for those surviv-
ing death that are not experienced by
those who are resigned to the fact their
own life is ending. For Mike, we must
acknowledge the state of Virginia has
tortured him, perhaps even more than
Tim's biological family: To walk with a
person to their place of death and have to

2 f October 1993 Frienos Journat. J

Oven SG

The > eee pera err en-esegrmengre ep agree PES 2H EERIa


Douglas Wilder

State Capitol

Richmond, VA, 23219

(Telephone: 804-786-2211; FAX: 804-786-3985)

Dear Governor Wilder:

On December 10, Human Rights Day, we commemorate the adoption of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations in 1948.
On this day Rigoberta Menchu, an indigenous Guatemalan woman, will
receive the Nobel Prize for Peace. Her family was brutally tortured
and murdered by the Guatemalan military. The false imprisonment,
torture, "disappearance, and murder of indigenous men, women and
children and others by government officials continue today unabated
throughout the Americas.

It is outrageous that on this day, which denounces inhuman and unjust
abuses, Virginia officials plan to execute TIMOTHY BUNCH. This
planned killing is even more disturbing, because: (1) Bunch has
expressed deep remorse for killing Su Cha Thomas, (2) his death
sentence rests exclusively on a confession obtained in violation of
the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, since the
police continued to interrogate Bunch even though he repeatedly
requested an attorney and had had a sleepless 36-hour trip from
Japan to the US, (3) his court-appointed attorneys had no murder
trial experience and one of them had no criminal law experience
whatsoever, (4) his jury was biased since at least one juror told the
judge he believe regardless of the facts and circumstances every
murderer should "beyond any doubt" be sentenced to death, (5) Bunch
was suffering the disintegration of his marriage to his high school
sweetheart shortly before his crime, and (6) no mitigating
information was provided to the jury. Bunch had no criminal record
and had a reputation for non-violence. He was mentally abused as a
child by his father, a policeman, and his mother. His father
repeatedly brandished weapons and threatened Bunch and others in his

family. His attorneys only called his mother, who was under the
influence of prescription drugs, to provide mitigating evidence,
although there were many people available to testify. The government

did not argue that Bunch posed a future danger, which is required for
death sentencing.

You have officially recognized December 7 to 11, 1992 as Human Rights

Week. Please do not disgrace and degrade this recognition and
international Human Rights Day by executing Timothy Bunch on this
day. Moreover, he did not receive a fair trial, and therefore,

should not be killed. Imprisonment is sufficient punishment.

I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,


Victim’s Family
Asks Mercy for
Va. Murderer

BUNCH, From D1

said Yi conveyed many of the same
feelings in a telephone conversation
with her last month.

Though sometimes in broken
English, the translation is vivid with
emotion.

“We want Mr. Bunch to spend
rest of his life that he can able to
smell of roses in May, sunshine and
shadows in July, hear sounds of
leaves on the ground in October,
and through the window he can able
to see white snows falling down,” Yi
wrote. “I believe even my sister
wish that from the grave.

“All of my family members are
praying for one’s life, Mr. Bunch’s.”

Paul B. Ebert, Prince William
County commonwealth’s attorney,
said Wilder should not be swayed by
Yi'’s appeal.

“The reason for the death penalty
exists irrespective of the personal
feelings of the family,” Ebert said.
“Bunch, to my way of thinking, is
dangerous. We consider victims’
wishes, but they certainly don’t dic-
tate to us. We can’t administer jus-
tice according to their feelings.”

Trial testimony showed that
Bunch shot Thomas in the head
,with a handgun after coming to her
‘apartment Jan. 31, 1982, supposed-
ly to take her on a dinner date.

After shooting her, Bunch
hanged her while she was still alive
by a scarf from a doorknob in her
apartment. Before leaving, he took
her diamond ring, a gold chain, a

string of pearls, a watch, several
bottles of liquor and other belong-
ings.

After the killing, authorities said,
Bunch pawned the watch and sent
the handgun and pearls to his moth-
er. Shortly after, he left Quantico
for an assignment at a Marine duty
station in Japan. Prince William po-
lice arrested him in Japan, 16 days
after the killing, after a pawn ticket
for the watch showed Bunch’s name
and address, Ebert said.

A cornerstone of the case against
Bunch was his statement, made to
Donald L. Cahill, a Prince William
County detective. At the trial, Ca-
hill testified that Bunch said he
killed Thomas because “she was a
slut and she reminded him too much
of his wife and he wanted her mon-
ey.” Cahill also testified that Bunch
said the killing sexually aroused
him.

Bunch admitted during his 1982
trial that he killed Thomas, but he
denied robbery was a motive for the
killing. He claimed that he killed
Thomas out of anger toward his
wife, who had left him the previous
summer and refused his attempts at
reconciliation, and because he
feared Thomas would reject him.

He has been on death row since
his sentencing in November 1982,
Bunch and his lawyers have filed
numerous appeals without success.
In September, the U.S. Supreme
Court declined to review his case.

Bunch, who is from Madison,
Ind., would be the ninth person ex-
ecuted in Virginia since Wilder took
office in 1990. Wilder has granted
clemency in two cases, commuting
the prisoners’ sentences to life.

Lisa Katz, a spokeswoman for
Wilder, said the governor had re-
ceived 266 letters, faxes and phone
calls in favor of clemency for Bunch.
Three others who contacted the
governor's office were opposed.

Vietim’s Fam

Broa - 42
By Bill Miller

Washington Post Staff Writer

_ Saying the execution of Timothy Dale
Bunch would only add to their sadness, the
family of the Dale City woman he mur-
dered has asked Virginia Gov. L. Douglas
Wilder to spare Bunch, scheduled to die
next week in the electric chair.

. Tong Yun Yi, the brother of Su Cha
Thomas, who was killed in 1982, also is
expected to attend a rally for Bunch Sat-
urday sponsored by death penalty oppo-

nents at the University of Richmond, or-
ganizers of the event said.

Executing Bunch, Yi wrote to Wilder,
“does not give our family any joy or sat-
isfaction. It only leaves another death and
sadness to his family. Perhaps, his family’s
sadness is deeper and more painful than
ours.”

“All of us, my family believe having Mr.
Bunch in jail should be enough punishment
for him,” Yi continued. “We believe that
Mr. Bunch’s repentance, be penitent for
sin will make peaceful for my sister.”

Bunch, 33, a former Marine sergeant
stationed at Quantico, admitted to killing
Thomas, 40, an acquaintance, by shooting
her in the head and hanging her. His law-
yers said Yi and other relatives of Thomas
have never met Bunch, but agreed to
write to Wilder after receiving a call from
Bunch’s defense lawyers.

“I was simply overwhelmed,” Bunch said
yesterday in a telephone interview from
his cell at the Greensville Correctional
Center in Jarratt, where he is to be put to

death Dec. 10. “The most important thing

is I have gotten forgiveness from them
and now I can be at peace no matter what
is in store.”

A spokeswoman for the governor said
the Jetter marked the first time a victim's
family has asked Wilder to show mercy for
a condemned prisoner. Wilder is review-
ing a clemency petition filed by Bunch’s
lawyers last month.

Yi wrote to Wilder after he was ap-
proached by Tracy Rice, a Los Angeles
lawyer and a board member of Death Pen-
alty Focus, a California organization op-

WASHING TOW

Fosr

ly Seeks Clemency for a Killer on Death Row

posed to capital punishment. Rice said that
Yi convened a family meeting and that his
parents, brother, and sister urged him to
write the letter for them.

Yi, 43, who lives in central California
and came to the United States from Seoul
in 1981, could not be located for comment
yesterday. His letter was written Nov. 20
in Korean, with a translation sent to the
governor's office and made public this
week,

The translator, Soni Kim, of Annandale,

See BUNCH, D6, Col. 2

—— |

at fF,

ae ae
BUNCH Timothy, white, electrocuted Virginia

Waaliars Feat
Slayer’s Lawyers Ask Wilder
To Commute Death Sentence

Attorneys have asked Virginia, Gov. L. Douglas
Wilder to spare the life of Timothy. Dale Bunch,

scheduled to be executed Dec. 10 for the' 1982 rob-
bery and murder of a Prince William County wo-

‘man,

Bunch, 33, admits. killing Su Cha Thomas but

- hopes Wilder will reduce his sentence to life in pris-

on, said Nancy Voisin, one of his lawyers,
“Tim doesn’t have a claim for innocence,” Voisin
said. “Basically, he’s making a claim for mercy,”
Voisin said she has reviewed every Virginia death
row inmate’s case and feels Bunch’s crime is far less

brutal than the others and should never have been

prosecuted under the capital murder statute.
Bunch was a 22-year-old Marine Sergeant in Jan-

 uary 1982 when he shot Thomas, 40, in the head

inside her: home’ and then left her hanging by her
scarf on a doorknob, He drank some liquor, played
the stereo and rifled through some of Thomas's be-
longings before taking jewelry, liquor, a stapler, a

’ pen and tape and leaving the home.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert considered
the taking of Thomas’s belongings a robbery, Voisin
considers it a theft rather than a robbery because
Bunch took the items as an afterthought,


WEATHER/OBITUARIES/CLASSIFIED. B1

SuNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1992 . -..® a es | TheWashingtonpost :

nine SEER aqumuunenmrensindedin.

~

ez

ee edied Bye Bill Miller

~ chirt and declared him dead.-

— oe " 3 2 A : .

L , «And later the consensus of the Six, chosen

a Stari ng through a glass window, a group | from a pool of Virginians who have volun:
c } { ntly wa tched Tin nothy ope teered to witness execu tion 1S, WaS that they

Ww rould be wilting to see an execution again.

res Ol fe] Cc- “it loo ced

“

thi rough his ; body for a tot ing to see,” said truck driver Georg e Chock
: lett, 58 who supports capital punishment

re
3 VO

tricity « cours sed
of three minutes. oo

- A school pace a om driver, a court
- clerk--and’ three’ police. officers all saw .. the Greensville Correctional Center in Jar-
Bunch’s sisacles tense and his hands. gri ip” ratt. “You see movies and hear people say
the chair. They saw the parts of his face not ~ how they reacted, jerking, the. pain, and
covered by a leather mask, his forehead and ~ fighting to go to the chair. But shoot, this

chin, turn red and smoke rise from his right was clockwork.”
leg near the electrode. =: une “All of us had envisioned perhaps. some-

te They watched as a doctor. opened Bunch’ 8

like a quick job. It was fascinat- :

as do the others who saw the execution at

enim Fires #e Surprised a at What They Don’ t See

one recciving all this electrical cient and

~ still being alive and protesting,” said Prince
William Clerk of Courts David Mabie, who

as a police officer 10 years ago investigated

the Bunch case. “There was none of that. It

was_a lot less gruesome than I thought it

“would be.”
Under state law, six members ¢ of the pub-
lic are selected.to witness ea ch execution as
representatives of ordinary Virginians. Oth-
er witnesses include several members of
the media, defense attorneys, ministers and

. state officials. .

When Virginia resumed executions in

-1982, there were hundreds of residents

Pike? | to _ witnesses, eegenl pal

“We screen out people who ‘might be related ,

interest has witied--pechupe, corrections
’ officials said, because executions no longer
.are a_novelty in Virginia. Bunch, 33, sen-.
‘tenced for killing“and robbing a ‘Dale’ City |
woman in 1982,.was’the ninth prisoner 'to |
be electrocuted'since 1990. <1. t?
“We don’t: solicit: People call of: ‘write: ~ ;
Greensville,” said Ed Mérris, deputy director
of the Virginia Department of Corrections.

‘to the inmate or the victim, or anyone who
‘might have some -reason: to be there other: |
than as a dispassionate witness .... Mainly
what you see is a lot of ead sete curious peo-
ple.” oa
_ See WITNESSES, B2, Col 3 -


witness the gruesomeness of such heart-
less cruelty must make terrible scars on
the soul. I have had Mike on my mind in
a special way, and earmestly pray that
God may give him peace and solace,
may help him transcend any bitterness or
possible sense of personal failure. Mike
was, heroically, standing there for all of
us who claimed to care, and he has borne
a suffering [ hope none of the rest of us
will have to endure.

In my own attempt to make sense of
the senseless, [ reach for some vision of
the possible redemptive nature of suffer-
ing. I want to believe this ordeal will give
new life within our Society of Friends to

ial

Courtesy of Christian Soc

3k

a concem for those on death row, will re-
vivify our historic testimony against the
taking of life by the state, will sensitize
us to those appeals that may come from
committed groups like Amnesty Intema-
tional: to be our brothers’ and sisters’
keepers. It is a fact that the death of four
Quakers in Massachusetts over 300 years
ago tumed the tide of public opinion
against the Puritan theocracy and its de-
termination to enforce with death its view
of the Truth.

I regret there may be hundreds more
executed in our country, in a mistaken
pursuit of security, before we leave the
shameful ranks of those countries that

sti!l kill their own citizens in the name of
justice: China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia,
Pakistan (and we used to say South Af-
rica, until they suspended further hang-
ings.) We are a long way from obliterat-
ing organized violence and death in our
world, but we must resolutely demand
that our democratic governments cease
forever the killing of our fellow citizens
in our name. When we speak of the abom-
ination of war, let us not lose the oppor-
tunity to speak of the war against those
without resources in our own midst, who
are paying with their lives for the iniqui-
ties of an entire unjust social order that
glorifies and commercializes violence.

I have said enough here, for now. The
end of life is irreversible, and must be
faced by each of us if we are honest. That
is a given fact. We have in our hand no
control over our mortality, but we can
indeed make choices about the quality of
our lives and of those around us, while
we live. I believe that in these recent
years, Tim Bunch gave us a lesson in
taking charge of the direction of one’s
life, seeking to minister to others, seek-
ing to ameliorate to some extent the mis-
takes every one of us makes. His life, for
all its imperfections, was a witness. May
we get on with letting our Light also
shine. Q

Katherine van Wormer

uakers have opposed the

death penalty since the be-

ginning of our nation and well
before that. Although some books of
Faith and Practice do not address
capital punishment directly, Friends’
strong peace testimony and statement
on universal “brotherhood” are incon-
sistent with state-sanctioned murder.
Most of the larger U.S. church de-
nominations officially oppose capital
punishment also.

A pubiic hearing was held on the
death penalty issue at the [owa State
Legislature in February 1993. Over
70 people were invited to testify.
Newspaper articles predicted that
large numbers of victims’ families
would testify asking legislators to sup-
port a death sentence for murder.

In fact, only one of the family
members requested that Iowa rein-
state the death penalty. It costs $73 a
day, this speaker argued, to keep an
inmate at the maximum security
prison. (The official estimate of the
cost of executing the first inmate in
Iowa is $2.1 million dollars.) All the
other victims’ family members spoke
eloquently against the death penalty.
This would amount to state-sanc-
tioned murder, according to the sister

Katherine van Wormer is a member of
Kent (Ohio) Meeting. She teaches social
work at the University of Northern lowa,
Cedar Falls.

Capital Punis

Be ee

of one murder victim. Her recommenda-
tion of alternative legislation for gun con-
trol instead was a commonly heard cry at
this gathering.

Clergy from the traditional denomi-
nations presented their churches’ posi-
tions against the death penalty. College
professors focused on sentencing inequi-
ties and the lack of proven deterrence.

For my three-minute report, I would
introduce arguments that were almost as
new and bewildering to me as they would
be to the audience: the death penalty as
an attraction to crime. Certain suicidal
persons, deranged in their thinking, would
be seen to violate the law so they could
“enjoy” the consequences of the law.
The crime becomes the means, and execu-
tion the end. Whichever crime the state
requires for execution—whethera double
murder, rape-murder, or murder-for-
hire—this would be the method chosen.

The previous several weeks I spent in
the psychiatric and legal literature search-
ing everywhere for cases. By the time I
arrived at the House chambers to testify I
had managed to locate 13 documented
cases of execution-inspired murder. Then,
at the door, the leader of Iowans Against
the Death Penalty presented me with two
more. (At the date of this writing, I have
documentation of 20 cases.) The task
ahead of me was to pull the evidence
together from the various isolated cases
to reveal a pattem in the anomalies. The
pattern I saw was frightening; there was
a method in the madness after all. Here
are some typical examples:

The first case I know of personally.
When my sister, Flora Stuart, was the
public defender of Warren County, Ken-
tucky, she fought to protect her client
from the electric chair. Totally uncoop-
erative, the man, Sherill Harston, com-
posed a song, “The Electrical Hanging
Tree,” about his crimes and execution.
My sister's victory in getting him “life”
was a keen disappointment to him. Firing

. heras his attorney, he filed for an appeal

so he might have his death wish honored.
In all likelihood, the murders had been a
part of this man's infernal plan. How-
ever, we who were there did not see it
this way at the time; we all saw Harston
as someoné beyond reason.

Likewise, Gary Gilmore's impulse to-
ward self destruction appeared to be a
major motivation in his killings. As stated
by the state-appointed psychiatric exam-
iner, Gilmore “went out of his way to get
the death penalty; that’s why he pulled
two execution style murders he was bound
to get caught for.” Gilmore chose to move
from Oregon, a then non-death penalty
state, to Utah, a state with the special
attraction of a firing squad. Finally, to be
immortalized in the only way possible,
he fought lawyers striving to save him.

Allan Dodd, child-killer who was re-
cently hanged at Walla Walla prison in
Washington state, insisted on execution
so he wouldn't sexually attack children.
Two prisoners, James French and one
unidentified inmate at Leavenworth, tried
and failed to get the death penalty once,
and then, when given life terms, killed

ent as State- Assisted Suicide

fellow prisoners for the sole purpose of
being granted state-assisted suicide.

Psychiatrist Solomon, writing in the
American Journal of Orthopsychiatry,
presents two anonymous case histories
where the prospect of capital punishment
precipitated murder. One 20-year-old,
emotionally unstable woman suffocated
two children in her charge. She had to
kill the children, she stated, so she could
do herself in, She couldn't get the nerve
to do it to herself in another way. A
Vietnam veteran felt compelled to en-
gage in a murder-for-hire crime, the only
capital crime in his state. “I"m too much
of a coward to commit suicide,” he ex-
plained.

Diamond, a psychiatric examiner, re-
ports on a patient who committed three
rape-murders and attempted a fourth. His
Mission was suicide. When asked what
he could have done if Califomia had no
capital punishment, he replied, “I would
have had to go to another state where
they did have capital punishment and do
it there.”

Two cases have appeared in the news
recently. One report is of a man fighting
extradition to New York so he can be
executed in Oklahoma. The other is of an
Illinois man, dying from AIDS, who in-
jected a nurse with a contaminated needle
so that he would get the death penalty
and end his suffering.

The attraction of the death penalty is
in taking the act of suicide out of the
hands of the individual. Once the wheels
are set in motion, the death wish will be

realized. As an added incentive, there
is all the publicity, notoriety, and
sympathy which are offered. High
risk-takers are attracted to the drama
and excitement that the risk of death
entails. Some people are attracted to
war the same way.

States with the death penalty on
their books have much higher homi-
cide rates than states without capital
punishment. This may be caused, in
part, by the death penalty’s built-in
incentive to commit murder. Indeed,
execution may kill, but not in the
way intended.

My major argument before the
lowa Legislature was that the
governor's bill to reintroduce the
death penalty should be opposed, and
not on the basis of the monetary cost
but on the basis of the cost in human
life. Unfortunately, [ got through only
the first two of my collection of case
histories only to be told that my time
was up, So the point—just how dan-
gerous it is for the state to engage.in
irrevocable violence, how the pen-
alty itself brings about the very
crimes it was designed to dispel—
was not made as well as it might
have been.

But others will have more time to
make this case, and in a multiplicity
of settings. If the death penalty can
be defined as state-assisted suicide,
then the current clamor for this form
of punishment should be consider-
ably diminished. Q

| Ortober 1993 Frienos JourNat

Bie mon

Frienps Journat October 1993


' Witnesses Are Surprised at

WITNESSES, From B1

Russ Ford, a prison chaplain who
has been in the death chamber with
prisoners during many executions,
including Bunch’s, said, “You see all

kinds of reactions from witnesses.

Some are fascinated. Some are hor-

rified.” , “ht

The group that witnessed
Bunch’s execution on Thursday
night was a typical cross section,
officials said. Criminal justice pro-
fessionals tend to put in the most
applications, followed by politi-
cians. Others come from all walks
of life.

_ In the overwhelming majority of
cases, applicants are men.

“ve been wanting to go for
years,” Chocklett said before he
made the 205-mile trip to Greens-
ville from his home in Wirtz. “One
of my co-workers said I must be in-
sane. I just want to see how it’s
done.”

Bunch, a former Marine ser-
geant from Quantico, admitted
killing Sue Cha Thomas, 40, an ac-
quaintance, on Jan. 31, 1982. Tri-
al testimony showed that he shot
Thomas with a handgun after go-

ing to her apartment in Dale City, ©

supposedly to take her on a dinner

date. After shooting her, testimo-
ny showed, Bunch hanged her by a
scarf from a doorknob while she
was still alive. :

Then he took the victim’s jew-

- elry, liquor and other items, police

"The witnesses Thursday included
Donald L. Cahill, 49, the Prince Wil-
liam County police sergeant who

took Bunch’s statement, as well as
- Cahill’s. former colleague,

Mabie,
also 49. Both said they wanted to

~ see justice done in a crime they viv- ‘s

idly remember. wo,
They also included Michael J.
Nash, 36, a social studies teacher

from Emporia, who lives near the

prison and was curious about the
death house and its operations; Cal-
‘vin Chidester, 40, a supervisor with
the Virginia State Police in Appo-
mattox County who is stadying cap-
ital punishment in pursuit of a mas-
ter’s degree; and Robert C. East,
36, a homicide detective from Hen-
rico County, who wanted to see if,
the electric chair “is as horrible as
people talked about.”

All of them agreed to talk about
the experience before and after-
ward. Only Nash did not’ return

-telephone calls after the execution.

Earlier, the teacher had said, “I’m
not so sure if this is going to be a
frightening. or emotional experi-

-ence.”

The other witnesses said that
Nash was extremely quiet during
the execution, remaining in his seat
while they stood next to the win-
dow.

Bunch’s case made headlines re-
cently after his victim’s family

twice wrote to Gov. L. Douglas Wil-

der, saying they had forgiven Bunch
and wanted his life spared.

Subsequently, Bunch and another
death row inmate unsuccessfully at-
tempted to have the execution vid-
eotaped and Bunch’s mask removed
during the proceeding.

‘Shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday,
Bunch walked into the death cham-
ber at Jarratt and was'strapped into
the chair. He then-delivered a six-
minute speech expressing remorse
for his crime and criticizing society
for neglecting the poor, the elderly
and children. He said he had found
religion and was prepared for eter-
nity. : :

“He tried to cover some things as
quickly as he could talk, how society
wasn’t taking care of children, the
poor and the elderly,” East recalled.
“{ agreed, with him there, and I
thought that was something he said
that was meaningful.” oo

Said Chidester: “He was nervous

Death Chamber Scene

i owe As long as he could convince
them he could talk, he had a few
more seconds.”

Mabie said he was “pleased he
apparently had made peace with his"
maker,” but his former colleague,
Cahill, remained skeptical.

“’m sure that if the governor
commuted his sentence, he
have lost God immediately,” Cahill :

. said.

Mabie and the others interviewed "
afterward said they remained” ¢on- -
vinced that the death penalty San’,

appropriate response to especially —

violent crimes. ce
Said Mabie: “I’m sorry for what
he did. I’m sorry this whole process |
had to be enacted. I’m sorry he took _
the lady’s life. But the old saying .
was never more true: You can for |
give the sinner; you cannot forgive .
the sin.” eo <a
Cahill said that after viewing the ~
execution, “there is no doubt in my
mind it would be a deterrent to any=°
one who ever witnessed it. The ime‘
pact is absolutely unbelievable.” *:-!

wd

eS

Lawyers push suit to tape executions

:. Associated Press
: RICHMOND — Two of Rich-

: mond’s largest law firms will pursue |

‘a class-action suit Seeking to estab-
lish that executions in Virginia are
: cruel and unusual punishment —
, and whether an execution can be
' videotaped in an attempt to prove
i the point. . ) ,

 & Boothe — will pursue the class-

f

action suit filed Thursday afternoon

; on behalf of all death-row inmates,
Alexander H. Slaughter of McGuire -

| Woods said Friday. They said they
:,would seek to videotape other exe-
: cutions. :

;_ The lead attorneys, Slaughter and
Lewis F. Powell II of Hunton &
Williams, filed the suit in the name
: of inmate Syvasky L. Poyner.

; Slaughter said similar suits have

; been filed unsuccessfully in other

LSA ADL WEE SUAS TCIM

The plaintiffs sought an

order from U.S. District 2

Judge Robert R. Merhige
Jr. allowing a videotape

night of Timothy Dale —
- Bunch.

States, but “we think when we de-
velop evidence at. trial, we might
well succeed.” _

As part of their effort to develop
that evidence, Slaughter and Powell
sought an order from US. District
Judge Robert R. Merhige Jr. allow-
ing a videotape of the execution
Thursday of Timothy Dale Zanch.
Bunch had consented | aving

meme © Zeemee aemeremeceee eee conan mer amen so sear

| | ___ of the execution Thursday -
:_ The law firms — Hunton & Wil- |
liams and McGuire, Woods, Battle ©

we
aa

his electrocution videotaped without
the death mask traditionally used in
executions.

Summarizing the statement, Mer-
hige said it “paints a most grue-

: some picture” of electrocution,
Which. it described as “intensely .

painful (with) third- and fourth-de-
gree burns” and death that is, “nev-
er instantaneous,” |

Merhige granted the last-minute

request.

_,_ But a three-judge 4th U.S. Circuit.

Court of Appeals panel granted a

petition by the attorney general’s of.”

fice to reverse Merhige’s ruling.

Bunch was. executed as_ sched-
uled for the 1982 murder and rob-
bery of his girlfriend in Dale City.

No execution date has been set

for. Poyner, who was , given five
death sentences for the murder of

five Peninsula women during an 11- ©

day rampage in early 1984. =»

“San RENN Sesame Reeser:

-

The lovely Korean lay dead, _ ‘
her body tied to a doorknob while |

mires

HE KILLER CLIMAXED -
HIS GRIME WITH —
WEIRD FANTASIES! —

by MARTIN KRAFT

Special Investigator for OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES t : :

wasn’t much of a Christmas. The

love affair with a GI which had
brought her to the United States from her
native Korea was over. On the holiday
eve her husband of a dozen years, now a
captain in the military, moved out of
their Dale City, Virginia, apartment.
The new year promised to be the lone-
liest she had known.

‘She complained to me, ‘I want to
die,’ ’’a relative would recall. ‘‘I know
she didn’t want to die.’’

Instead, Su Cha Thomas picked up the
shreds of her tattered dream and began
car-pooling to work at the Electro-
chemical Division of the Mobility Elec-
tronics Research and Development
Command at Fort Belvoir. Still attrac-
tive as her 40th birthday drew near, she
usually kept to herself when not on the
job. The fastidiously kept apartment on
the 4400 block of Dale Boulevard was
the focal point of her new life. From time
to time there was a romantic liaison with
a young soldier stationed at the nearby
Quantico Marine Corps Base.

Early in the winter of 1981, a year
after the break-up of her marriage, Su
Cha Thomas seemed fully recovered
from her unhappiness. The duplex apart-
ment was decorated with Christmas
ornaments. A tinsel sign proclaiming a
Happy New Year rested on the television
in the living room.

On Saturday afternoon, January 30,
1982, Su Cha Thomas drove some rela-
tives to the airport and then returned to
Dale City. None of the neighbors would

18 Official Detective

iz OR LOVELY Su Cha Thomas, it

. a

c=

remember seeing her on Sunday. Nor did
she show up for work on Monday, Febru-

ary Ist. When, for a second day in a row -

she did not come to Fort Belvoir or phone
in to explain her uncharacteristic abs-
ence, her co-workers grew concerned.
One of them, who was related to her
ex-husband, was asked to investigate.
When she went to the usually ‘‘im-
maculate’’ apartment early that after-
noon, the woman found the front door
locked. The kitchen door, was not,
however, and she looked around .the
room. On the table, two cups of coffee
stood beside Su Cha’s purse. More dis-
turbing were a number of papers that had
been strewn about the place. More dis-
turbing were a number of drawers that
had been pulled out of bureaus and a great
number of papers that had been strewn
about the residence. The apartment was

. almost unbearably warm; the thermostat

had been pushed nearly all the way to
the right.

“I kept calling Su, Su,’’’ the woman
would remember, ‘‘but I got no answer. I
went to check downstairs and then I got
deathly scared. I started to shake.’’

Rather than pursue the investigation on
her own, she ran upstairs and dialed
Prince William County, Virginia, police.

It was nearly 3:00 when Investigator
David Lagerveld joined uniformed offic-
ers at the apartment. Hurrying to the low-
er level, he found Su Cha Thomas

sprawled on the floor of the downstairs,

hallway.
‘‘She was lying on her back, but her
head and shoulders were raised off the

LCA cH i) Dat oleo te

ground,’’ Lagerveld reported. “She —

was hanging from a doorknob by a white
and gold scarf tied around her neck.”’

When a hasty examination of the body | .

turned up no sign of trauma and no in-
dication of forced entry was found in the
apartment, the woman’s death was listed
as ‘‘unattended’’ pending autopsy.
Veteran lawmen had little doubt as. to
what the official ruling would be.. From
the evidence on hand it appeared obvious
that the Korean immigrant, still despon-
dent over the ruin of her manele had
hanged herself.

The following day, Deputy Chief
Medical Examiner James C. Beyer be-
gan the postmortem examination. As he
routinely opened the skull, the patholog-
ist was amazed to find two bullet frag-
ments in the left hemisphere of the brain.
On further examination, a tiny gunshot
wound was found above the left ear.

It was Dr. Beyer’s opinion that the

wound would not have caused immedi-
ate death.

‘*The victim could ‘have lived one or
two hours,’’ he said.

Dr. Beyer told police that although Su

Cha Thomas had been shot, she was .

probably unconscious at the time. If she

had been hanged after being shot,’she _

would have lived no more than five to.ten
minutes.
' The official cause of death was listed
as a gunshot wound to the head and
asphyxiation by hanging.

In the wake of the unanticipated rul-
ing, Prince William County detectives

returned to the Dale Boulevard apart-

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NOW! .


Execution Witnesses Are
W tohvndton Poot JO-

By Bit Miller

Washington Poat Staff Writer

Staring through a glass window, a group
of citizens silently watched Timothy Dale
Bunch die the other night in Virginia’s elec-
tric chair, looking on as four surges of elec-
tricity coursed through his body for a total
of three minutes.

A schoolteacher, a truck driver, a court
clerk and three police officers all saw
Bunch’s muscles tense and his hands grip
the chair. They saw the parts of his face not
covered by a leather mask, his forehead and
chin, turn red and smoke rise from his right
leg near the electrode.

“AQ
‘3 ine watched as a doctor opened Bunch’s
shirt and declared him dead.

And later the consensus of the six, chosen
from a pool of Virginians who have volun-
teered to witness executions, was that they
would be willing to see an execution again.

“It looked like a quick job. It was fascinat-
ing to see,” said truck driver George Chock-
lett, 58, who supports capital punishment,
as do the others who saw the execution at
the Greensville Correctional Center in Jar-
ratt. “You see movies and hear people say
how they reacted, jerking, the pain, and
fighting to go to the chair. But shoot, this
was clockwork,”

“All of us had envisioned perhaps some-

Surprised al What They Den’t See

one receiving all this electrical current and
still being alive and protesting,” said Prince
William Clerk of Courts David Mabie, who
as a police officer 10 years ago investigated
the Bunch case. “There was none of that. It
was a lot less gruesome than I thought it
would be.”

Under state law, sit'members of the pub-
lic are selected to witness each execution as
representatives of ordinary Virginians, Oth-
er witnesses include several members of
the media, defense attorneys, ministers and
state officials. ;

When Virginia resumed executions in
1982, there were hundreds of residents
who applied to he witnesses. Lately, public

interest has waned—perhaps, corrections
officials said, hecause executions no longer
are a novelty in Virginia. Bunch, 33, sen-
tenced for killing and robbing a Dale City
woman in 1982, was the ninth prisoner to
be electrocuted since 1990.

“We don't solicit. People call or write to
Greensville,” said Ed Morris, deputy director
of the Virginia Department of Corrections.

. “We screen out people who might be related
to the inmate or: the victim, or anyone who
might have some reason to be there other
than as a dispassionate witness .... Mainly
what you see is a lot of . . . really curious peo-
ple.”

See WITNESSES, B2, Col. 3

Witnesses

WITNESSES, From B1

Wayne Brown, operations officer
at Jarratt, said he has about 35 ap-
plications on file. He said he tries to
select a cross section based on
place of residence, educational
background, occupation and moti-
vation,

Russ Ford, a prison chaplain who
has been in the death chamber with
prisoners during many executions,
including Bunch’s, said, “You see all
kinds of reactions from witnesses.
Some are fascinated. Some are hor-
tified.”

The group that witnessed
Bunch’s execution on Thursday
night was a typical cross section,
Officials said. Criminal justice pro-
fessionals tend to put in the most
applications, followed by politi-
cians. Others come from all walks
of life.

In the overwhelming majority of
cases, applicants are men.

“I've been wanting to go for
years,” Chocklett said before he
made the 205-mile trip to Greens-
ville from his home in Wirtz. “One
of my co-workers said | must be in-
sane. I just want to see how it’s
done.”

Bunch, a former Marine ser-

geant from Quantico, admitted.

killing Sue Cha Thomas, 40, an ac-
quaintance, on Jan. 31, 1982. Tri-
al testimony showed that he shot
Thomas with a handgun after go-
ing to her apartment in Dale City,
supposedly to take her on a dinner

date. After shooting her, testimo-

ny showed, Bunch hanged her bya.

scarf from a doorknob while she
was still alive,

Then he took the victim's jew-
elry, liquor and other items, police
said.

The witnesses Thursday included
Donald L. Cahill, 49, the Prince Wil-
liam County police sergeant who
took Bunch’s statement, as well as
Cahill’s former colleague, Mabie,
also 49. Both-said they wanted to
see justice done in a crime they viv-
idly remember, ~

They also included Michael J.
Nash, 36, a social studies teacher
from Emporia, who lives near the
prison and was curious ahout the
death house and its operations; Cal-
vin Chidester, 40, a supervisor with
the Virginia State Police in Appo-
mattox County who is studying cap-
ital punishment in pursuit of a mas-
ter’s degree; and Robert C. East,
36, a homicide detective from Hen-
tico County, who wanted to see if
the electric chair “is as horrible as
people talked about.”

All of them agreed to talk about
the experience before and after-
ward. Only Nash did not return
telephone calls after the execution.
Earlier, the teacher had said, “I'm
not so sure if this is going to be a
frightening or emotional experi-
ence.”

The other witnesses said that
Nash was extremely quiet during
the execution, remaining in his seat
while they stood next to the win-
dow.

Bunch’s case made headlines re-
cently after his victim’s family
twice wrote to Gov. L. Douglas Wil-
der, saying they had forgiven Bunch
and wanted his life spared.

Subsequently, Bunch and another
death row inmate unsuccessfully at-
tempted to have the execution vid-
eotaped and Bunch’s mask removed
during the proceeding,

Shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday,
Bunch walked into the death cham-
ber at Jarratt and was strapped into
the chair. He then delivered a six-
minute speech expressing remorse
for his crime and criticizing society
for neglecting the poor, the elderly
and children, He said he had found
religion and was prepared for eter-
nity. °

“Ile tried to cover some things as
quickly as he could talk, how society
wasn’t taking care of children, the
poor and the elderly,” East recalled.
“l agreed with him there, and I
thought that was something he said
that was meaningful.”

Said Chidester: “He was nervous

Are Surprised at Death Chamber Scene

.... As long as he could convince
them he could talk, he had a few
more seconds.”

Mabie said he was “pleased he
apparently had made peace with his
maker,” but his former colleague,
Cahill, remained skeptical.

“I’m sure that if the governor
commuted his sentence, he would
have lost God immediately,” Cahill
said.

Mabie and the others interviewed
afterward said they remained con-
vinced that the death penalty is an
appropriate response to especially
violent crimes.

Said Mabie: “I’m sorry for what
he did. I’m sorry this whole process
had to be enacted. I’m sorry he took
the lady’s life. But the old saying
was never more true: You can for-
give the sinner; you cannot forgive
the sin.”

Cahill said that after viewing the
execution, “there is no doubt in my
mind it would be a deterrent to any-
one who ever witnessed it. The im-
pact is absolutely unbelievable.”

WASHINGTOV fosr-

SQN.

(2-13-92

By Robert Davis
USA TODAY

Convicted killer Timothy
Dale Bunch will be strapped
into Virginia’s electric chair to-
night — unless efforts by un-
likely allies prove :
successful.

The family of
the woman Bunch
shot — _ then
hanged. with her
own scarf on a -
doorknob a dec-
ade ago — is beg:
ging Gov. Douglas
Wilder for mercy..

“When he killed
my sister, they

no heart,’’ says

‘ Tong Yun Yi, a San Jose, Calif.,

grocer. “Ten years later, he’s

still in jail. That’s enough.
“He’s got a brand new brain

and a brand new heart. Every-

thing is beginning again. We

forget it. The electric chair is
too bad.”
Bunch, in 1982 a Marine ser-
geant, murdered girlfriend Su
Cha Thomas, 40, in her Dale
City, Va., home. aor
Appeals ran out in Septem-
ber, and Wilder
has refused to
grant clemency.
Execution is set
for 11 p.m. ET.
“The bottom
line is you still
have to look at the
circumstances of
the case,” Wilder
spokeswoman Lisa
wh - Katz says. She says

Se stomac News via AP._ letters from the Yi
were both too BUNCH: Sentenced . family “will go into
young — no brain, for 1982 murder

the file” with more
than 400 pleas.
Because of Wilder’s stance,

“My .mom cried last night

again,” Yi says.
William ‘Bowers, whose 20
years of research on death

penalty issues has led to two

ca and Legal Homicide — says

victims’ families “very sel-

dom” ask for clemency.

“It’s extraordinary to hear”

them making that request,” he
says. “It should be an impor-
tant influence.” a

But because Wilder already —

has commuted two executions
— allowing eight others since
he took office in January 1990
— “it gets harder to do that
again,” Bowers Says.

_ “There’s a certain political
credit,” he says. “He may have
used all of his chips.” =

Bunch says that by confess-|
‘ing he was sexually gratified by

the crime, he “was committing
legal suicide but leaving the
door open for an insanity de-
fense. I was 22, a young Marine
sergeant who didn’t know jack
bone about. anything.”

“T wanted to be executed,” .

he says. “Death before dishon-
or — that’s what Marines do.”
But today, scheduled to be

By Fred Mertz

‘EXTRAORDINARY’ APPEAL: Tong Yun Yi, left, and son Peter
want Timothy Dale Bunch’s death sentence commuted.

. his last, he wants to live.
“I’m going to have hope,

even when I’m strapped in the
chair,” he says,

Bunch says that if he dies at
Greensville Correctional Cen-
ter in Jarratt, Va., he leaves
with a gift from the Yi family.

“They set.me free,” he says.
“Tt’s so wonderful to have been
forgiven like that.”

If the family has forgiven
Bunch, others have not. Six

have written Wilder supporting
the execution — including
Thomas’ ex-husband. They
were divorced when she died.

And Yi, who traveled to Vir-
ginia to attend a rally last
weekend urging clemency,
says he’s sure his sister does
not forgive Bunch either.

Yi visited her grave for the
first time since her, funeral:
“She still does not like Mr.
Bunch. I know she doesn’t.”

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countered

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i Chris because

t

he was jealous of him, not because his
mother urged*him to.
He emphasized to the jurors that

Christen’s own father, Ed Hobson, be-
lieved his wife had nothing to do with the

murder and called him the ‘“‘living vic-
itim’’ of the case. .
‘‘He says to you, ‘She did not arrange

for the. murder of my son.’ Ed and
. Suzanne aré here seeking the return of a

wife and a:mother. Please let them go

But, after 13 hours of deliberation, the

-away together.”’

_ jury returned to the courtroom with a

verdict of guilty. In a hushed silence
broken only by the reading of the verdict,
Mrs. Hobson showed no emotion. But
she broke into tears as she was taken from

the courtroom by sheriff’s deputies.

After the courtroom cleared Moore
said, ‘‘I feel it was a just verdict.”

‘On July 7th, Judge Jones sentenced

Mrs. Hobson to life imprisonment for
having her stepson killed. He imposed an
additional five to 15 years on a second

count for conspiring with the two young
killers to murder Christen.

Judge Jones refused to release Mrs.
Hobson on an appeal bond because, he
said, he did not believe she was a good
bond risk.

‘“‘The court does not consider her a
reliable person,”’ the judge said. The
court’s action meant the defendant would
remain behind bars in the state penitenti-
ary while her appeal was being processed
in the higher courts.

On September 2, 1982, Judge Jones
ruled that Mrs. Hobson was indigent
and lacked funds with which to pay her

-Jawyer to pursue the appeal. This meant

the state would pay all fees relating to the
appeal, the judge said.

On December 4, 1982, the Kansas
Supreme Court upheld James Crumm’s
conviction and ‘sentence. He is serving
the term in the state reformatory in
Hutchinson, Kansas. It is expected to be
several months before the Supreme Court
hears Sueanne Hobson’s appeal.

Killer Climaxed His

The young man felt a sinking feeling in

- his stomach when he learned of the grue-
~ some crime. After saying good-bye to

his uncle, he scrounged around for a
local newspaper a few days out of date.
The grim account of the slaying dictated

+ his next-move.

To Prince William homicide probers

’ the young man explained that he be-

lieved he could name a likely suspect in
the ongoing murder investigation.

“Who is it?’’ detective asked.

It was a friend, he explained, Timothy
Dale Bunch, a 22-year-old Marine Corps
sergeant from Madison, Indiana.

‘**Why him?”’ cam

On January 31st, one day after Su Cha
Thomas, last was séen alive, Timothy
Bunch had come to his house with three
bottles of liquor. Because the young
Marine was chronically short of cash, he
had asked him whereshe had come up

with the, wherewithal for such a lavish

purchase. Bunch, he recalled, had said
that he made the buy on the base at Quan-
tico for $24. .

The witness, who was employed at a

“Virginia Alcohol: Beverage Control

store, knew that his friend was lying. He
also knew that Bunch was the owner ofa
22-caliber ‘Beretta. Only recently, he
remembered, Bunch has asked him if a

- bullet fired from such a weapon could

pierce a human skull, and if the shot

Crime...

(from page 20)

would make much noise. More alarm-

ing, Bunch had not,made a secret of the

fact that he had been carrying on a sexual
relationship with Su Cha for the past
month. Just three days before her death,
he had commented’ that, ‘‘Someone
should knock that bitch off for her jewel-
ry.”’ Bunch was in such tight financial
straits at the time that he had mentioned
sticking up a fast food outlet for some
**quick cash.”’

Acting on the dictates of his conscien-
ce, the witness had asked Bunch to show
him the Beretta. A part-time gunsmith,
he recognized the fresh smell of gun-
powder in the barrel and the residue of

‘ nitrate in the chamber. When he asked

the Marine if he had fired the weapon
recently, Bunch said that he had been
using it to plink at road signs. The matter
was quickly dropped.

Prince William County police did not
let the promising lead slip away from
them. Inquiries directed at Madison, In-
diana, Bunch’s home town, revealed
that the Marine recently had mailed a
package to his mother. A Tuesday,
February 16th, search of Bunch’s home

by Prince William Investigator Harvey .
Bland produced the Beretta and a string -

of jewels which was identified as the
property of Su Cha Thomas. Police
already had recovered the slain woman’s
Rolex watch, which had been sold to an

Arlington, Virginia, pawnbroker on
February 2nd, by a man identified as
Bunch. The watch had been seized by
Arlington County police when a standard
pawnshop and second-hand store report
was filed with them.

With the noose inexorably tightening
around Sergeant Bunch’s own neck,
homicide probers felt the time was right
to make an arrest. Only one obstacle
stood in their way—the Pacific Ocean.
Just days after the slaying, Timothy
Dale Bunch had been shipped back to
Japan, where he was on active duty at the

United States Marine Air base at Iwa-

kuni.

Acting on a request from authorities in
Viriginia, military police took Bunch
into custody on February 16th. A search
of his possessions turned. up a diamond
ring reported missing from the apartment
of Su Cha Thomas. On Sunday, February
21st, Bunch was returned to the United
States and locked up in the Prince Wil-
liam County Jail on charges of murder,
armed robbery and two counts of using a
firearm during the commission of a
felony. Bond of $160,000 was set on the
capital charge.

Three months later, in May, Bunch’s
attorney requested that his client receive
a mental evaluation at the University of
Virginia Psychiatric Center at Charlottes-
ville. Counsel also issued a notice of in-
tent to pursue an insanity defense.

On Monday, August 9th, as Bunch’s
trial was getting underway in Circuit
Court in Manassas, Chief Judge Percy
Thornton Jr. ruled that a confession
allegedly made to County Police Investi-
gator Donald Cahill as the defendant was
being transported from Quantico would
be allowed into evidence. Judge Thorn-
ton said that after being advised of his
right to remain silent Bunch voluntarily
had waived that right when he made a
statement at the Garfield police substa-
tion. At a pre-trial hearing, it was noted,
Bunch had said that he agreed to make the
statement because he felt ‘‘self-
destructive’’ and requested the maximum
punishment for the capital murder
charge.

Following selection of a ten-man, two-
woman jury, Commonwealth Attorney
Paul B. Ebert said that Bunch had *‘ex-
pressed a desire for money’’ in the days
before the killing. Defense counsel re-
minded the panelists that every story had
two sides and that his client would take
the stand to provide another perspective
on his. Although Bunch would admit
shooting Su Cha Thomas, he would ex-
plain the circumstances fully. At no
time, the lawyer said, did his client in-

Official Detective 51


tend to rob the Korean-born woman.

Among the first witnesses called by
the prosecution was a handwriting
analyst who claimed to have linked
Bunch to the Arlington pawnshop
through a comparison of his signature on
the two Miranda warning forms he had
had signed after his arrest and on palm-
print and fingerprint cards.

On Tuesday, the Triangle resident
who had fingered Bunch to the police
testified that on the Friday before the
slaying the defendant had told him that
he ‘‘needed money, needed it bad and
needed it quick.’’ The night before,
Bunch purportedly had been rolled for
$300 by a favorite prostitute in Wash-
ington, D.C., and was out of cash.

‘* ‘What I ought to do,’ ’’ Bunch re-
portedly told his friend, ‘‘ ‘is go up to
Dale City and knock that bitch off for her
rings. > 99

On the morning he left for Japan,
Bunch allegedly had asked the witness,
‘** ‘Do you reckon you’d bump some-
body off for $15,000?

The most damaging testimony against
Bunch came from Prince William Coun-
ty Police Investigator Cahill, the pro-
secution’s final witness, who said that
the defendant told him that he had made
up his mind to slay Su Cha Thomas a few
days before the shooting, because “he
wanted to kill someone.

He stated he killed her because she
was a slut and he wanted her money,”’
Cahill testified.

Bunch, Cahill said, told him that he
‘*felt real good when he shot’’ Mrs. Tho-
mas, so good that ‘‘he actually had sex-
ual orgasm.’’ Bunch felt so high after the
killing, that he turned on the stereo to
savor the experience.

‘*He felt like he was up in the air,”’
Cahill testified. ‘‘He sat around and
drank more wine and just sat down and
figured out what he was going to do
next.’’

When Cahill had asked why he
hanged Su Cha Thomas from the door-
knob, Bunch allegedly replied that he
‘just wanted to make sure she was dead,
although he knew that she was.”’

On Tuesday, Timothy Dale Bunch
took the stand in his own defense to
outline the events leading up to the kill-
ing. In four hours of testimony, Bunch
recounted how he had gone to the Tho-
mas apartment early on the afternoon of
January 31st, following a night on the
town in Washington, D.C., during
which he had been rolled by the same
prostitute who had cleaned him out on an
earlier visit.

That morning, Bunch recalled, he had

§2 Official Detective

awakened in the parking lot of the

Springield Mall shopping center.
Although insisting that he hadn’t needed
the money, he attempted to sell one of
his rings, one he claimed was ‘‘bad
luck,’’ for $900. Unable to find a buyer,
his thoughts turned to Su Cha Thomas.
For a few days, until she asked him to
move out because she did not enjoy pick-
ing up after him, he had shared the
woman’s apartment. They remained
friends, however, and dated regularly.
When he called, Bunch said, she invited
him over.

According to Bunch, the pair had sex
before he left the apartment because Su

Cha was expecting a 3:30 blind date. As.

he went out the door, the woman told
him that she would get rid of her date
quickly and ‘asked him to phone her
again. .

Bunch told the court that when he cal-
led back, Su Cha invited him to the
apartment for a second time that day.
Although he had too little money and too
much pride to ask to borrow some, he
invited Su Cha to dinner at a restaurant.
* Su Cha dressed quickly and soon be-
gan asking when they would go out to
eat, Bunch said. To stall her, he sug-
gested a game of hide and seek, which
ended when shé finally found him in the
downstairs bathroom.

‘*She said, ‘Let’s go,’ ’’ Bunch recal-
led, ‘‘and walked out of the bathroom.
At that point, I had to tell her I didn’t
have the money.’

Rather than make the embarrassing
admission, Bunch said, he followed the
woman out of the bathroom and shot her.

‘*I didn’t have enough money to take
her out,’’ he explained, ‘‘and I didn’t
have enough guts to ask her for the
money.””

When Su Cha Thomas collapsed on

the floor, Bunch was left with a feeling

juana had a sar ihnueneees ‘
his livestock, 20, he c teste eo

pounds of the weed toa Wyoming:
horse owner—who mined out to be.
a police informant, '

of “total disarray.’ He returned to the

bathtoom and thought about “putting.
the gun to my own head.’’;:,

Instead, ‘‘I tried to write off the whole
situation as a fantasy of some sort; like I °
was James Bond and I had just shot a.
secret agent.’’ He added that he ‘‘may
have’’ told police he felt euphoric after
the killing.

Bunch said that he spent the next hour,’
wandering aimlessly about the duplex as

ie

up his mind about what to do. Ee

“I was: expecting her to get up like
nothing had happened,”’ he testified. *‘It
was like a nightmare that wouldn’t BO:
away.’

After attempting to make the entire
episode seem like a fantasy, or a movie,
Bunch continued, he tore the apartment
apart as if he were ‘‘looking for ‘secret
documents.’’ Finally, he decided to _
make the incident appear to have been a
robbery-slaying. —

Bunch told the court that ‘after stelp.:

ping the Rolex watch and a gold chain .~

and diamond ring fro the body, he
looped a scarf around the dead woman’s ~
neck and hanged her from the doorknob.
Bunch added that he was Certain the —
woman was dead at the time. He had
hanged her, he explained, ‘*I guess to
make it look like she’d come in the house
and found everything in disarray and

‘possibly committed suicide.’’

Not satisfying himself with the watch
and jewelry, he also took a pen, some
tape, a stapler, staples, three bottles of
liquor and a stting of pearls from the.
apartment. Asked why he had taken the
stapler, he answered, ‘‘To staple things .
with.’’ He said that he took the tape be-
cause he liked the way it looked. .

After arriving in Japan, the.defendant
continued, he mailed the pearls and his
gun to his mother in Indiana inside a box

‘of chocolate-covered cherries. ‘In the .

accompanying letter he wrote, ‘‘I hope |

¢

he listened to the stereo, trying to make’ tes

my package arrived safely. Did ‘you like \.

what was in the hankie?”’. -«.
Although contending that he had left a.
trail of clues for the police to follow,
Bunch acknowledged that he wiped his
fingerprints from a number of items in the

‘ apartment. Asked why, he: answered,
. “It’s what they do’on TV.’’

When he was questioned as to why he

had. sold the woman’s watch at a pawn- ~ :

shop rather than disposing of it through a
fence,. Bunch replied, ‘‘I knew I was-
leaving a trail of sorts. I was giving the
authorities the best possible chance of
catching me. I felt like I should be |
caught.’”

In his final argument to the jury on

\

Wednesday

~~ Assistant Cor

~~. liam Hamblen

~ tion that

unnatura

she died at tn
‘*His strateg

was to admit t

«deny what he

*-. rest.’’ His act

oe

slaying ‘‘give
calculated.”
Hamblen ric

he had left clu
and said, “He

then, no more

~ victed now.”

- Defense c:
Bunch’s role
tained -that:a
than capital

~ degree murde
- sentence of lif

during murde
der, he said, |

-Cha Thomas.

‘*He took t!

“but he did

intend to rob
In begging 1

attorney. said

fused, frustrat

as a sad spect:

At 1:10 on
ter little more!
tion, the jury f
guilty of mw
voted that he b

: seldom: waad o

wa..
I'v

te $-s
' to the jury th

$100,000 inst

* the. sculptor

$20,000 of th:

“he would kee:
~ policy was pe
_ time Miller

.brought out ir

’ Thus it app:
motive to kill ‘
to.be Simon a
_ At the. time
doing time in)
ing uncut di:
States.

_ When asked

. tually brought

the murders,

- than once, .“‘N

The most di


ment. A check of the slain woman’s pos-
sessions indicated that a watch and some
jewelry were missing. Apparently, the
killer had also rifled the victim’s purse.

The death slugs were transported to
the Northern Virginia Forensic Science
Laboratory, where ballistics examina-
tions indicated that they were of .22-
caliber. Because they were mutilated on
impact, it was impossible to determine
the make of the weapon from which they
had been fired.

Su Cha Thomas’ relatives were bitter
over the mistake police had made during

the earliest stages of the investigation. '

After they searched the apartment on
Tuesday and concluded that the woman
had killed herself, detectives had told the
family not to worry about touching what
appeared to be evidence.

‘“They got a big mistake,”’ a relative
said. *‘Now again they say, ‘Don’t
touch, don’t touch.’ But we already
touch.”’ .

On Thursday, February 4th, Prince
William police went back to the apart-
ment to search for clues.

“What we want most to find,’ said

hi

one, “‘is the death weapon, But I’m not-
optimistic we’re going to get it. I don’t
think we'd have overlooked it the other -
day, even though we did believe the case
was .a suicide,”’ wey. Be
The murder of Su Cha Thomas ‘was
the main topic of conversation in north-
ern Virginia’s vast military community
that week. Fora resident of Triangle, on
the fringes of the vast Quantico Marine
base, the news did not hit home for five
days, however, until the matter came up
casually in a phone call from his uncle:

(Continued on page 51 )

r

Potomac News Photo by Clifford Owen

failed to show up at her job. She was found in her home,

20 Official Detective

Timothy Bunch, 22, became chief suspect in the murder of 40-year-old Su Cha Thomas, a Korean war bride, who had

hanging by the neck from a doorknob, two bullets in her head

—

fis . all

-

Medic:
is an extra
Gould anc
médical a
historical.
digious, p
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bizarre. Yc
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tographed |

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description:
death! And
set of photo
dreds like:

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returned to the —

bout ‘‘putting. «—

-e off the whole
ome sort; like I
nad just shot a.
| that he ‘‘may
: euphoric after

nt the next hour, '

utthe duplex as.

trying to make“. “HR

to do. ° Seed

to get up like =
he testified: “‘It
at wouldn’t go:

fi
nake the entire”
isy, Or a movie, » °
e the apartment
dking for secret
he decided to .
r to have been a

after strip--

gold chain . i”

a the body, he

2 dead woman’s
n the doorknob.
was certain the
e time. He had
2d, “‘I guess to
ome in the house
in disarray and
ide.”

f with the watch
ok a pen, some .
three bottles of
pearls from the.
he had taken the
To staple things .
took the tape be-

it looked.
in, the.defendant
1e pearls and his
liana inside a box
cherries. ‘In the .
: wrote, ‘“I hope
ely. Did you like |
y? :
that he had left a
police to follow,
that he wiped his
iber of items in the
“\y, he answered,
TV.”
oned as to why he
. watch at a pawn- | *
ing of itthrougha*
“T knew I was: _
as giving the
le chance of
like I should be |

sant to the jury on

Wednesday morning, August 11th,

’ Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Wil-

liam Hamblen said, ‘*There is no ques-

- tion that Mrs. Thomas died a brutal and

unnatural death. And there’s no question
she died at the hands ofthat. man.

‘‘His strategy, when he took the stand,
was to admit to what he had to admit to,

- deny what he had to deny and evade the

rest.”” His actions before and after the
slaying ‘‘give new meaning to the word
calculated.”’
Hamblen ridiculed Bunch’s claim that
he had leftclues for the police to follow

: ' and said, ‘‘He didn’t want to get caught

then, no more than he wants to be con-

* victed now.”’

- Defense counsel did not dispute
Bunch’s.role in the killing, but main-
tained that:a more appropriate charge
than capital murder would be first-'

‘ @egree murder, carrying a maximum
- sentence of life imprisonment. Robbery

during murder constitutes capital mur-
der, he said, but Bunch did not rob Su

-Cha Thomas.

‘‘He took things,”’ the attorney said,
“but he did not rob her. He did not

intend to rob her.””

In begging for mercy for his client, the
attorney, said that Bunch was a ‘‘con-
fused, frustrated’’ man who ‘‘strikes me
as a sad spectacle, a lonely individual.’’

At 1:10 on Wednesday afternoon, af-
ter little more than two hours of delibera-
tion, the jury found Timothy Dale Bunch
guilty of murder. At 6:00,) the. panel
voted that he be put to death in Virginia’s

' geldom-used electric chair. The decision

came just 19 hours after the Common-
wealth had put to death its first prisoner
jin 20 years.

Judge Thornton, as required by law,
ordered a pre-sentencing report to be
readied. On Thursday morning, Novem-
ber 12th, explaining that his decision had
come only after much prayer and deli-
beration, the jurist formally sentenced
Bunch to death.

‘“‘The court is aware that all death

. penalties in this state will be reviewed by

the seven justices of the Virginia Sup-
reme court,”’ he said. ‘‘In view of all
this, Mr. Bunch, this court will not inter-
fere with the jury’s verdict.”’

The following morning, Bunch was
back in court to be sentenced to an addi-
tional life term for robbery and three
years more for the use of a firearm.
Judge Herman A. Whisenant Jr. ordered
that the sentences run concurrently.

Immediately afterward, Bunch was
placed inside a Virginia state police
cruiser for the long ride to Death Row in
Richmond. Accompanying him on the
trip was a reporter for a Dale City news-
paper.

_ *Actually,’’ Bunch told the news-
man, ‘‘I was kind of worried I wouldn’t

get it. If I got life, then I’d just be a

regular person. What I’ve got now, the .

Big D (the death penalty), makes me
more of an individual—that’s statistical-
ly speaking, of course.

- “I’m optimistic,” he added. *‘I’ve
got to be. I’m hoping for a mistrial. Do
you think I should write the President?’’

kk.

4

to the jury that. Delbert Simon held a
$100,000 insurance policy on the life of
the sculptor and that he paid Miller
$20,000 of that money for the hit while
he would keep the remainder when the
policy was paid off. This was the first
time Miller’s alleged motive was
brought out in open court.

‘ Thus it appeared that if anyone had a
motive to kill Schoeman it would appear
to be Simon and his hired gun, Miller.
_ At the time of the trial, Simon was
doing time in Federal prison for import-
ing uncut diamonds into the United
States. °

_ When asked if Simon would be even-
tually brought to trial in connection with
the murders, Sneddon repeated more

- than once,.‘‘No comment.”’

The most damning testimony for the

“I'm Going to Die, Aren't [2° trom page 33)

defense came from Emily Hester of Gig
Harbor, Wash., who testified that Miller
allegedly told how he had committed the

_murders and that she incorporated those

details in a book she was writing about
Miller—a non-fiction novel, she called
it.

_ It was Hester who revealed the allega-
tion that Miller-was in effect the hit man
who had contracted to kill Schoeman.
Moll and Roberts were murdered simply
because they happened to be in the wrong
place at the wrong time and a relationship
with a marked man.

According to Church, Miller frankly
told her that he ‘‘executed an artist by the
name of Schoeman and also ‘‘took out’’
two others. She said that Miller told her
he was supposed to get $20,000 for the
job. Her testimony also included a taped

conversation she had with Miller in the
Santa Barbara county jail in which he
reportedly told her, ‘‘We can make
money no matter how this trial goes,”’
meaning from the book she was writing.

The testimony, of Hester also brought
out details of the murders of Cornelius
Moll and Kimberly Roberts.

Her testimony as told to her by Miller
went something like this:

Miller allegedly told her on their way
to Santa Barbara Jan. 9, 1981, shortly
after the murders, that after a ‘‘business
meeting”’ in Schoeman’s gallery in Sol-
vang, on Jan. 6th Miller said he pre-
tended to be car sick on the way back to
Santa Barbara. He persuaded Schoeman
to pull off on the shoulder on Highway
154. She said Miller told her he staggered
around pretending to be retching.

At this point, Hester told the court,
Miller told her he got back in the car and
immediately shot Moll. Miller told Hes-
ter, ‘‘Schoeman fell apart. He was beg-
ging and pleading on his knees before
Miller shot him.”’

Hester said Miller told her, ‘‘That
greedy little sucker deserved it.”’

She said Miller told her he went back
to the motel to change his clothes and
then he went to Schoeman’s house,
where he was admitted by Kimberly
Roberts.

Hester testified that Miller told her that
Roberts said to him quite soberly, *‘I’m
going to die, aren’t 1?” __

Said Hester, ‘‘He told me he took off
his clothes and threw them into the sea
along with the murder weapon.’’ She
said that Miller had told her that the ‘‘job
to take on a world famous artist was the
first and he would do other private jobs.
It’s what I was born to do.’’ Said Hester,
‘It was too awful to believe.”’

Sneddon, the prosecutor, wanted to
know why it took Hester nearly two years
to tell her story about the alleged confes-
sion Miller made to her.

She replied in the courtroom, ‘‘I had a
lot of problems withholding this’’ be-
cause: of guilt feelings and because she
had a strong guilt feelings against the
death penalty.

She said she felt that if Miller’s yarn
was true then his fantasies about being a ,
CIA assassin might also be true and put
her life in jeopardy.

But the thing that really convinced her
to blow the whistle on Miller came when
she received a phone call from him when
he was in the Santa Barbara County jail
and demanded to know how she was
going to testify in court.

Hester said Miller told her, ‘“They
don’t have a case without you.’’ He said

Official Detective 53


Note Well ®
ane age of the
relay Was A
ry apres.

SHES mister bas
% Urea, Mabarra.

BURRILL and JaFF i. Sox 264, Exec. Fapers of Gov. >

Randolph Fletchett, Sheriff of suffy County,
attested that, on Nov, 24, 1820, he had hanged
Burrill, a mill-wright, the slave of Robert
Hinton, and Jeff, the slave of Thomas

Boykin, They had been condemned for the night
$ime burglary of the house of Priscilla Wren
With the intent to commit felony. They had
been sentenced on Nov. 4 and Burrill was valued
at $600 while deffwas valued at $450,00

archives of Virginia, Auditor's Records, 1820
Snvelope, Item 153, Box 4. -

3 VIRGINIA (2 VA, CASES) 83.
BURGESS, J seph, white, hanged at Brentsville, Vas, on July 8, 1825.

"Alexandria, June 15, 1825@A man by the name of Gollyhorn was murdered at Dumfries,
Vae, on Tuesday last, by a person named Burgess. The Gi*KMMKAKHAX circumstances, as
far as can be collected, were as follows: The parties were engaged in pitching quoits,
when a quarrel ensued, during which Gollyhorn kicked Burgess in the face, after which
Burgess procured a butcher's knife, and returned to the place he had left Gollyhorn,
and found him asleep on the stoop of a house, and, upon his waking, plunged a knife
into his body. The deceased walked about twenty steps and dropped dead, Pursuit was
immediately made after Burgess, who was apprehended and conducted to Brentsville, to
await his trial in November," DAILY NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER, Washington, De. Ce, June

17, 182h, page thhee,


-_ we ieee:

Cowen Cee a nee Caw Ede Meee HE en

Seer shee dew e wa e

ew eee ew ee re ee en eee BS VOT rT CC eweT ETS TomUe

clearly showed depravity of mind
and aggravated battery.

Later, the courtroom was hushed
as the clerk of the court read the ju-
ry’s determination that the 23-year-
old defendant should die in the elec-
tric chair. As the sentence was read,
Bunch nervously rubbed the knot in
his tie as he sat at the defense table,
but didn’t say anything.

In November of the same year,

Judge Thornton affirmed the deci-
sion of the jury and sentenced the
young ex-Marine to death. Sixteen
executions later and after more than
ten years on death row, including
outliving the man who'd sentenced
him, Timothy Bunch prepared for his
date with the executioner, hoping
against hope that he could avoid it.

In the process, he recanted his
statement that he’d gotten a sexual

- would cause him to be sent to a men-

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56

release out of killing his victim. He
told a newspaper reporter a day be-
fore his scheduled execution, that
he’d lied about the sexual part, hop-
ing that the supposed fabrication

tal institution and not prison.

Nevertheless, it was the sexual as-
pects of his confession which con-
vinced a jury to recommend the
death sentence.

But hope waned, and Timothy
Bunch seemed resigned to the in-
evitable. He said he was overjoyed

en him and had requested clemency.

“I have a special thanks to (the vic-
tim’s) family for having come out
3,000 miles (from Korea) and miss-
ing three days of their employment
in order to express their desire that
I not be executed,” he told the re-
porter. “It’s given me a new lease on
life and peace no matter what hap-
pens.”

Prince William County Court Clerk
Mabie arrived at the correctional fa-
cility and took his place among the
other appointed witnesses. Soon after,
Bunch was led into the glaring,
white-walled chamber of death by
prison guards and strapped into the
electric chair.

The condemned man expressed sor-
row for the crime and thanked the
victim’s family for their forgiveness,
and the Religious Society of Friends
(or Quakers) for welcoming them in-
to their faith.

When Bunch finished his state-
ment, guards tied a leather mask
around his head to restrain it and
then strapped a sponge soaked in a
saline solution to conduct electrici-
ty. Similarly, another sponge was
strapped to his thigh where another
current was to be applied. The exe-
cution team next took their places
around the perimeter of the room and
one guard used a key to open the
pathway for the electric current when
the switch was hit.

Moments later, Bunch’s body
tensed as the electrical surge hit him.
His forehead turned bright red and a
trace of smoke seeped from under
the helmet and leg clamp. Ninety
seconds later, the switch was cut off.
Then the cycle was repeated.

After a five minute wait, a doctor
checked the body for a pulse. Tim-
othy Dale Bunch was declared dead
at 11:20 p.m., December 10, 1992.*%

Se,

ee ET TE TR


“TJacoR Burter YoRKTown VIRGINIA |W 40-\885
B
MuRDER
James GRIFFIN B | GuNsHoT
_ SELF Protection
stood Ss i 0 the
debt camedue, Butter defaulted and Griffin got stuck Paying up to the parks Which
aid Fhe hog on Credit. Griffen then demanded $15 of Butler; $10.15 lus

for his tyouble. Butler refused to pay that much and af
4 Sons Came +o Butler's house on two Successive nights and riddled the place with guafive.

ra ane threatened Butler waits death iF he ae not serene, quit the bax eee

tet, sis an thet ie cd He ‘get Griffin bole Griffin ‘got’ wes Se

lhe went to his house and lolew him Qwary.

TRIAL

“Two Trials

APPEALS

LAST WORDS

"Both white and Colored take warning by me."

EXECUTION

Cyeeuted ot ‘Gallows Creek’ just aloove Yorktown, Said to be the Stene of all

previous York County executions. \5t one there however in more than Forty Years.

SOURCE

The Richmond Dispatch Wirt|3o V+

FRANK NEWTON OFFICE SUPPLY-—DOTHAN

Slave CafO (or PATRICK), hanged Caroline Co Va
& “ °* 9 a

si
March 12, 1802,

HONOR AND VIOLENCE
IN THE OLD SOUTH

BERTRAM WYATT-BROWN

a ee

:
New York . Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

1986


‘or during the
so relentlessly
very feet”? no
e pence.” The
‘and trial for

were not the
e€ was a slave-
hese elaborate
did not serve
vantage of the
‘heir most val-
trained. The
$ executed in
ves’ economic
lges, and mili-
es. Sometimes

through lynch
rner trag-

ty, North Car-
ate line from
yut to torture
Wright urged
omplicity and
£ understand-
t young Jerry,
lone was sen-
y came to be-
1 managed to
ved. The pre-
orted the peti-
s quite lucky;
' their lives to
ind a few oth-
passion. Most

Policing Slave Society: Insurrectionary Scares 175

Further evidence of the special character of the insurrection scare
can be found in the disposition of regular slave criminal cases. If
there were genuine revolts one would expect that in most instances
the authorities would have regarded any murder or assault on a
white as part of the current conspiracy or conspiracies under inves-
tigation. Such was not at all the case. In the midst of the frenzies
the usual pattern of slave crime persisted. Although offenses in-
cluded murders of malicious owners, all the careful preparations of
evidence and common-law technicalities were observed, or chal-
lenged—quite in contrast to the slipshod, hasty insurrection trials.
Also, memorials for convicted slaves on whom the community took
pity arrived as usual at the governor’s desk—at least in states with
executive review of capital crimes, notably Virginia, Kentucky,
North Carolina, and Tennessee. (Georgia, South Carolina, and
Mississippi, however, had no such mandatory provision.) In Caro-
line County, Virginia, at the height of the panic in 1802, for exam-
ple, neighbors petitioned for the reprieve of a slave named Cato.
His elder brother Patrick had slain their master; Cato had merely
helped to place the body under a fallen tree to make the axing ap-
pear accidental. The governor and executive council commuted
Cato’s sentence to life at the new state penitentiary.

More curious was the case of Randall and Cudge of Isle of Wight
County. They had quarreled with Reddick Godwin, their master,
fired his gun at him, and then pelted with stones the upstairs bed-
room in which Godwin locked himself. The governor and council
reprieved them both from hanging, changing the sentence to sale
and deportation. No ‘doubt the spokesmen for the slaves conveyed
orally some scandalous information about Godwin to the Richmond
authorities, for the written record does not reveal why such rebel-
lious behavior, in the, midst of a supposed rebellion, should be
treated so magnanimously. The show of mercy, though, was not un-
usual, suggesting that the insurrectionary scares were seen as some-
thing with a separate and quite deliberate rationale.

The exception, however, was poisoning. Slaves accused of this
crime were usually thought to be involved in a widespread scheme
of insurgency because, like arson, poisoning was a crime of stealth


a

= -

CHABROL, Andrew, white

_u WASHINGTON POST

elec. VA (Virginia Beach) June 17, 1993

Va. Executes Former Naval Officer
Man Who Murdered Enlisted Woman Refused to Appeal Sentence

Associated Press

JARRATT, Va., June 17—An-
drew J. Chabrol, a former Navy
lieutenant who murdered an enlist-
ed woman because she complained
about his advances, was executed in
Virginia’s electric chair tonight af-
ter refusing to fight his death sen-
tence.

Chabrol, 36, was pronounced
dead at 11:07 p.m., said Wayne
Brown, operations officer at the
Greensville Correctional Center,
where Virginia’s electric chair is
located.

Chabrol, convicted of the July
1991 rape and murder of Melissa
Harrington in his Chesapeake, Va.,
home, lost his automatic review
before the Virginia Supreme Court
in February and chose not to pursue
further appeals.

“He’s made up his mind, and it’s
been made up for a long time,” said
his attorney, Bill Brown, before the
execution. “He’s a bright individual.
It’s an informed choice.”

Gov. L. Douglas Wilder reviewed

Chabrol’s case although the inmate
did not request clemency, said
Glenn K. Davidson, the governor’s
press secretary. Wilder did not in-
tervene.

Chabrol had no visitors on his
final day, which he spent in his cell
next to the electric chair, Wayne
Brown said.

Chabrol had a shorter wait until
execution than the 19 other Vir-
ginia prisoners put to death since
the U.S. Supreme Court allowed
States to resume executions in
1976.

The former lieutenant tried to
develop a romantic relationship
with Harrington while she was in
his command. But she rejected his
advances and complained to his su-
perior.

Chabrol said her complaint dam-
aged his career and ruined his mar-
riage. He left the Navy in January
1991 and began planning revenge,
keeping a computer journal in which
he referred to Harrington as “Nem-
esis.”

After several months of search-

ing, Chabrol learned where Har-
rington lived. He got another man,
Stanley J. Berkeley, to help him
abduct the woman from her Vir-
ginia Beach home while her hus-
band was out of town, and they took
her to Chabrol’s house in Chesa-
peake.

Harrington was strapped to a bed
and raped. When she tried to fight,
her head was tightly wrapped in
duct tape and she was strangled
with a rope.

“I just went berserk,” Chabrol
testified at his trial, where“ he
pleaded guilty. Berkeley was sen-
tenced to three life terms on con-
victions of first-degree murder,
rape and abduction.

Harrington’s husband, Joassh a
Navy weapons chief warrant officer,
said this week he was ‘glad
Chabrol’s execution was near. °

“T just hope they get it over with
as soon as possible, and get things
back to . . . well, they won’t be the
same,” he said. “But at least it will
give me some satisfaction that: he
got what he deserved.”

LU Mag (7 9Q.

LOCAL

Daily Press Newport Caws, VA

Raped, murdered
an enlisted woman

The Associated Press

the electric chair.

CHESAPEAKE
. A former Navy officer who
admitted.to abducting, raping and
murdering an enlisted woman
after she rejected his advances
was sentenced Tuesday to die in

._ “It’s incomprehensible what

one human being could do to
another in this case,” Circuit
Judge Russell I. Townsend Jr. said
in sentencing Andrew J. Chabrol.

Chabrol, 35, pleaded guilty Feb.
28 to capital murder and other
charges in the slaying last July 9 of
Melissa M. Harrington.

Chabrol had been Harrington’s
Navy superior, and she had lodged
a sexual harassment complaint
against him. Prosecutors said he
was romantically obsessed with

the 27-year-old Harrington, who
was married, and decided to seek
revenge for the complaint.

“It took a long time, but justice
is served,” the victim’s husband,
Joseph Harrington, said after
Chabrol was sentenced. “It’s over
and that’s it.”

Chabrol declined to make a
statement before sentencing,
which came after 2% days of tes-
timony that began Friday. He
received life terms on the abduc-

tion and rape convictions.

Commonwealth’s Attorney
David Williams described Chabrol
as wicked.

But William Brown, Chabrol’s
attorney, said his client’s life was
starting to unravel because of the
victim’s sexual harassment com-
plaint.

Chabrol and an accomplice
abducted the woman from her Vir-
ginia Beach home, took her to
Chabrol’s home in Chesapeake

Ex-Navy officer sentenced to die

and raped her. She was then
strangled and suffocated. The
body was found with her head
tightly wrapped in a mask of tape.

The accomplice, Stanley J.
Berkeley, 33, of the Virgin Islands,
was convicted by a jury in March
of first-degree murder, rape and
abduction. He will be sentenced
June 18.

The jury recommended the
maximum three life terms in
Berkeley’s case.

'


CHABROL v. COM.

4 IAI:

Va. 377

Cite as 427 S.E.2d 374 (Va. 1993)

Chabrol testified that this word was a. ref-
erence to necrophilia. -He-also testified
that he agreed to Berkeley’s plan to have
intercourse with Harrington’s body.

Dr. Leah L.E. Bush, who performed an
autopsy on Harrington’s body, initially ob-
served the body at the scene. of the crime.
She testified that the body was wrapped i in
a blanket and that silver duct tape com-
pletely covered the victim’s face from her
eyebrows. to her chin. This tape was
wrapped very tightly around her. entire
head. Dr. Bush testified that. it would have
been very difficult for the victim to have
continued to breathe in this situation. In
addition to the tape, Dr. Bush also. ob-
served that the victim’ s head was covered
with a_plastic. grocery | bag, and that a
braided rope was tied. tightly . around her
neck.

During: the: witnbiins Dr: : ‘Bush he
bruises’ over the ‘victim’s ‘collar: bone ‘area,
her right upper arm, her left posterior arm,
her right leg, and her left knee. Dr. Bush
testified that the bruises on_ the -victim’s
upper right shoulder. and. collar: bone were
consistent with blunt trauma. Dr. Bush
also noted two paired. abrasions, which ap-
peared to have resulted from an electrical
burn, on the left posterior thigh of the
body. Upon examining the “stun gun”
purchased by Chabrol, Dr. Bush testified
that the gun matched the marks on the
victim’s thigh. Dr. Bush also found a lac-
eration surrounded by a contusion on the
victim’s right posterior scalp.

Dr. Bush concluded that Harrington had
died as a result of mechanical asphyxia due
to suffocation and strangulation. The
strangulation was caused by the ligature,
as well as manual pressure. Dr. Bush
testified that the rope had been tied tightly
enough to restrict the flow of blood to the
head. She further testified that manual
strangulation was evidenced by bilateral
conjunctival hemorrhages, spectacle hemor-
rhages in the eyes, and abrasions in the
neck consistent with fingernail marks. Dr.
’ Bush also testified that the tape affixed
across the victim’s face was potentially le-
thal. In addition, she testified that the

plastic bag, tied around the victim’s head,
was also, of itself, . head lethal. :

II.

| SENTENCE REVIEW
As stated. above, Code § 17-110.1(C) re-

quires. us to review the death sentence im-

posed upon. Chabrol, based on_ the. trial
court record, to determine whether (1) .it
was imposed under the influence of. pas-
sion, prejudice, or any. other arbitrary fac-
tor;. or (2) it is excessive or disproportion-
ate to the penalty imposed i in. similar cases,
considering both the crime and the defen-
dant.

[1] Chabrol does not: sheteanto nor pa

the record suggest, that his death sentence

was imposed under the influence of. pas-
sion, prejudice, or any other. arbitrary fac-
tor. In addition to considering the. proba-
tion office reports, the trial court heard the

testimony of. several witnesses: offered. on

Chabrol’s- behalf. Among the individuals
who testified were his friends and cowork-
ers, his sister, and Chabrol himself. . In
giving its reasons for. imposing .the death
sentence, the trial court relied on the com-
plete record before. it, including both the
offense itself and Chabrol’s social. history.
Further, in reaching its conclusion based on
the vileness of the offense, the trial court
confined its consideration to the record be-
fore it. Thus, we find no indication that
the trial court’s decision was affected by
passion, prejudice, or any other arbitrary
factor.

{2] Chabrol argues that the record does
not support the trial court’s finding of vile-
ness. He contends that “there is little, if
any, vileness in the case at.hand when
compared to other cases of rape and mur-
der.” We disagree. Ee

Code § 19.2-264.2 sets forth the stah-
dard employed by the trial court in making
its determination. That section provides, in
material part:

In assessing the penalty of any person

convicted of an offense for which the

death penalty may be imposed, a sen-
tence of death shall not be imposed un-
less the court ... shall (1) after consider-

a


378 Va. 427 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

ation of the past.criminal. record of con-
victions of the defendant, find ... that
his conduct in committing the offense for
which he stands charged was outra-
geously or wantonly vile, horrible or in-
human in that it involved torture, deprav-
ity of mind or an aggravated battery to
the victim; and (2) recommend that’ the
~ penalty of death be imposed. '

Here, the’ trial court found that Chabrol’s
conduct “‘was outrageously ‘and wantonly
vile, horrible and inhuman and that it in-
volved torture, depravity ‘of mind and ag:
gravated battery to the victim.” ‘ee

‘As this Court explained in’ Smith v.
Commonwealth, 219 Va. 455, 478, 248
S.E.2d 135, 149 (1978), ‘cert. denied, 441
U.S. 967, 99° S:Ct. big 60: Le Ed se 1074
(1979), eat

[w]e construe the words 5 dseasity ‘of

mind’ as used’[in Code § 19. 2-264. 2] to
“mean a degree of moral turpitude and
_ psychical debasement surpassing ‘that in-
“herent in the definition of ordinary legal
“malice and premeditation. Contextually,
we construe the words ‘aggravated bat-
‘tery’ to-mean a battery which, qualita-
tively and quantitatively, is more’ culpa-
- ble than the minimum necessary to “ac-
~ complish an act of murder. ° [Citation
omitted]. It seems to us that these are
the only ‘constructions rationally related
~ to the comnionly accepted connotation of
the prefatory words, ‘outrageously or
wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman.’
Accord, Davidson v. Commonwealth, 244
Va. 129, 135, 419 S.E.2d 656, 659-60, cert.
denied, — U.S. ——, 118 S.Ct. 428, 121
L.Ed.2d 345 (1992); Strickler v. Common-
wealth, 241 Va. 482, 496, 404 S:E.2d 227,
287, cert. denied, 502 U.S. ——, 112 S.Ct.
886, 116 L.Ed.2d 337 (1991); Stockton v.
Commonwealth, 241 Va: 192, 218, 402
$.E.2d 196, 208, cert. denied, 502 U.S. —,
112 S.Ct. 280, 116 L.Ed.2d 231 (1991);
Quesinberry v. Commonwealth, 241 Va.
364, 381, 402 S.E.2d 218, 228, cert. denied,
502 U.S. —, 112 S.Ct. 118, 116 L.Ed.2d 82
(1991). |
We hold that, under the elements set
forth in Code § 19.2-264.2, the record be-
fore us fully supports the trial court’s de-

termination of the vileness of this offense.
Its conclusion that the crimes evidenced a
depravity of mind is supported by the egre-

gious, methodical manner in which Chabrol.

planned and executed these offenses. See
Clark v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. 201, 217,
257 S.E.2d 784, 794 (1979), cert. denied, 444
U.S. 1049, 100 S.Ct. 741, 62 L.Ed.2d 736
(1980). Chabrol’s lack ‘of remorse further
supports this conclusion. See Poyner v.
Commonwealth, 229 Va. 401, 426, '329
S.E.2d 815, 832, cert, denied, 474 U.S. 865,

‘106 S.Ct. 189, 88 L.Ed.2d 158 and 474 USS.

888, 106 S.Ct. 208, 88 L.Ed. 2d 178 (1985).

‘Also, the facts of this case ‘overwhelm-
ingly support the trial court’s conclusion

that the victim was subjected to an aggra-
vated battery and to torture. The series of
acts. perpetrated by Chabrol on the victim

subjected her to both psychological and
physical torture, causing her to experience

a slow and painful death. Such conduct'far

exceeded ‘the minimum battery . necessary
to. accomplish : an:. vact...of murder.:. See
Smith, 219 Va. at.458, 248 S.E.2d ‘at 149.

[3] Chabrol next contends that the im-
position ‘of the death sentence. was exces-

‘sive or disproportionate to the penalty im-

posed in similar cases. In support of this
argument, he asserts that the other death
sentences affirmed by this Court’ on ‘the
vileness predicate were more egregious.
This contention, however, is. without merit
because proportionality. does not. require
that a.given capital murder case “equal in
horror the worst possible scenario yet.en-
countered.” Turner v. Commonwealth,
234 Va. 543, 556, 364 S.E.2d 483, 490, cert.

denied, 486 U.S. 1017, 108 S.Ct. 1756, 100°

L.Ed.2d 218 (1988). Rather, in considering
the issue of proportionality, this Court
must “determine whether other sentencing
bodies in this jurisdiction generally impose
the supreme penalty for comparable or sim-
ilar crimes, considering both the crime and
the defendant.” Jenkins v. Common-

wealth, 244 Va. 445, 461, 423 S.E.2d 360,
371 (1992).

{4] In accordance with this duty. .we
have examined the records of all capital
murder cases reviewed by this Court, pur-
suant to Code § 17-110.1(E), giving partic-


IRE 333393333 cf SSS
SPECUAILESSASSCSLStES SS STSCIT Cg

WRIGHT v::COM. *)-. Va. 379
oA Cite as 427 S.E.2d 379 (Va. 1993)

ular attention to those cases where the
death penalty was based solely on.the “vile-
ness” predicate. One notable example is
Bunch v. Commonwealth, 225 Va. 423, 304
S.E.2d 271, cert. denied, 464 U.S. 977; 104
S.Ct. 414, 78 'L.Ed:2d: 352 (1983), ' in which
we affirmed the capital murdér conviction
of Timothy Dale Bunch for the slaying of a
woman whom he‘had dated. Like Chabrol,
Bunch served in the United States ‘military
and had no prior. criminal record,.:--Bunch
also had, planned. the murder of his. victim
Well in. advance of. the. crime. After shoot-
ing her, Bunch tied aknot in:a. scarf, she
was wearing and “hung her up... . to make

sure. she didn’t talk.” Jd. at, 443, 304

S.E.2d .at 282... Further, like : Chabrol,
Bunch did not exhibit remorse for his ac-
tions. Id. Bote ae eee Cad
__We“also have reviewed the records of
capital murder cases where a sentence of
life imprisonment was imposed. Applying
the standard of review for proportionality
set forth in Jenkins, we hold that the sen-
tence of death imposed’ upon Chabrol “is
neither . excessive’ nor. ‘disproportionate to
ithe penalties ‘imposed: in :similar~cases,: -°:
Having reviewed Chabrol’s sentence ‘of
death pursuant to Code §.17-110.1, we de-

cline.to. commute the sentence. . According-

ly,,we will affirm the judgment.of the trial

Affirmed

© © KEY NUMBER SYSTEM

4+Aums

. Dwayne Allen. WRIGHT F
: v.
COMMONWEALTH of Virginia.
Record Nos. 920810, 920811.
Supreme Court of Virginia.
Feb. 26, 1993.

A 17-year-old was tried as an adult by

the Circuit Court of Fairfax County, J.

Howe Brown, J., and was convicted of. two
counts of capital murder, robbery, use of
firearm in commission of robbery, and at-
tempted rape. Thereafter, death penalty
was imposed by the court. Defendant ap-
pealed. The Supreme..Court, ‘Stephenson,
J., held that: (1) imposing death penalty on
a 17-year-old, did not violate , Eighth
Amendment as violating society’s eyolving
standards of decency; (2) confession of de-
fendant following: waiver: of his: Miranda

rights ; was. product. of his free .will and,
therefore, ‘voluntary; (3) prosecution .estab-

lished race-neutral reason for striking
black veniremember; (4) ‘evidence ‘was suf-
ficient ‘to support: defendant’s convictions;
and (5) evidence ‘was sufficient: to‘ support

finding ‘of future dangérousness, ‘for ‘pur-

pose of imposing death penalty on defén-

‘dant: 3 ~:
yy, Affirmed.

zee

1. Criminal Law 1213.14

Infants 69(1) 6-2 3 lasts yo
‘: Imposing death penalty on a 17-year-—
old would not violate: Eighth Amendment

as violating society’s evolving standards ‘of
decency. U.S:C.A.. Const.Amend. 8. Sti

2..Infants €=69(1) _

There, is no requirement that state en-
gage in individualized consideration before
imposing death penalty on juvenile. Code
1950, § 16.1-269; U.S.C.A. Const.Amend.

a .

3. Infants ¢=68.4

Constitutional rights of juvenile were
not violated on basis that guardian ad litem
was not appointed to protect his interests
at transfer hearing, where -juvenile was
represented. by counsel in transfer. hearing
and transfer statutes do not expressly re-
quire appointment of guardian ad litem.
US.C.A. Const.Amend. 6; Code 1950,
§§ 8.01-9, subd. B, 16.1-269 to 16.1-272.

4. Infants €>68.4 |
Defendant under disability who is rep-
resented by counsel need not have appoint-
ed to him a guardian ad litem unless stat-
ute applicable to particular case expressly


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: he phenomenon, albeit
: ; oxymoronic, of a “clean”

execution occurred this
- month when Andrew J. Cha-
- brol died in Virginia’s electric
- chair; that is, missing from the

- event was virtually every issue -

: that makes capital punishment
- go controversial. Except one.
First, the crime was heinous.
Even the shortest list of of
* fenses calling. for execution
* would include the abduction,
- rape and strangulation murder
- of Melissa Harrington, a mar-
- ried woman who refused to
+ have an affair with Chabrol.
“It is incomprehensible,”

- Chesapeake Circuit Judge |

Russell I. Townsend Jr. said in
sentencing Chabrol, “that one
human being could do to an-
; other as was done in this
; case.”

Second, no doubt of guilt was
present. Chabrol gave a de-
t tailed account of what he had
done and pleaded guilty.

Third, Virginia’s unreason-

r able limits on capital-punish-
- ment appeals didn’t come into

play. Beyond the one automat- |

- jie appeal in death-penalty
- eases, Chabrol declined to
seek judicial review.

Fourth, because of appeals
_and other legal maneuvers, in-

- TWO VIEWS ON THE EXECUTION
Tt was ‘clean,’ but wr

TION

FRANK CALLAHAM

mates often reside on death
row a decade or more, but

“here was scant delay‘ with
Chabrol. He was: dead less

than a year after he was tried
and sentenced, less than two
years after the crime. ;

Fifth, no charges of inade-
quate counsel were raised.

Sixth, Chabrol was not poor
or uneducated; hence, no ob-
jections based on statistics
showing that the poor and un-
educated are sentenced to
death in disproportionately
large numbers.

Seventh, there was no indi-
cation or suggestion that the
chair functioned improperly.

Eighth, there were no calls
for mercy because of mental
‘incapacity, substance abuse,
youth or other special
circumstances. )

But as in the 19 other execu-

tions since Virginia reinstated
the death penalty in 1977, the
state carried out a premeditat-
ed killing. Put aside all the oth-
er arguments against capital
punishment: Ignore the gross-
ness; discount the unevenness
and many other flaws inherent
in its implementation; forget
the condemned. :

What we are left with is the
state’s legally committing
what the state itself classifies
as the most grievous of of-

-fenses: taking another per- |

son’s life. Instead, those who
commit the worst of crimes —
could be imprisoned for life |
without possibility of parole.
Virtually all of the Free World
except the United States has
banished capital punishment.

“The death penalty,” an Ital-
ian jurist wrote two centuries
ago, “cannot be useful because
of the example of barbarity it
gives men.”

This, then, is the real indict- |
ment of capital punishment:
not what it does'to those such |
as Chabrol but what it says”
about us as a people.

Mr. Callaham 1s an Gsso- ;
ciate editor of The Virginian-

Pilot and The Ledger-Star.

¢ D
7 A

' k
n fy

SLAVE - ~

Simon Holliex reimbursed 100 pounds of March
<3, 1787, for a slave executed in YorkCCounty,
Va., in (probably A ugust or September) 1786,

State Records and Archives of Virginia, Box l,
Item 153, Envelope 4, ‘

‘

w

CHELSEA

Chelsea, property of Col, Simon Hollier, executed on
September 2, 1786, in York County, Va., 100 Lbs,

One of first four envelopes, Box 1, Item 153, State
Auditor's Files, State Library Archives, Richmond, Va,

page 3-364. Vonrk County Order oe 3

— Condemned on Ya/¥o and executed on 5/86
tyr 98/86 bu ary of the House of Allen Tones .

Convithon date Lay been cnrfecred Atl, Hbetupon die .


na

CHRISTIAN, Aurelius, 17, black, electrocuted Virginia State Prison (Botetourt), 3-22-1909,

"Roanoke, Vas; Feb. 19, 1909-Aurelius Christian, the negro who yesterday criminally
assailted and then murdered Mary’ Dobbs, the pretty lh«year-old daughter of a prominent
Botetourt County farmer was today sentenced to die in the electric chair in the state
penitentiary on March 22. Christian was taken from Clifton Forge today to Fincastle
and tried at'a special sitting of the‘court by Circuit Judge Anderson, who accompanied
the negro and officers to Fincastle, or. :
"Christian was indicted by the grand jury and Judge Anderson appointed three lawyers to
‘defend him, At the conference between the lawyers and the prisoner, Christian made a
confession of thecrime which he later repeated in court to the judge. The court heard
three witnesses who established the time and place of the crime, No jury was summoned,
The judge accepted Christian's confession and imposed the death sentence, :
"The negro said he was hiding in the woods when Miss Dobbs passed by on her way to a
store. He seized her, and after assaulting her, cut her throat and stabbed her three
times to keep her from telling, Christian showed no signs of fright in court.
"The sentence came within 2); hours after the crime was committed and Christian was sent
to the Fincastle jail, The jail is being guarded tonight to prevent an attack that might
be made by a mob, A mob gathered last night near Clifton Forge, but agreed not to
attempt to lynch Christian while he was at that place." NEWS, Galveston, Texas, Feb.
20, 1909 (1/5.) |

"Richmond, Feb. 19, 1909-Late yesterday evening a young negro named Christian assaulted

Marry Dobbs, the ll-year-old daughter of a-well known farmer living near Glen Walton

after which he cut her throat and stabbed her in the side, causing death, A posse

was quickly formed and the whole countryside was scoured, the negro being promptly

captured, ‘At one time a lynching was feared as there was intense excitement, but this
* was averted by the officers of the law, The negro is now in the hands of the authori-

ties and has made a full confession, Where the girl was found there are evidences of

a desperate struggle," JOURNAL, Atlanta, G4, Feb, 19, 1909 (9/3.)

"(Special to the TIMES=DISPATCH.) Fincastley Vaey Febs 19, - Felix Christian, the 18-year-
old negro who yesterday evening criminally assaulted and then murdered Annié May Dobbs,

the l-year-old daughter ofa Botetourt County citizen, at Glen Wilton, was today sentenced
to die in the electric chair March 22, He will be taken to the penitentiary at Richmond

at noon, where he will remain until the sentence of death is executed, No attempt has
been made at violenceand the officers believe they have the situation well in hand and
state that there is liffle danger of summery pnhishment being attempted, The prisoner

will be rushed to Rivhmond on the first train tomorrow morning, From the time the sheriff
KEXMAAAXKMA rapped the court to order until sentence was pronounced on the negro by

Judge Anderson, but 21 minutes elapsed, This is the swiftest meting out of justice in the
history of the criminal courts of Virginia, and it has up to this hour, prevented the
lynching which was threatened KM That the negro may yet fall a victim to mob frenzy is not
improbable as a large crowd surrounded the jail which is Heavily guarded, The negro made

a full confession of his crime. Before the case was called for trial, three lawyers
appointed by the court to defend him, held a conference with the prisoner, and to them he
confessed in all the gruesome details how he murdered Annie Dobbs, Apparently without fear
he later repeated this confession to the court. Judge Anderson accepted the negro's
confession, and at once santmaced him to death at the earlies possible date, the law pro=
viding that there shall be an interim of thirty days between the time of sentence and exe=
cution. In the negro's confession he told how he caught the girl as she was passing
through a lonely bit of woods on her way home from the Furnace store, Dragging herginto
the woods he first criminally assaulted her and then cut her throat, As he turned to leave
her and make his escape, he saw the body move, and, returning, he stabbed her three times
in the breast, After Christian's capture last night atll o'clock near Iron Gate, he was
taken to Glen Wilton, the scene of the crime, There a lynching was threatened, but the
mob lacked a leader and it was prevented, This morning he was brought to Fincastle and

Judge Anderson, who had come down on the same train with the negro from, Clfton Forge
convened a special term of the Circuit Court,At Glen Wilton extitement is still ehse,

sues it has been allayed from its dangerous state by the speedy action of JudgexAnder-

son, Today the scene of the murder has been visited by hundreds of people, and by many

_ the regret has openly been expressed that the negro was not put todeath without the

formality of a trial. The funeral of the murdered gitl will be held at 11 o'clock to-
morrow morning at Glen Wilton, and the services will be conducted by the Rev. Je He
Haley." TIMES DISPATCH, Richmond, Vasey F_be 19, 1909 (1:5e) CN a

THE. CRIME. .
"(Special to The Times-Dispatch.) Eagle Mountain, Vae, Feb. 18 . = Mary Dobbs, the fourteen-
year-old daughter of a well-known farmer, who resides at Glen Wilton, was criminally assaulted
and then murdered by an unknown negro at 5 o'clock this evening. The negro was captured 5
hours later one mile east of Iron Gate, and is now being taken to the jail at Clifton Forge,
The crime was committed near the girl's home, in Glen Wilton, which is a village several
miles west of here on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. She was on her way home from
school, and was passing through a lonely strip of woods when she was attacked, The crime
was not discovered until about an hour later, when the girl's dead body was found, Her throat
had been cut from ear to ear, and apparently she had been dead for some time, There were evi-
dences of a desperate struggle before she was overpowered by the negro, As soon as the
crime was discovered a possee was formed and news of the outrage was sent to this and other
nearby towns. A posse of 25 men left here on a Chesapeake and Ohio freight train and they
joined other posses, which had been formed and were scouring the country in the vicinity
of Glen Wilton. At 10 o'clock the negro was overtaken one mile east of Iron Gate and was
captured without a struggle. Owing to the fact that the KAXAARAK telegraph and telephone
offices are closed it has been impossible to secure anytfing but the most meagre details
of the capture, but it is known that no violence was offered to the negro, and that he is
being taken to Clifton Forge, for safekeeping. It is reported that excitement is running
high at Glen “Wilton, and that a lynching is far from improbable. Reports received here
state that the negro has not been identified. - At 3 o'clock this morming a message was
received here which stated that the negro had not been taken to Clifton Forge, but was
instead taken back to Glen ‘ilton where hundreds of men were armed and awaiting him coming.
Railroad men passing there on a train stated that a lynching was certain, and it is be-
lieved that justice has.been ddalt out to the negro before this time. Word had been sent
to the chief of police at Clifton Forge of the negro's capture, and he was awaiting his
coming when he received another message stating that hés jail would not be necessary."
| ‘TIMES-DISPATCH, Rychmond, Vaey 2419-1909 (2%h.): ; :
4 ;

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MOTIV

SYNOPSIS

from A Hook lw Tue Céuine OF THER Housé And 4/7ERALAY WHIPPED

HER To DEATH With BARREL STaves Ano tickoky SWITcH€s.

TRIAL

APPEALS

LAST WORDS

EXECUTION

SOURCE

RICHMOND DISPATCH §=12-9-/871 ——-37¥

FRANK NEWTON OFFICE SUPPLY—DOTHAN

BROCK, “Jacob, black, 45, hanged Louisa CH, VA 12/8/1871...

-

- WMISREY AND votD VICPUALA,

aes “ate ae : Ove day tn the month of June last a negro named |
3 is WIFE 10 DEATH. Gated Brock, with his Wile, both operatives in a
A weaned FLAYS a eebaceo factory, went to Frederick Hall, in thiy
! ——— be eeunty (a depot on tho Cheaspeaze add Onio Ral}.
peed), to make some parchasea, Their home was put
Distinct Wh ippings in sane coun Kum the devot, und was also ia the
Three Night. . @ame county, they wens afoot, the distunce ant
; One ‘ Bete great, Arrived at the depos the purchases

Were made and among other neu
Gomnesiio use Jacod bought @ botue of whiskey. Of

- erica i” STAVES WORK or, Wie be drank seme at Frederick Hal, bat not

tment of © Perfectly sober man, On tbe way they parted com.

Sats uma mk Tree pany, the woman, uke a dutiful wile, hurrying home
the Oorpsc. bead of ber husband to have his mew ready wien
. &e came ip She was iy the act of kindling the frev

ae Meee eiFivel. and he angrily demanded

5 virted by a Was ready, sno replied no, but

Jury» Pinoy @ stepson, a boy twelve years old,
Mixed Be was still sober, but he appeared to be ln a very
PO ee a nape pen His wife-had cold Victuals pre.
; ; fane an pared, placed them on the table before him
Negroes Joyous, Pro @9 qutetly and expeditiously ae poasibie andor the
The Deligh at His Death. oumstances. Jacoy sa down to bis meat ang
on ted hee ealicd jor water, Rls stepson handed wim
eas sdcz4, oe Soon tasting It he salu, “Damn it, tvs
Cae, rata | " $0 the epring and fetch me some ire oh?
Jeood’s Ride on His Coffin to the Seafl Dan0g We atvetve om Uren a
| ty. © We ab: ence trom we MUUNY Uf She Ind, an
and Bis Flight to Rternity Merve! of oniy a few tnlnutes, it Ls not known what
. ; Seeurred. When he Feturned from the Bpring bis
neue Ve, Dee. 8, 1871. Bacher wag @trogviing with how PEON mdi Ae +o. oe
sanetpauoa from slavery, followed by civf /\)
sae wad tne aubeequent booa of Abterican cltuzes- l
signee and oped s high.order of civilization ong
pry 2 of the South? This ts « question a
porotschio gad philanthropisia to decide; bu ra R LD)
ee vibe carefully obecrved the negro since
anew

r aad studied all his traits fail to discover

TL Ok On wana], white ® can gc 08 a Pacpees L
pe 15 sevaally ‘relapaing tato pgs ar ;
Pie certainiy exhivited a marked progressi Jf

+ of all the
wde for the acquiremen i
perms al ogee the saperior Pras peel |
oi tas le the most ample proof in naa
Geaoawen the Southern States, and even

bk G -
hern States fnroish slartiing ¢ a x 14 /
Con porta "sid outrages perpotrated byte / a a

hich
instance were Wal w
gpees, and if an

ristics of the human

one all the worst characte

pes gir barbarity and hp eRe ~ : _
lam about |

mercer most foul waich .

that Instance. ;


JOHN BUCK, Slave ? cs

Lunenburg, County, Va., Court May le, 1O6e *
John Buck, slave of Wm. Jd. Fowlkes, sentenced
to be hanged on June 20, 1862, Valued $720,00
Sheriff a. H. Lane attested that execution
took place on June 2O, toOn.

archives of Va., Suditor' s Records, Box 9,
knvelope 1ee2, Item 155, -

\Gntry oltfed G4 O23 t1 EXte. S0ur 74 af Gov.
\ cs Mis OofFce as Aggravated /RiSAM/7


a ae ae
| Bextler_|

BULLET, John LARGE CARD

"The first recorded local execution (Staunton, Augusta Co.
Va.) took place Oct. 18, 1793. On that day John Bullet
was hanged after being caught with a horse belonging to
another man. Sullet apparently had hired the horse but_
failed to return it within the specified time, A gallows
for his public execution was erected in a wooded area at
what is now the intersection of New and Augusta Streets,"

TH& STAUNTON LeADER, Staunton, Va., Feb. 28, 1977
Jo much tir tie gente! vers, Mecording fo a note
deted 5/1/93 tn hor 79 tt the Executive Papers Of fhe Gov.
Lithled was 8 tac Stoundrel the tr Addit 70 obter

unspecitied accomplishments had deserted tram the uty.
He was already 1 Stanton jar! ty Noventer F177! auttting
Tova! for horse Het? when he broke tut of the place td

Hd a good job Smashing it up tn the process. Evertadly
lecaptured, the Governor spurned al} mercthul erfreaties
ard ordered that he be hanged high tortiwith.

ew

BULLITT, James, white, hanged for horse theft, Staunton, Viredos
on October 18, 1793. a
AY

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Augusta County, Virginia,

a Be A igs Line en 3 an stort 5,

| b From 1726 to 1871,
#
se | Pe
“4 ( \ * —-BY- ¢
fy}
+ | JOS. A. WADDELL, : :
Be F
: | ‘ Member of the Virginia Historical Society.
eA C 5 ¥'
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| Second Edition.
| 3 Revised and Enlarged.
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mame ae
Delt) If //}

[COUNTY SEAL.]

betehbel fe]
Lo gh bh
age

WHEE

STAUNTON, VA.:
Cc. RUSSELL CALDWELL, PUBLISHER.

1902. (


Death Penalty Killed by the Unexpected
D.C. Residents Who Live Closest to Crime [Helped Defeat Measure

}O-3.-12
By Rene Sanchez
and Keith A. Harriston

Washington Post Staff Writers

The knockout punch in Tuesday's
resounding vote against restoring
the death penalty in the District
came from where many city leaders
least expected: poor communities
hit hardest by violence.

The death penalty measure, or-
dered onto the ballot by Congress a
month ago, was defeated in all eight
political wards, but often lost by the
widest margins in precincts where
people have spent years in deep
fear of gunfire or brutal muggings.

In an Anacostia precinct that has
had 46 homicides in the Jast four
years, making it the deadliest area

of the city, nearly 80 percent of
voters rejected reinstatement of
capital punishment. In Shaw, where
many residents have been terror-
ized by violent gangs, nearly 75
percent of voters cast hallots
against the death penalty.

Only a few weeks ago, many po-
litical and religious leaders in the
city said they feared that the death
penalty measure would pass largely
with support from neighborhoods
overrun with violent crime. ,

Yesterday, they said that many
residents of those neighborhoods
may have had a change of heart be-
cause the measure was forced onto
the ballot by a white southern sen-
ator, Richard C. Shelby (D-Ala.),
and because they worried that it

could be applied unfairly against
poor black men.

“It was a victory for home rule,”
said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton
(D-D.C.), who led the fight against
the death penalty measure. “It was
a victory for moral rule.”

“Shelby did us a favor,” said D.C.
Council member John Ray (D-At
Large). “I think the vote would have
been a lot closer, or might have
even gone the other way, if citizens
had placed it on the ballot.”

According to complete but unof-
ficial returns, 67 percent of District
voters rejected the death penalty
measure, which would have been
among the broadest laws of its kind
in the country.

Sce DEATH, C14, Colt, = 7

Death Penalty Defeat

Cut Across Racial Lines

DEATH, From Cl

Of the city’s 140 precincts, it
passed in only 11, all of which are
west of Rock Creek Park in largely
white, affluent communities such as
Georgetown and Tenley Circle.

Still, there were no deep racial
divisions in the death penalty vote
because a majority of white resi-
dents in Ward 3 in upper Northwest
Washington and on Capitol Hill
joined the overwhelming number of
black residents who opposed it.

The lopsided vote against the
death penalty was widely credited
yesterday to the hasty but tena-
cious campaign waged by the city’s
elected leaders and by dozens of its
prominent ministers. Some labor
union leaders also encouraged their
members to vote against the meas-
ure.

Three weeks ago, as their effort
was just beginning, a poll by WRC-
TV indicated that opinions in the
city on imposing the death penalty
were almost evenly split.

But ministers began denouncing
the measure in sermons. Norton
preached against it at community
meetings and on radio programs. In
the days before the vote, the city’s
cable television channel repeatedly
broadcast speeches by Norton,
Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly and near-
ly every D.C. Council member op-
posing the death penalty measure.

Former mayor Marion Barry
posted thousands of signs in South-
east Washington’s Ward 8 that said,
“Thou Shall Not Kill,” and on Elec-
tion Day some opponents of the
death penalty rode through pre-
cincts using megaphones to warn
voters of what they said were the
racial implications of the measure.

Harry M. Singleton, a local Re-
publican Party leader who had been
pushing for a death penalty vote
hefore Congress intervened, ertt-

icived the campaien as ohystertical

and at times irresponsible,” but con-
ceded that it was effective.

“No doubt about it,” Singleton
said. “They swayed many voters.”

But Tuesday's vote may not be the
last word on the death penalty.

Singleton, who Jeads a community
group called Save Our Streets, said
he may continue his effort to have a
locally inspired referendum on the
issue. “I think a lot of people voted
against this simply to protest what
Congress had done,” he said.

Federal lawmakers also are con-
tinuing to express dismay with’ the
city’s work against violent crime.
They could choose to impose the
death penalty without a public vote,
as some senators had suggested be-.
fore ordering Tuesday's vote. Still,
Norton said she doubted that Pres-
ident-elect Bill Clinton would support
any such attempt.

D.C. Council members, mean-
while, have said that legislation
they passed in the spring authoriz-
ing life sentences without parole for
first-degree murderers is the harsh-
est step that they intend to take.

Though they were ecstatic over
the city’s verdict against the death
penalty, Norton, Kelly and council
members said they realized that
most voters believe much more has
to he done to lessen the violence.

“I regard the vote yesterday also
as a challenge to all of us to find
better remedies,” Norton said. —

In Anacostia yesterday, voters
who had rejected the death penalty,
but who live with violence on their
doorsteps, took no great joy in
Tuesday’s results. They — said
stronger action against crime is still
long overdue.

“The death penalty doesn’t solve
the problems,” said Robert Gate-
wood, 40. “But we need more fund-
ing for education, recreation and
after-school programs.”

Staff writer Nell Henderson
cantrtbryted lo thrys pepord,

Wea!

iw
Slayer’s La yers isk Wilder

To Commute Death Sentence

Attorneys have asked Virginia Gov. L. Douglas
Wilder to spare the life of “Timothy; DalezBundh
scheduled to be executed Dec. 10 for the 1982 rob-
bery and murder of a Prince William County wo-
man.

Bunch, 33, admits killing Su Cha Thomas but
hopes Wilder will reduce his sentence to life in pris-
on, said Nancy Voisin, one of his lawyers.

“Tim doesn’t have a claim for innocence,” Voisin
said. “Basically, he’s making a claim for mercy.”

Voisin said she has reviewed every Virginia death
row inmate's case and feels Bunch’s crime is far less
brutal than the others and should never have been
prosecuted under the capital murder statute.

Bunch was a 22-year-old Marine sergeant in Jan-
uary 1982 when he shot Thomas, 40, in the head
inside her home and then left her hanging by her
scarf on a doorknob. Ile drank some liquor, played
the stereo and rifled through some of Thomas's be-
longings before taking jewelry, liquor, a stapler, a
pen and tape and leaving the home.

Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert considered
the taking of Thomas's belongings a robbery. Voisin
considers it a theft rather than a robbery because
Bunch took the items as an afterthought.

CrrAATact

ry

FRIDAY, DECEMBER II, 1992

OBITUARIES ......B2
INSIDE VIRGINIA B10
WEATHER .........B18

Richmond Cimes-Dispatch

METRO

<
Ca
<

SECTION B
t

BUSINESS.

B12

unch executed for 1982 robbery-slaying ;

BY FRANK GREEN
AND ALAN COOPER

TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITERS

Timothy Dale Bunch, a former ma-
rine who murdered a Dale City wom-
an during a robbery 10 years ago,
died in the electric chair last night in
what was nearly the most extraordi-
nary execution in state, perhaps na-
tional, history.

Shortly before Bunch was electro-
cuted, a federal appeals court re-

scinded an eleventh-hour order from
U.S. District Judge Robert R. Mer-
hige Jr. that the execution be video-
taped and that Bunch, at his own
request, not wear a hood to conceal
his face.

A prison spokesman said Bunch
was pronounced dead at 11:20 p.m.

Bunch, 33, was convicted of the

Jan. 31, 1982, capital murder and rob-_

bery of Su Cha Thomas and was
sentenced to death by a Prince Wil-

liam County jury, which found the

crime so vile as to warrant the elec-
tric chair. ~ “ sy

In a highly unusual twist, at 7:15
last night U.S. District Judge Robert
R. Merhige Jr. ordered the videotap-

ing of the execution at the request of
_ another death row inmate, Syvasky

L. Poyner, as a representative of the
class of all death row inmates. - -
But within minutes of the sched-
uled execution, a three-judge panel of
the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
reversed Merhige and barred the vid-

eotaping.

Court papers “reveal on their face
an attempt by Poyner to interfere in
the execution of Bunch, and the juris-
diction of [Merhige] to interfere in

. Bunch’s execution at the instance of

Poyner,is very doubtful if it exists at

_ “all,” the panel wrote.
a Me

of the panel were judges
_H. Emory Widener Jr., J. Harvie Wil-

“kinson JI and James D. Sprouse.

Widener also emphasized that the

filing of the suit hours before the

execution when the execution had
been scheduled since Aug. 21 creat-
ed “unseemly and undue haste in this
matter of grave public importance.”

While Merhige was. considering
his ruling in Poyner’s case, U.S. Dis-
trict Judge James R. Spencer rejected
a last-minute request by Bunch for a
stay of execution.

Bunch was taken into the death
chamber at 11:03 p.m.; according to
Doug Page with The Associated
Press, a witnéss to the execution.

t-
Then Bunch began. a six-minute z
speech: =
“To tell you the truth, I wanted
this to be a filibuster, but I guess it’s \
time for me to shut up. As Steve \>
Martin said, ‘comedy is not pretty,’ ”
Bunch told witnesses. ~
““T was trying to avoid the death
mask. I wanted more dignity.’ And
then he looked up at the witnesses
and he said, ‘I wanted you to have to

PLEASE SEE BUNCH, PAGE B4 >


_ Six from county await deat

1
i
i
!
‘
|

Bunch, Payne,
Smith, Mackall,
Mu'min, George

By JOHN MERCURIO

Journal staff writer

‘Joining Timothy Bunch on death
row are five men with few common
threads beyond the fact that they
probably will share a common fate.

While some grew up here and
were products of the county schwovl
system, one wandered in for the first
time the night he murdered a gas sta-
ton attendant in Woodbridge. Some
were seen as loners; others were de-
scribed as social butterflies in their
high school yearbooks.

But one similarity does exist:
None of these men — who make up
the largest group of death-row in-
mates currently being held from any
county in the commonwealth —
knew their victims.

Bin 1981, Joseph Payne walked
into Winslow's Groceries on Route
28 in Nokesville. There, he robbed
the store and then shot and killed the
store's 49-year-old proprietor, Lou-
ise Winslow.

- Payne was sentenced to life im-
prisonment, a term he began serving
in’Powhatan Correctional Institute
later in 198). But after five years ut
Powhatan, Payne locked a fellow in-
mate in his cell, doused him with gas-
oline and threw a match through the
door's iron bars, setting the inmate
on fire and k'lling him.

; Payne, who committed a capital
offense when he murdered the in-
mate, was convicted in February
1982 and sent to Mecklenburg Cor-
rectional Facility in Boydton, where
he awaits an execution date.

@ In late November 1986, Antho-
ny Mackall escaped from a halfway
house in Washington. Twelve days
later, he arrived at a Shell station in
Woodbridge, where he shot and
killed Mary Dahn, the attendant on
duty that night.

Mackall, who was in his early 20s,
pointed a gun at Dahn, who was sit-
ting behind the glass of the cashier's
booth, and demanded the contents
of the cash register. .

As Dahn hastily scooped money
from the register, her husband stood
on a ladder nearby, stringing Christ-
mas decorations. While Dahn’s chil-
dren played at her feet, Mackall shot
her in the head and fled the station
with the money.

Mackall has been on death row
since December 1987.

PET Anle death rou inmate whys

wy wwe y

THE PRINCE WILLIAM JOURNAL/MANASSAS WEDNE SDAY- THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 16-17) 1d? AS

Prince William’s death row inmates

Here's a look at the six men convicted of capital murder in Prince William County who are awaiting
execution in Virginia's electric chair. All were prosecuted by Paul Ebert.

Dawud Mu'Min

CRIME NAME CRIME

Killed Louise Winslow Killed Su Cha Thomas
wnile robbing of Dale City while
Winslow's Grocery in committing robbery.
Nokesville. For that ae, On death row since
crime, was sentenced ae aN Nov. 1982

to life imprisonment, ‘ we

but was sentenced to ae

Geath for later killing rr

another inmate. AP

On death row since _

Feb. 1982

Killed Mary Dahn while Killed Manassas Police
robbing the Sgt. John Connor with
Woodbridge gas an assautt rifle.

station where she On death row since
worked. May 1989

On death row since

Dec. 1987

Tony Mackall
; Stabbed Gladys Killed Alex Sztanko of

Nopwasky to death Woodbridge after
while robbing her Dale robbing him and

City store. torturing him with an
On death row since electric stun gun.
June 1989 On death row since

Feb, 1991

pulled the trigger without first rob-
bing his victim is Roy Bruce Smith,
46, who shot and killed Manassas
police Sgt. John Connor in 1988.

Connor, 38, was one of five offi-
cers dispatched to Smith's Manassas
townhouse, where he lived with his
wife. Police were investigating:
neighbors’ complaints that Smith
was sitting on tus front porch, firing
an AR-15 semi-automatic assault ri-
fle into the air.

Connor, who had been with the
force for seven Years and was to be-
come the first city police officer to
die in the line of duty, Was Covering
the back yard when Smith, despon-
dent over a faltering relationship

“ 1 pa 1 40, ee Reve

tehet ‘ ates

door.

Connor ordered Smith to drop his
weapon, When Smith refused to
comply, the two exchanged gunfire,
during which Connor was shot four
times.

Smith was convicted in May 1989
and was sentenced to die. He awaits
aexecution date,

M On Sept. 22, 1988. Dawud Mu-
‘num Was serving a 48-year sentence
for murder and grand larceny he
committed in Grayson County in
1973. That morning, Mu'min, also
known as David Michael Allen, fled a
highway maintenance shop on Tele-
graph Road in Woodbridge, where
he was working in a prison workers

Vrevetreee

A few minutes later, he waliced
into Dale City Floors, a store in /)mv-
dale Plaza off Dale Boulevard, whew
he stabbed shopkeeper Gladys '
wasky with a sharp, pointed ob eek.
Mu'min, 36, retumed to his wor} de-
tail within the hour, wearing
pants inside out and his clothes ©ov~
ered with blood.

M In June 1990, Michael |
George used an electric shock "'s tw
gun" on 15-year-old Manassas »&&
dent Alexander Sztanko, whose body
was found in a wooded area of
City. George robbed and terror;
Sztanko by firing the gun at as
thighs and testicles of the tee. be-
fore shooting him in the back a! the

hoeadath «a GQ.mm handonn

‘in electric chair

After 10-year delay,
Bunch will die first

By JOHN MERCURIO

Journal staff writer

Timothy Bunch, the Quantico Ma-
rine scheduled to die Dec. 10 in Vir-
ginia’s electric chair, would be the
first county resident executed by the
stale. .

Bunch has been on death row
since his 1982 conviction for the
murder of a Woodbridge woman,
and his attorneys have exhausted ap:
peals filed on his behalf.

While Bunch’s execution would be
the first of a Prince William resident,
the county has more inmates on
death row — six — than any other
jurisdiction in the stale.

On Jan. 31, 1982, Bunch, a ser-
geant with the Quantico Security
Battahon who had spent only a few
months on the marine base, shot and
strangled Su Cha Thomas in her
home at 14428 Meridian Drive in
Woodbridge and stole more than
$20,000 worth of jewelry and an un-
known sum of money, according to
court records.

Thomas, 40, was a secretary for
Meradcom, a credit union at Fort
Belvoir.

Bunch. who had asked Thomas to
dinner earlier that day, arnved at her
one-story. White-paneled house,
where the couple engaged in a game
of “hide and seek” at lus request, ac-
cording to a statement made by
Bunch at the time of his arrest, au-
thorities said. Bunch hid; Thomas
sought.

“Bunch had made up his nund to
kill her. so he was just playing: with
her mind before he shot her.” said
Commonwealth s Attorney Paul
Ebert. who prosecuted the case. “He
knew what he was planning to do the
whole time.”

Minutes later. after Thomas had
found Bunch hiding in a bathtub be-
hind a vellow shower curtain, she
suggested they quit the game and
leave for dinner. Bunch then pulled at
w2-caliber pistol trom under his
jacket and shot Thomas in the tem-
ple, according to court records

When Bunch determined that the
shot had not killed Thomas, he
dragged the unconscious victim
across the hall to her bedroom,
where he wrapped a searf around
her neck and hanged ber from a

Anarborydy aecrredorret toy the reoceards

A neighbor found Thomas” body
the following afternoon.

Before he left several days later
fora one-Vear assignment at die US.
Murine base in Iwakuni, Japan
Bunch hawked most of Thomas’ jew-
elry to a pawn shop in Arlington
Ebert said. Investigators ascemained
from the store's records that Buneth
had pawned the jyewelm -— evidence
used to link hintte the murder

Bunch was arrested in Japan on
Feb. 17. His five-day tnal began Aug
1b. 2982.

Bunch has been held at the Meck-
lenburg Correctional Center in
Boydton — about 160 trules south vi
Prince Wilham — since tus sencenc-
ing in 182. His execuuon bs setied:
uled for the Greensville Correctional!
Center in Jarratt.

Severd death sentences have beer
ovenurned by presiding governors
since the General Assembly legalized
capital punishinent following a land:
mark Supreine Court decision ii
1976. But Eber said Bunch’s attur:
neys have exhausted the stale ap-
peals process and Unat the execution
likely will take place as planed

The U.S. Supreme Court demed
Bunch’s request for habéas curpus
last June, leaving clemency by Gos
L. Douglas Wilder his only recourse

Inmates frequently request writs
ol habeas corpus, which inoply thes
are being imprisoned without just
Cudse,

Dawud Muémin, a death row tn-
mate convicted of murdering a Dae
City shopkeeper in september TSS
atter he fled a prison catnip in tas
market won a writ Of habeas Cormus
tromthe Cirewit Courton Aug 10

Muomin. also known as David Me
Chacl Allen. Was to receive al execu
tion date with Bunch, but bert s of
hice withdrew that request pena!
the outcome of the most recent coun
order,

“The court will hot do anvils i
the case until [delense atlorieys |
have exhausted their legal creme
dies, said Eben. That's what takes
so long to wet these peoply executed
[fis attorneys} continue to file writs
of habeus corpus, and the process
takes so long to get Chrougeh the svs
tem that they manage to bake as lone
as they possibly can

Richwond Timas- Dispoteh,
U{s30-F/ |

Court rejects appeal on murder |

By Frank Green

Times-Dispatch staff writer

A federal appeals court yesterday turned down
the capital murder conviction and death sentence
appeal of a former Marine sergeant convicted of
shooting and hanging a Dale City woman in 1982,
in part for sexual gratification.

Timothy Dale Bunch was convicted of the Jan. -

31, 1982, slaying and robbery of Su Cha Thomas
and was sentenced to death by a Prince William
County jury, which found the crime so vile that it
warranted the electric chair.

Bunch and Ms. Thomas, a divorcee, had “de-
veloped an intimate relationship” while Bunch
was temporarily stationed at. the U.S. Marine
Corps base in Quantico. Soon after the slaying, he
was transferred to his permanent duty station in
Japan.

Ms. Thomas was shot in the head and then
hanged from a doorknob with one of her scarves.

Bunch told an investigator that he believed his

victim was “a slut” who reminded him of his. ex-

wife. He said he had a sexual orgasm when he

killed her. :
Bunch stole a Rolex watch, diamond ring and
pearl necklace from the house and then ran-

His appeals have been turned down by state

courts and most recently last year by U.S. District:
Judge James R. Spencer, who noted that “as [Ms. .

Thomas] was dying, Bunch turned on the stereo,

. drank wine and went through her belongings. He ©
testified his feelings of euphoria continued while «

he hanged Ms. Thomas from a doorknob.” * .
Yesterday a three-judge panel of the 4th U‘S.

Circuit Court of Appeals also rejected Bunch’s:
appeal, ruling, among other things, that Bunch’s -
\ performed a. constitutionally adequate

lawyers
defense. a : a

“It is becoming all too commonplace to charge
even diligent counsel in the midst of difficult

Circumstances with the adverse outcome of a

capital case,” wrote Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson

VO.

Bunch contended that his lawyers should have
put a psychiatrist on the stand to testify about his

sacked it, apparently to make it appear the slaying _ stressful childhood.
had been committed by someone who had broken

-into the house to rob it.

However, Wilkinson noted, Bunch’s lawyers

_ were aware the psychiatrist, under cross examina-

tion, could have provided the prosecution with
evidence so damaging it would have outweighed

any positive value of the direct testimony.
_ “The failure to put on such evidence, or the
presentation of evidence which then backfires,

may equally expose counsel ... to charges of
ineffectiveness,” Wilkinson wrote.

Wilkinson said that “we conclude that Bunch’s
counsel made reasonable professional judgments
and did not render constitutionally defective as-
sistance of counsel.”

The appeals court also rejected numerous oth-

er claims of error in-both the guilt and punish-
ment phases of Bunch’s trial.

[Comp \>eA |

YoRK CAMPBELL. | CULPEPPER LH. VIRGINIA | 8-5-/870
B | |
MURDER 12-25-69
Pollux Patrick B | eherly’
Contessed. No shur detai/s,

APPEALS

SOURCE

FRANK NEWTON OFFICE SUPPLY=OOTHAN

S SLAVE CAESAR, hanged Norfolk, Virginity 7 T1815.

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CARR. Dempsey, hanged, Isle of Wight County, Va., on June 20, 1823.

"Norfolk, July 2, 18238Ihe following is an extract of a letter from a subscriber in
Nansemond County, dated 23rd ult, = 'At the last Superior Court for Isle-of-Wight county
came on the trial of Willis and Dempsey Carr, for the murder of John McCall last autumn,
while he and his wife were travelling through that county, from Tennessee - the particu-
lars of which you published at the time, Willis was sentenced to eighteen years imoris-
onment in the penitentiary, and Nempsey was condemned to be hung on Friday, the 20th

of June. “is execution accordingly took place on that day, at which I was present, The
criminal was taken from the jail to the gallows in a cart, aniidst an immense concourse
of spectators, and attended by a Minister of the Gospel, ae delivered a sermon at the
fatal tree, to which the miserable man paid great attention, He met his fate with much
composure, declaring that his soul had been converted thirteen days previous. He called
his wife and several of his acquaintance to him, and implored them to seek salvation
that they might be prepared to meet him in a better world, He took an affectionate leave
of them, and in the next moment the fatal drop fell, and he was left suspended in the
air - but the rope not being strong enough to bear his weight broke about six inches
from his neck and he fell to the ground, The noose was instantly disengaged from his
oe and another provided. As soon as he recovered himself he began to pray aloud to
ae scaffolds in a few seconds more he was ee into aromiley, At the close of

this tragic scene there was a great deal of confusion among the the crowd, occasioned

by a whirlwind, which, however, did no injury except in sweeping a young lady's shawl
from her shoulders and carrying it away, ~- HERALD.'" DAILY NATIONAL INIELLIGENCER.,
Washington, DC, 7-7-1823 (2=l.)

From NORFOLK & PORTSMOUTH HERALD = Monday, November 25, 18223 "MURDER IN ISLE OF WIGHT
COUNTY (Extract) = John McCall, his wife Courtney McCall, and a small boy travelling in a
gie from Logan County, (Ten.) to Camden County, (Ne Ce) while stopped on the side of a
road in Isle of “fight County...John McCall was robbed and murdered,,,Willie Carr, (his
brother) and Meredith Turner were accused,"

THE HOTEL IN THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP AND CONTEMPORARY EVENTS THEREABOUTS, by Jesse F,.
Pugh, Old Trap, Ne Ce, and Frank {, Williams, Norfolk, Vae: Old Trap: Jesse F, Puph,
1964, page 102.

CARR, Dempsey

Hanged, Isle of Wight County, Virginia, on June 20,
1823, See worksheet, ae en Pah Up, Pound

(A white at. On 102622 he killed anther whyte
4 (iti sacwwned, Ahn lhe C411. by biterilly Mowing bs Litas f oC
) # utth a Seiji, Viction ded 07 Mh fd sS

¢

it Lox 271, Executive lagers OF COEINOP. )

a

sentence to life at tne new stute penitentiary."
HOwOn awD VIOLeanCe IN Inc OLD »sOUTH, by Bertram
wyaté-Brown; New York/vxfords vxford University
Press, 1986, page 175 Jy sa (tol fuck up snd agate t btse fy CASE.
on the wrigiine/ documents. Box 123, Exec. Papers of Gov. Va. State frrcmives.

Lato and faterch were ‘young brothers, the latter ged 18. On -J01802 Caro
byained ter masher with an are and with Patch 8 aid, Carried his body 70
a woodlot and gave wut a story That he head been Killed by 4 falling 77¢E- Cate
‘swung on 313/02 ut Patoick ras granted a respite pending investigTion

late Mis olegree ot snvolvemet?,

4

/

swe =r

A

ad Cewtealy had his Scrtence chumeted on 5-1-1802.


Slave CAT), hanged Caroline County, Virginia, March 12, 1802,

From Box 123, Executive Papers of Governors of Virginia (Condensed),
Virginia State Archives. Cato and Patrick were young brothers,
the latter aged 18, On January 30, 1802, Cato brained their master with
an Ax and With Patrick's assitance, carried his body to a woodlot
and gave out the story that he had been killed by a falling ¥#x#

tree. Cato hanged on March 12, 1802, but Patrick was granted
a respite pending investigation into the degree of his involvement,
Patrick eventually had his sentence commuted on May 1, 1802,

CaTO, a slave (or PatnIcK) PETiCs Commit

At Caroline County Court of Oyer & Terminer on
February 9, 1802, Cato, the property of Edward
Broaddus, deceased, was convicted of murder.
Valued at 6555.55. Sheriff certifies that the
hanging took place on March X 12, 1802,

State Archives, Box 2, Item 153, Env@lope 1802,
Necedi Caroline Co, a., at the helehs of the
panic in 1802...neighbors petitioned for the
reprieve of a slave muamed Cato. His elder bro-
ther, Patrick, had slain their master; Cato had
merely helped to pluce the body under a fallen
tree to make the axing appear accidental, The
Governor and execusive countll commuted Gato's



Ex-Navy
officer
executed
for killing

Chabrol decided
not to fight for life

_ BY FRANK GREEN
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER ©

JARRATT — A former Navy officer
who abducted, raped and murdered
an enlisted woman two years ago was
executed last night in the electric
chair at the Greensville Correctional

_ Center.

Andrew J. Chabrol,~36;had~a

shorter wait until execution than the
19 other Virginia prisoners put to
death since the U.S. Supreme Court
allowed states to resume executions.

The Virginia Supreme Court up-
held his case in an automatic review
earlier this year and he did not file
further appeals.

Refuses to be interviewed

Chabrol had refused all requests
for interviews. Wayne Brown, a pris-
ofi’ ‘Spokesman, said that while Cha-
bréfhad no visitors yesterday, he did
speak with his lawyer, William R.
Brown, of Portsmouth, by telephone.
, Lhe attorney said he was not going
prison but would remain by his

it

tele one should Chabrol change his.

mind.

abrol was pronounced dead at
11:07 p.m., Wayne Brown said. He
made no final statement.

Eatlier in the day, Wayne Brown
said Chabrol was calm and that he
had, requested the menu of his last

‘be kept confidential.

Protesters hold candles

~ Outside the prison entrance, sev-
en‘ ptotesters held lighted candles

and’sang spiritual songs with a.guitar... |

as accompaniment.

>» “We’re supporting this man as he
goesto his death so he doesn’t go by
himself,” said Tom Cleary of Rich-
mond, a probation officer who’s been
to several vigils. “He’s a human be-
inggwho n needs our compassion, our
strength.”

Last night, 15 death penalty oppo-
nents met at St. Peter’s Catholic
Chui ch in Richmond. Afterward, sev-
en drove to Jarratt to offer their spiri-
tual. support to Chabrol. The group
incliided three college students who
are summer missionaries with the
Baptist Student Union who are work-
ing at Beaumont Learning Center in

.SPLEASE SEE DEATH, PAGE B3 >

wiry?

Cui

—

Taste
Neil

Eix-N avy
GiRcer
executed

SaanEenmnae

V ‘DEATH FROM PAGE B1
Powhatan.

Although Chabrol did not request
clemency, his case was reviewed by
Gov. L. Douglas Wilder’s office, but a
decision was reached not to inter-
vene with the execution, a spokes-
man said yesterday. .

.Ghabrol was married with two chil-
dre and was a lieutenant in the Navy
in..September 1990 when he ex-
pressed a romantic interest in Melis-
sa Harrington, a petty officer under
his ¢ommand. She complained, and
he re disciplined.

. Herlater left the Navy for other
reas ns but sought revenge against

arrington and eventually decid-
= to abduct, rape and kill her. He got
a-friend, Stanley Berkeley, to help

On the morning of July 9, 1991,

Chabrol and Berkeley grabbed Ms.

gton as she walked to her car

from her Virginia Beach home. She

was,,plindfolded, tied and gagged,

then.driven to Chabrol’s home in
Chesapeake.

: Ghabrol tied her to a bed in his
house, removed the blindfold, then
raped and sodomized her. The two
later struggled and Chabrol shot her
with.an electric stun gun.

then strangled her with his
han §, tied a rope around her neck,

omer stint Re

1991 AP FILE PHOTO

PUT TO DEATH. Andrew J. Chabrol
did not file appeals on his convic-
tion for a 1991 killing.

wrapped her head with tape and then
covered her head in a plastic bag. She
suffocated but the medical examiner
was unable to say whether his hands,
the rope, tape or bag caused the as-
phyxiation.

He admitted his guilt in a 17-page
statement and pleaded guilty to capi-
tal murder, rape and abduction on
Feb. 28, 1992.

Berkeley was convicted of first-
degree murder, rape and abduction
and was sentenced to three life
terms. His case is on appeal before
the Virginia Court of Appeals, a
spokesman for the Virginia Attorney
General’s office said.

Staff writer Pamela Stallsmith con-
tributed to this article.

Ke ch mond, Virginie @— FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1993 °
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH

sewn ere

mong that 80 percent of
Ai iiceisens who support

the death penalty for par-
ticularly horrid crimes are
bound to be the bloodthirsty, the
unthinking and the cruel. But
far from unusual are those of us
who consider capital punish-
ment not an “example of bar-
barity” but a fitting response to
an intolerably barbarous act:
For taking another’s life, justice
may require a person to forfeit
his own.

Not must, but may — if the
killing is barbarous, due process
observed, counsel adequate,
guilt established beyond reason-
able doubt at the time; if (here
colleague Frank Callaham and I
agree) reasonably subsequent
exculpatory evidence is given its
reasonable due.

Andrew Chabrol’s case, as Mr.
Callaham notes, met these crite-
ria, and others more dubious,
raised more for heat than light.
The “scant delay” — two years
—— between Chabrol’s crime and
his execution did spare him the
usual 10 years or SO on death
row. But opponents of capital
punishment have pushed the ap-
peals process to such lengths;
it’s disingenuous for them then
to argue that justice delayed is
justice denied, or that a decade
of uncertainty on death row is
too harsh. A lifetime’s imprison-

&

BETH BARBER

ment is no walk in the yard —
and is not supposed to be. It is
not, after all, three hours of rape
and duct tape, and strangled for
trying to fight.

As for the “disproportionate” e

implementation of the death
penalty, personal status should
not ‘decide a case and neither
should statistics. Fairness
doesn’t require that we suspend
capital punishment until rich
Yalies are convicted of capital
crimes in the same proportion
as their numbers in the popula-

‘tion, or in the same numbers as

the poor and uneducated. Blind
Justice demands that we don’t.
But to genuine ‘opponents,

such criteria are only pragmatic

means to their principled end of
abolishing capital punishment.
No crime man can commit is
sufficient, by their measure, to
permit society to execute him
without debasing itself. And exe-
cuting him offers society naught
it can’t derive from simply de-

priving him of his liberty —

which offers as well the pros-

pect of his rehabilitation and .

redemption: If the system
could not save Melissa Har--

‘yington, it might yet have :
_ saved Andrew Chabrol.
except that the .
purpose of the criminal-jus- |
‘tice system is not just to re- ©

Except...

habilitate or redeem but also

to punish, and to ensure that .

the punishment fit the crime.

Except that we can’t ignore |

the grossness of the crimi-

nal’s crime, forget the victim, -
discount the danger to prison »

guards and inmates from lif-
ers who need fear no greater
penalty than incarceration.
Except that motive counts,
process counts, protections
count, and on every count the
state differentiates itself from

the murderer who appoints .

himself judge, jury and execu-
tioner, offering no mercy, no
attorney, no appeals.

What capital punishment
says about us as a people is
this: that we can weigh what
society owes a murderer, yet

find it far outweighed by what |
justice owes his victim and |

what society owes itself.

Ms. Barber is an associate :
editor of The Virginian-Pilot —

and The Ledger-Star.

t. 3
f t

A

ee


ASSOCIATED PRESS

JARRATT,.Va. — A former
Navy lieutenant who murdered an
enlisted woman because she com-
plained about his advances was ex- .
ecuted Thursday after refusing to
fight his death sentence. _- :

Andrew J. Chabrol, 36, was pro-
nounced dead in Virginia’s electric
chair at 11:07 p.m. (8:07 p.m.
PDT), said Wayne Brown, opera-
tions officer at the Greensville Cor-
rectional Center.

‘Chabrol was convicted of the

July 1991 rape and murder of Meli- _

Former Navy officer executed as a slayer-rapist

ssa Harrington in his Chesapeake .

home.
He had lost his automatic re-
view before the Virginia Supreme

Court in February and chose not to ...

pursue further appeals.

“He’s made up his mind, and it’s -

been made up for a long time,” said
his attorney, Bill Brown.
Gov. L. Douglas Wilder re-

viewed Chabrol’s case although the ©

inmate did not request clemency,
said Glenn K. Davidson, the gover-
nor’s press secretary. Wilder did
not intervene.

Chabrol spent Thursday at his :

cell next to the electric chair and

_had no visitors, Brown said.

Chabrol tried to develop a ro-
mantic relationship with Harring-
ton — even though she was mar-.
ried — while she was in his com-
mand. But she rejected his.
advances and complained to his
superior.

Chabrol said her complaint had
damaged his career and ruined his
marriage. He left the Navy in Jan-
uary 1991 and began planning re-
venge, keeping a computer journal

‘in which he referred to Harrington

as “Nemesis.”

_Gl¢

San francisco Examiner

ee
|
“A

—[* * & & }——
Friday evening

JUNE 18, 1993.

—a_=_= = onium


Tucson, Friday, June 18, 1993

J

- 1991 AP photg

Andrew J. Chabrol ,
Ex-Navy lieutenant
executed for killing:

4

enlisted woman ; -

JARRATT, Va. (AP) — A forties
Navy lieutenant who murdered: an
enlisted woman because she coms
plained about his advances was éxe;
cuted yesterday after ee: tg
fight his death sentence. ee

Andrew J. Chabrol, 36, was pro:
nouneéd dead in Virginia’s electri¢
chair at 11:07 p.m., said Wayne
Brown, operations officer at ‘the
Greensville Correctional Center....:

Chabrol was convicted of the J aly |
1991 rape and murder of Melissa
Harrington in his Chesapeake
home.

He had lost his automatic review
before the Virginia Supreme Court
in February and chose not to pursue
further appeals.

es

“‘He’s made up his edd and it’ |
been made up for a long time,” ut Tueson, Friday, june 18, 1993 pe |
his attorney, Bill Brown. “He’s: 4
bright individual. It’s an informed
choice.” ;


» Frmay, JuNE18,1993  ./

Death Row Inmate *Calm’
Before Expected Execution

vv) Var

Associated Press

JARRATT, Va., June 17—A for-
mer Navy lieutenant who murdered
an enlisted woman because she
complained about his , advances
awaited execution tonight after
steadfastly refusing to fight his
death sentence.

‘Andrew J. Chabrol, 36, was to die
in*-Virginia’s electric chair at 11
p.m. for the July 1991 rape and
murder of Melissa Harrington in his
Chesapeake home. .

Chabrol lost his automatic review
before the Virginia Supreme Court
in February and chose not to pursue
further appeals.

“He’s made up his mind, and it’s
been made up for a long time,” said
his: attorney, Bill Brown. “He’ sa
bright individual. It S an informed
choice.”

Gov. L. Douglas Wilder reviewed
Chabrol’s case, although the inmate
did not request clemency, said
Glenn K. Davidson, the governor’s
press- secretary. Wilder did not in-
tervene.

<Chabrol spent the day i in his cell
néxe"to the electric chair at the
Greensville Correctional Center.
He-had no visitors on his schedule,
said Wayne Brown, operations of-
ficer at the Greensville prison.

“He’s pretty calm, definitely ra-
tional,” Brown said.

Chabrol had a shorter wait until
execution than the 19 other Vir-
ginia: prisoners put to death since
thé..U.S. Supreme Court allowed
statés* to resume executions in
1976s

The former lieutenant tried to
develop a romantic , relationship
with Harrington while she was in
his command. But she rejected his
advances and complained to his su-
perior.

Chabrol said her ‘complaint dam-
aged his career and ruined his mar-
riage. He left the Navy in January

1991 and ‘began planning: revenge, :

keeping a computer journal in which
he referred to Harrington as “Nem-
esis.”

After several months of searching,
Chabrol learned where Harrington

lived. He got another man, Stanley J. |
Berkeley, to help him abduct the wo- |

man from her Virginia Beach home

while her husband was out of town, . i
and they took her to Chabrol’s house

in Chesapeake.
Harrington was strapped to a bed

and raped. When she tried to fight,

her head was tightly wrapped in

duct tape and she was strangled.

with a rope.

“I just went berserk,” Chabrol
testified at his trial, where he
pleaded guilty. Berkeley was sen-
tenced to three life terms on con-
victions of first-degree murder,
rape and abduction.

Harrington’s husband, Joseph, a
Navy weapons chief warrant officer,
said this week he was_ glad
Chabrol’s execution was near.

“I just hope they get it over with
as soon as possible, and get things
back to ..
same,” he said. “But at least it will
give me some satisfaction that he
got what he deserved.”

fp. 84

The Washington Post |

. well, they won’t be the


3 ee ae |

AG Friday, June 18, 1993 @ The Fresno Bee

_AROUND THE NATION.

Virginia execution

JARRATT, Va. — A former
Navy lieutenant who murdered
an enlisted woman because she

A2 | | complained about his advances
Virainia Execut of i 4 _| was executed Thursday after re-
Vurginia Executes / fusing to fight his death sen-...
Ex-Navy Officer ~~ tence, "7. TU.
Andrew.J. Chabrol, 36, was _
Jarratt, Va. — Andrew J. Chabrol,

pronounced dead in Virginia’s 1
electric chair at 11:07 p.m., said |
Wayne:Brown, operations officer |.

a former Navy lieutenant who _
murdered an enlisted: woman be- :

cause she had ‘complained about at the Greensville Correctional «.
his romantic advances, was'execut- | | Centers 3) %8. i ah Balt
ed in Virginia's electric chair yes- — Chabrol was convicted of the . {
terday after refusing to: fight his July 1991 rape and murder of
death sentence. Melissa Harrington in his Chesa- |
- Chabrol, 36, had been con- : ey oe ae

peake home,
demned forthe July 1991 rape and ~ $8 2 OY OL
murder of Melissa Harrington. : «.
He had tried to develop a rela- . .
tionship. with. Harrington while ©
she was in his command, but she ..
rejected his advances and com- .

‘ A28 ei, Francisco Chronicle +
NATIONAL REPORT

plained: to his superior. Chabrol ~ ©
said her complaint damaged his ca- . | |
reer and ruined his marriage... e
— ; ro) ff
FRIDAY, JUNE 18,1993 fo) Lieutenant executed
o OD _JARRATT, Va. — A former Navy
— S lieutenant who murdered an enlisted
c \ woman because she complained about
2 his advances was executed Thursday
3 - after refusing to fight his death

sentence. Andrew J. Chabrol, 36, was
pronounced dead in Virginia’s electric
chair at 11:07 p.m., said Wayne

Brown, operations officer at the
Greensville Correctional Center.
Chabrol was convicted of the July

1991 rape and murder of Melissa
Harrington in his Chesapeake home. ||
He had lost his automatic review |
before the Virginia Supreme Court in
February and chose not to pursue
further appeals.

AN

661 ‘Bt aun ‘epi

orbit.

won tines Se

CHABROL. And
CHABR Ana wh © tanta DB
» Andrew, wh, elec. VA (Virginia Beach) June 17,1993

| SPECIAL REPORT §

ak aeaed

‘The man who abducted, || |
raped :and murdered his
co-worker dies in the
state’s electric chair.
GREENSVILLE COUNTY
©. JRgndrew J. Chabrol digd in Virginia’s
% electric chair‘at‘11:05 p.m. ©
Thursday when 1,900:volts of
| ity surged thr is)
"The execution that he had 1
‘lenged, but had sought to hast
came only 350 days after a Ci

Court judge sentenced him to d th
for the 1991 murder of Melissa ‘Har-

rington. pa gy ee.

“When a leather. mask:was strapped
across his face, Chabrol closed hi
eyes. His lower lip trembled. As the
”’ switch was thrown, Chabrol’s nose, '

- feet and hands turned a dark, mottled
- red. Flame and smoke came from a
‘clip attached to, his leg. His feet ...

* flexed, and his * Pe
“body tensed.
Following a
--gecond jolt, the ©
- room fell still
for five minutes
before mem- . -
bers of the
death squad
approached
Sead htly

ss. -boun: tig’ in. :
the chair, and The victim,
spened his shirt. Melissa

- A doctor ngto
_ checked fora ~— Harri ’ w
‘heartbeat twice brs
with a stethoscope, then declared:
“This man is now expired.” : J

On July 9, 1991, Chabrol, acting
~ with an accomplice, abducted Har-
rington from her Virginia Beach
townhouse, took her to his Chesa-
’ peake home, tied her to the bed and
raped her, When her body was found
hours later, her face was covered by
duct tape, and she had been stran-

“ON E gled.
Pat. : “Tt is ra peg ar
‘ so al uman being co o to another as
> The murderer's final_hours — was done in this case,” Judge Russell
> The victim’s final hours eee ei Abuiagy re qr, said upon sentencing
: 6 a Chabrol, 36, a former Navy lieu-
> How the electric chair works Aa eeonanty |

THIS STORY WAS REPORTED BY STAFF WRITERS LAURA LAFAY, JO“ JACKSON, JUNE ARNEY AND MATT BOWERS AND COMPILED
BY STAFF WRITER MARC DAVIS AND EDITOR BILL BURKE, LAFAY WAS AN OFFICIAL WITNESS TO THE EXECUTION.


an Sow £

4 10:30 a.m., Portsmouth-’
Brown, calls his est wana
rown, is client. Two" i-.
5 a.m., Virginia Beach ; sion stations have already reqies -
oseph H. Harrington, 34, Me- ¢, e@dinterviews this morning, or at |
lissa Harrington’s widower, % least a'final statement, and Brown
leaves his comfortable subur- «wants to know his client’s wishes.
’ ban home and buys a newspaper. _@ _. Officials bring the telephone into
- The weapons officer is on his way  Chabrol’s cell, but Chabrol doesn’t
to a Norfolk shipyard, where his want to talk to anyone.
Navy ship is laid up for repairs. He *  “Tcalled to tell him that, as ex-
- sees two pictures on the front *, pected, was-hearing from the .
"page: one of his wife, the other of % news media,” Brown says later. |
' her killer. ae ers] # “Did-he want to talk? Did he have ~
“H#-was‘alike a slap in the-face, } anything fo Say? ‘No,’ he said. ‘Defi-
he says. “Even though you know it, (| nitely not’ Then he ended with
’ you.don’t want to face it.” # some unprintable comments direct- :
pe the prison: j Ghatmal 1k foal Go
‘ 9 a.m., s i rol does not “be got an :
. Correctional Center {| objective report from the media,” :

Brown says. Chabrol feels he was
portrayed as a sexually obsessed

a

, Andrew Chabrol sits quietly in his
. windowless, 64-by-12-foot cell in L

- Unit. He has eaten breakfast but re- stalker. He saw himself as part vic-
- fuses to let prison officials divulge tim. He believes he was stalked and
. what he ate. He has not spoken to hounded by Harrington, much as

~ the guards this morning. He has not Michael Do was stalked by

» received any phone calls.“ ° : Glenn Close in the film “Fatal

- , Wayne Brown, Greensyille’s oper- ction.”

‘. ‘ations officer, has overseen several Chabrol seems subdued, almost

executions in his two years as su-

‘ ; eerily so. “He was normal-
» pervisor here. A condemned man’s ». very ;

sounding,” Brown says.

final day is usually a tense’but sub-. Naieenia i:
dued affair, he says. Even so, Cha- "11 aum., Norfolk
brol has been exceptional in his Mark x iy a friend and former
i a Aol ‘ Vat classmai 0 elissa Harrin; ¥ 9
are other death row prison- ces at his watch and ape .
ers have remained so secretive up fee “In Richmond, in 12 hours.
to the time of their executions that Chabrol knows he has a date with"
, they refused to have even the con- Old Sparky.”
tents of their last meals publicly re- : tiny Ae ESE
leased, Brown said. The officers -11 a.m., Portsmouth
guarding him refuse to talk about . The ship on which Joe Harring-
the doomed man’s last day, Brown: ton works is ea ard for an
said. : Deas en cars (1) . On thi , the i
Chabrol is left alone with his enee yy wife’s murderer is to die, he y dis-
thoughts. tracted. He leaves work early,

As he sits, this is what he sees:

: “You can’t concentrate on work
two other small cells, each the size

and on this,” he says.

eS ee a a it a tt Ee

of his. A shower. A small visiting He picks up his girlfriend, Zan-
room where the condemned can In etta, and they go out for lunch at
talk to visitors through a window. Chili’s Grill & Bar on Virgini
this room is a TV, which Chabrol ve! Beach Boulevard. That cheers him
can watch from his cell. a hae pean
, _ Chabrol was brought toL Unit 15 | | t After Zanetta returns to work,
days earlier. He is the only inmate Joe and a Navy chum go to Leg-
, there. The other two cells are used ; M ends, a sports pub, for a few beers.
for storage. An inmate’s personalef- | § § » a
fects are kept for his familyinthese = § \ ) 12:37 p.m., Detroit
cells, Brown said. |} _ Ervin J. Hackert, Melissa Har-
But Chabrol has few personal _ {| rington’s father, is speaking from
items. There are no pictures taped his car phone. He still hasn’t decid-
to his cell’s light-gray walls. ed whether to fly to Virginia for the
‘  Chabrol can see one more thing, execution. He has booked a seat on
' 25 feet from the last cell: the execu- Northwest Airlines flight 1764, non-
tion chamber. This is the path he stop from'Detroit to Richmond. He
will walk tonight. The door to the would leave Detroit at 5:10 p.m. and
chamber is:closed;but when if» =) get in at 7:15 p.m. ‘Then he would
opens, he will see the electric oa rent a car and drive just over 50
set dead-center in the room. | | ‘miles to the prison,
' “I just-don’t know if I need to go

out there and put myself through
any more:of this,” he says, “I’m cer-
tainly looking to close this part of it.
... He lit harassed her to
— Now this is his pig ‘
ckert is spending his day sell-

ing home ings to retailers,
but it’s hard i cera

“T've been trying to find some
things to do,” he says. “I really {
haven't been able to get into my
Wo! ” .

=e.

a

A

ao

Oe ee

N

D

12:49 p.m., Craigsville, Va.

\

A8 THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT AND THE LEDGER-STAR FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1993 SM

iO!

I

Countdown to an execut

3 ay ar
Bi ae j

Joseph H. Harrington watches television: ursd
his wife’s killer. buildup to the event had weighe heavily on him: “It’s
om t i sinvaue Wen i 3

a
. ol

me CICLES : wrt sana _

HERE IS NOTHING electrical
about Virginia's “electric
chair.” The chair is made of
oak. The voltage is supplied sepa-
rately by electrodes that are at-
tached to the condemned inmate's
body after he is.strapped in. The
+ electrodes deliver a short, high-
1 powered spurt of electricity to kill
H feeling in the brain, followed by a
longer, less-powerful charge to de-
stroy life in the body. The process
‘is repeated until a doctor declares
the inmate dead.
Here are the specifications for
execution in the electric chair as
, $ét forth Jan, 22, 1992, by the
- Department/of Corrections. The ini-
_tial charge of 1,900 volts at 7 amps
‘is about eight times more powerful -
eres cette through . nor-
mal-household electrical outlet,
| First cycle: a

130 seconds of high yoltage —
‘about 1,900 volts, 7amps |

———

: AAP file photo about 200-volts; 1amp =» -
Chabrol could see the electric p»5S second pause %
chair down the hall from his. cell | p>-Second cycle: Same as the first -

evening, waiting for news about the pending execution of

Staff photo by PAUL AIKEN

a rough day.”

Greensville
Correctional
Center

in the Greensville Correctional _
‘Center. He refused to share =
details of his final hours with :

Ares

the public) |

Leen

Five minutes later, a physician
determines whether death has oc-
curred, If not, the cycle is repeated

one at a time until it does.


Y

~ until 4:30

sentences, tells his counselof at Au-

Stanley Berkeley, Chabrol’s co-
defendant, who received‘ life...

gusta Correctional Center that he °
doesn’t want to talk to a reporter. pee

Chabrol sits alone in his cell,
reading a newspaper. He has not -
watched TV. No other phone calls.’
have come in after his lawyer's. '

He.can visit with friends or rela- _
tives until 3 p.m., and with reporters:

.m., says Green
erations chief Brown. But no one
has signed up, Brown says.

By now, Chabrol has eaten lunch,
but he will not let the contents or
the time of his meal be released.
Prison officials honor his request. _

“We try to give him a little digni-
ty,” Brown says. br BLY

3:35 p.m; Norfolk

“If Chabrol is sincere in his.wish |

to die, it’s probably the only honor-
able thing he can do,” Melissa Har-
rington’s friend Harju says. “He
knows he deserves it. He wants to

die. I just can’t imagine what would |

motivate a man-to do these things.”

Harrington's death eyokes strong
emotions in Harju hecause his) wife
was being stalked when he met her.

“I had come along just in time to
make a difference for (my wife),” he...
says. “I wish I could have done* © |
something for Melissa. Fortunately,
I was there for my wife. Melissa’s —
husband was in the Mediterranean,
I believe.” a

Harju says he had planned to go
to Greensville and stand outside the
prison during the execution, but
changed his mind last week.

“It wouldn’t really serve any pur-
pose,” he says. “He'll get his, and
the anti-death penalty people will
continue to protest. I’m not cele-
brating him getting his, but it ran-.
kles me when people are saying,
‘Spare him” when he wants to die.
... There’s nothing he can do to
atone for what he’s done.”

Harju says he still feels guilty be-
cause he wasn’t there to prevent
Harrington’s death. —

“She was just such a tiny little
thing. Never hurt anybody . . . to be
brutalized like that. There are just
no words for that barbarism. . . . Ul-
timately, you feel like you let her
down. If I had known she had been
kidnapped off her porch, I would
have kicked his door in and asked

ille op- |

questions later.”

' 4:15 p.m., Richmond

Marie Deans, director of the Vir-
ginia Coalition on Jails and Prisons,
an inmate advocacy. group, has al-
ways managed to'talk a condemned
man into appealing his'case. But
Chabrol has steadfastly refused to
see her or to even speak with her.
 “Pve been trying to convince him
to let people in,” she says. “But if I
can’t see him, I can’t talk to him
....It worries me. Because if he’s
really as sure as he’s saying he is,
then-he wouldn’t mind people talk-
ingtohim.”  _

5:30 p.m., the prison

Father James Griffin, a chaplain,
visits. Chabrol’s cell. They talk for a

ile, and Chabrol seems calm. He
tells Griffin he is determined to go
through with the execution: Chabrol
Says he just wants to get it.over
with.

It has been a quiet afternoon for
the condemned man. He has placed
two calls to the outside, but he
would not allow prison officials to
say whom he called. He has sat in
his cell reading the Bible.

Correction officers wonder among
themselves whether Chabrol will
make a last-minute appeal, but sev-
eral officers interviewed do not
think he will. “He’s quiet and deter-
mined,” one officer says. “I think -
he’ll do what he says.”

5:58 p.m., VirginiaBeach_ .
Joe Harrington is wearing ari
Ocean Pacific T-shirt, acid-washed

_ Jeans and is barefoot, standing in

the kitchen talking on the phone to
his mother in New York.

Moments later, he joins two Navy
friends in the den as the local news
comes on. The three men are sip-
ping Jim Beam. The lead story on
Channel 13 is about Chabrol’s immi-
nent execution. The lengthy seg-
ment includes file footage of Cha-
brol being led from court and Joe
Harrington talking to a news report-
er after the sentencing.

“Well, that’s that,” Joe says. He
rubs at a tear in his left eye behind

his wire-rim glasses, “It’s been a
rough day.”

6:58 p.m., Virginia Beach vi
Joe Harrington and his’friends
are discussing capital punishment. —
They all favor it, and the quicker the
better.
Then Joe says of Chabrol’s sons:
“I feel sorry for those two little
boys, growing up without a dad.”

7:10 p.m., Detroit. =.

Ervin Hackert, Melissa Harring-. .
ton’s father, has decided not to fly ’.
to Virginia after all. “I just felt that.
having gone through the trial every ~
day... I just didn’t think that I).
needed to go out and put myself +.
through more of this.” — fits

He is staying overnight ina De-
troit hotel but plans nothing special -
tonight.  .

“T was just going to sit in my
room and watch the TV,” he says.
“All of us want to add closure to
this. We feel that justice has been
served. Certainly that ends the long
question of what was going to hap-
pen to Andrew Chabrol and when.”

7;54 p.m., the prison:

Dusk is nis over the prison.
It’s even peaceful if you forget what ©
is going to happen in three hours. '
The watchmen in the concrete
guard towers face inward, watching
the prison yard, but no one'moves
inside the razor-wire-enclosed :

The sun sinks behind:the:admin, ,
istration building. The only sounds |
are from the power plant, the gener-
ators of two TV news trucks and
birds chirping in the'swamp. All is / |

—

subdued. .

It is the same inside. Chabrol has

been closeted with the Rev. Griffin

for nearly 22 hours. They speak

quietly. Chabrol has eaten his final

meal but does not want its contents

revealed.

.. Later tonight, two more chaplains
: will come to his cell. The three

chaplains will stay with him until
theendiyrii

8:28 p.m., Virginia Beach

* Joe Harrington and his friend,
Ken Baker, are again discussing the
death penalty. 3

|... “P'd always been an advocate for

the ‘penalty. Always. Since I
was’a little kid,” Harrington says. .

“Some comfort!” Harrington
says.

. 8:48 p.m., Chesapeake - ;

Jesse Parker is thinking of the

approaching death of his good
friend, Andrew Chabrol.

“The last visit I had with Andy in
rison was six weeks ago,” says the
8-year-old sales representative,.

who has known Chabrol for four

|years, “We discussed the death pen-
.‘|alty. He said he believes in capital

punishment. So do I: What he does
. not believe in is the way the Virgin-
ja system treats its inmates. It’s so
antiquated, he;said.”.

4,

. |... ‘The visit was almost.too much for

Parker to handle. “Andy said he

006593

lore going to withdraw into himself —
to get through this,” Parker says.
“That about not appealing his sen-
tence — it’s not that he has a death
wish, it’s just that he has nothing to
live for. He has no future. And in

the end, it would all end up the
sane.”

‘Parker’s voice grows hurt, bewil-
déred. “There’s no excuse for what |
hedid . . . but still, this is absolutely
such a waste. This is absolutely the
test tragedy I’ve ever wit-
néssed. Andy is such a brilliant
. He’s such a good writer... .

’s had poetry published. He was

‘good to people. . .. What he did

tg Harrington was not at all like

. He had a beautiful wife, two of

most precious children. Now he
has nothing. |

“Because of all this, I think Andy
will go through with the execution,”
Parker says. “Andy’s the type that

en he makes up his mind, he
es up his mind. He’s looking
forward to getting out of this world
and er hear squared away.”
er? At 11:05, he and his
girlfriend, who also knew Chabrol,

“vill probably be sitting on the

couch, holding hands. We’ll be

| thinking of Andy. We’ll be praying

that God will accept his soul.”

9:30, the prison
‘The three chaplains have left
Chabrol’s cell but will soon be re-
ev ank Chabrol re- ©
rains quietly inside, alone. There is

‘word that he has a last wish, but he

has asked that it not be made ©
public. -

j
{9:47 p.m., outside the prison
t¥our demonstrators stand in a
ld near the main entrance to the
ison. One has brought a guitar,
but it’s still in the case. There
ng signs or placards. ;
¢ “We're supporting this man as he
goes to his death so he doesn’t go
all by himself,” says Tom Cleary, a
Chesterfield County probation offi-
cer. All four had earlier attended ai
ecumenical prayer service in Rich-

mond sponsored by an anti-death
penalty organization. Chabrol,
Cleary said, “is a human being who
needs our consolation and :
strength.” Ros:
By 10:15 p.m., there are seven
demonstrators and six reporters

outside the prison. = =. sj

- 10:15 p.m., prison administration

building ie
Danny Allen, a paint salesman

from Emporia, is about to witness

his second execution. “Ain’t nothing

to it,” he says. “It’s like killing a _
deer. He’s dying a whole lot easie
than the person he killed.” '

His hunting and fishing buddy,
Capt. Lloyd Ligon of the Greensville
Sheriffs Department, is also a wit-
ness. He says, “It’s the law of the
land. I believe in it.”

10:37, outside the prison
The six demonstrators gather in
a semicircle in field. A man starts
playing “Amazing Grace” on the

-guitar. The group bows their heads

as Cleary begins to pray:
“Be with our tirother aia his fam-
ily,” he intones. Then he mentions
the victim’s family arid the execu-
tioners. “It’s a very sad moment for
all of us.”

10:55 p.m., inside the prison

Chabrol enters the death cham-
ber, a room with gray cinder-block
walls and gray linoleum floor, His _
head is shaved, but he still has his
mustache. He is wearing blue flip-
flops, a light-blue shirt with no but-
tons, and jeans with no zipper.

He stares straight ahead and
shakes his head when asked if
whether he ing to say, He
makes no eye ‘contact with anyone.

He sits in the chair. The death
squad attaches a clip to his calf,
where the jeans are cut above his

right knee. Between the clip and his
calf is a sponge soaked in saltwater |

to help conduct electricity.

Next, they put the brown leather
mask on his face. Only his nose and
chin show through. They put anoth-
er connector on his head, in a hel-

met. Another saltwater sponge is in-

side the helmet, next to his head.
Both connectors, to the head and

calf, connect by a cable to the elec-

trical mechanism. Yh
Father Griffin touches Chabrol’s
shoulders and whispers something
to him. The Rev. Russ Ford, direc-
tor of prison chaplains, does.the. .
same. Then they withdraw from the
room. ata yaa

“11 p.m., inside the prison

|. There is a box on the wall with a
key behind the chair. The warden
turns the key, activating the electri-
cal mechanism. Then, the execu-

-tioner throws the switch.

Chabrol is strapped so tightly that
his chest and belly are bulging over
the straps. His nose, feet and hands
turn red. Flame and smoke come
from the clip on his leg, along with a
sizzling sound. His feet flex, and his
body tenses. The first cycle ends af-

ter 30 seconds.

__ The second cycle of 60 seconds.
begins. Saliva drips from beneath :
the mask. Smoke and flame and
crackling again are seen and heard
from the leg clip: Then it ends.

The body is still. THe room is si-
lent except.for an occasional cough.
Everyone waits for five minutes to
pass. .

The assistant warden is on one
phone at one side of the room. Cor-
rections Director Ed Murray is on
another phone to Gov. L. Douglas
Wilder. They stare at the clock and

. do not talk.

11:05 p.m., inside the prison

Death squad members open Cha-
brol’s shirt. Dr. B. Kapil enters and
checks Chabrol with a stethoscope
twice, listening for a heartbeat.
“This man is now expired,” he says.

The curtain closes around the ob-
servation booth. Witnesses are hus-
tled out of the room. The death
chamber is thick with the smell of

. burnt skin and hair.

The witnesses get into the white
corrections van outside the death
house, Jim Bass, a corrections offi-
cial, says, “That was pretty much

‘normal. As expected. Nothing out of
the ordinary.” tak

r 11 p.m., Birmingham, Mich.
Bradley Ballard, a retired Navy
commander, stands and salutes to
the southeast. That’s where his
granddaughter’s death is being
avenged at this hour.

~ L, ‘Ballard — Melissa Harrington’s

grandfather — spent time earlier
today looking at clippings and cards
he collected after her death.

“This is the end of a long, hard

| two years,” he said. “This been

a terrible thing to go through.”

11:16 p.m., Virginia Beach

Joe Harrington is sitting on his
couch, impatiently watching Chan-
nel 3 news, when he learns it’s over.

He clenches his left fist in his lap,
takes two heavy breaths and wipes
his eyes one at a time. He wipes the
tears on his jeans. He takes a gulp
from his drink.

Then he turns to his girlfriend
and says, “Why don’t you call my
mom and tell her?”

His friend Ken Baker leans for- -
ward in his chair, looks at Harring-
ton, and says, “It’s over, bud.”

Harrington sits wiping tears from

‘his eyes, still staring at the TV,
which has long since cut to a
commercial.


(3) January , S94.

328 f
VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE

Flanging and Quaricring.—In the M

rag of the notice of Mr. Conway’s re
ief in the correctness of a tradition re

tering of certain unknown negroes :

Pes Sealine: A "Broes, at some unknown perj i >

ie Ld "a eons Seam, his disbelief on his et id a

pea Rs bien Be nenmeat in any extant record, which he had

he hen ee . e “ the name “Skinquarter”’ has the meaning

als wee = i is from the word ‘quarter,’ as so sede.
rginia; but there is now reason to believe that the

other names may i i
je % ay have been derived in the manner ascribed j
lon given to Mr. Conway. ee

agazine for October last, the
cent book expressed his disbe-
lating to the hanging and quar-

genealogy, has i

pce : hak the writer to the following instances whi

ai St : us county, Goochland, in 1733, and at his re st teen
: - : Ids « « ~ ques

Wie a g is furnish a copy of the record. It will be na h: “this

lent was not within the ordinary jurisdi Sir ucour

agate * ction of a
as inflicted by a court of oyer and terminer Sel iane “ahd

Sixteen

the hi j <ee
he history of Massachusetts shows ee

_ | a more remarkable inst;
punishment of slaves for murdering arenes

a white ma
as | e man.
an, the othera w oman, had poisoned their

the man was hung in chains, while
rash at Cambridge, in 1749
rom th iscovery 2
a aera Ld the Country by Cabot in 1497 to 1820, by Al-
aoe seed ih ac meer of the Massachusetts Historical
came cs | 1843, at Boston, by S. G. Simpkins.) The -
conside in Virginia and Massachusetts shows that the erir nee
sccompantttae petty treason, mutilation of the body béing a s “|
animents of the punishment inflicted unc ee
by the provisions of the English law

wo negroes, one a

the woman was burnt. This
(See New England Chronology

as
of the
Jer these circumstances,

A > =
t a Court called for Goochland County the t

MDCCXXXIIL. for the tryall wenty-fifth day of June

- af Champion a Negro man slave, Lucy,

ail f « « . Oo J 4 S a

a epro woman sl ive b th be longing to mat tc hins But ton 9AM p-
' if

son Har ry 3 © sap belon y “ 4 =
’ ’ & Cc eorge, thre e Ne gro men s] aves ging to WV il

1d¢
i , q ’ x ’ 0

; ieee from the Hon'ble William Gooch
L overnor & Conimander in chief of this Dom
ing, William Mayo, Daniel Stone

Esq't His Majesty's
ils 7 inion to John Flem-
Eine 6 ; n r, Lariton Fleming, Allen } re
ae EOTEE Payne, William Cabbell, James Hcimaie thas
7 bef ieegtOee an George Raine, & Anthony Hogegatt 7 we
‘ yer and Terminer for the tryall of Champion a Ne

man slave, Lucy a Negro wom hing

an slave both belonging to Hutchins

~ > ¥ . os
master, and for this crinie Te

NOTES AND QUERIES. 829

Burton, Sampson, Harry, & George, three Negro men slaves belonging
to William Randolph Esq’e & Valentine a Negro man slave belonging
to Bowler Cocke gent. being read as also the Dedimus for administer-
ing the Oaths & Test therein mentioned George Payne & Anthony
Hoggatt gent. administter the oaths appointed by Act of Parliament
to be taken instead of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy the Oath
appointed to be taken by an Act of Parliament made in the first year
of the reign of his late Majesty King George the ffirst Entitled An Act
for the further security of his Majesty’s person and Government and the
Succession of the Crown in the Heirs of the late Princess Sophia being
Protestants and for extinguishing the hopes of the pretended Prince of
Wales and his open & secret abettors, unto John fleming & Daniel
Stoner, gent. who Subscribe the Test take the Oath for duly executing
the Office of a Commissioner of Oyer and Terminer, and then adminis-
ter the said Oaths & Test unto Tarlton fileming, George Payne, James
Skelton & Anthony Hoggatt, gent.

Champion being brought to the Barr an Indictment against him for
feloniously murdering Robert Allen of this County is read the prisoner
confesses himself guilty of the said murder and it is thereupon con-
sidered by the court that he return to the place from whence he came
and from thence to the place of Execution there to be hanged by the
neck on Wednesday next between the hours of eleven and two till
he be dead. The Court value the said Negro at thirty pounds Curr’t
money.

George, Sampson & Harry, being brought to the Barr several Indict-
ments against them for feloniously murdering Robert Allen of this
County are read the prisoners plead not guilty whereupon the Witnesses
& the prisoners defence being heard it is the opinion of the Court that
they are not guilty and they are thereupon acquitted.

Valentine being brought to the Barr an Indictment against him for
feloniously murdering Robert Allen of this County is read the prisoner
pleads not guilty whereupon the Witnesses & the prisoners defence
being heard it is the opinion of the Court that he is guilty and it is con-
sidered that he return to the place from whence he came and from
thence to the place of Execution there to be hanged by the neck on
Wednesday next between the hours of eleven & two till he be dead.
The Court value the said Negro at forty pounds Curr’t money.

Lucy being brought to the Barr an. Indictment against her for felo-
niously murdering Robert Allen of this County is read the prisoner
pleads not guilty and whereupon the Witnesses and the prisoners de-
fence being heard it is the opinion of the Court that she is not guilty of
the murder but upon Consideration that she is supposed to have known
of the murder after it was committed & did not discover the same it is
Ordered that she receive on her bare back twenty one lashes well laid
on at the Comon whipping post & that she be then discharged.

*CELIm6c-9 uo **ep ffqun0oD pueTYyoooy peynoexe Ssaarts *aANTINTIVA PU NOIdWVHO

DALLAS MeRAMG WEWS
FRI BBS

_ Ex-Navy officer executed for slaying
- MJARRATT, Va. — A former Navy lieutenant who
murdered an enlisted woman because she complained
about his advances was executed Thursday after re-

fusing to fight his death sentence. Andrew J. Chabrol,

36, was pronounced dead in Virginia’s electric chair at
11:07 p.m.


The final hour in’M

NDREW CHABROL, dis- revenge.” Ireland. - th Court. “. . . Somewhere along

Suised in wrap-around sun- It was 6:25 a.m. on July 9, 1991. Chabrol took Harrington into the line, all the rage. .. arose ex-

glasses and a baseball Chabrol’s friend, Stanley Berkeley, the master bedroom, where he -plosively and I went berserk.”
with a ponytail attached to it, was waiting behind the wheel of had rigged the bed with ropes to vhabrol wrapped Harrington’s
grabbed Melissa Harrington in. the Chabrol’s white Ford Taurus. As tie her hands and ankles. He tied in a blanket and covered her
parking lot of her Virginia Beach arrington screamed and strug. her down and cut her clothes off head with a plastic Farm Fresh
townhouse. gled, Chabrol shoved her intothe —_ with a knife. Then he and Berke- bag.

According to a diary he kept, back seat and the three headed for ley took turns raping her. Berkeley ordered a pizza and
Chabrol had planned the moment Chabrol’s house in Chesapeake. Shortly after 9:30 a.m., accord- waiched “Full Metal Jacket” on
for six months. He was convinced Inside the car, Chabrol covered g to Chabrol, Harrington freed the VCR in the next room, Chabrol
that Harrington had tried tose-  Harrington’s eyes and mouth with _ one of her hands, hit him across knelt beside Harrington’s body.
duce him in order to make anoth-" duct tape, and told her he wouldn’t the face and began screaming fo “I remember looking at her and
er co-worker jealous. hurt her. help. In the ensuing struggle, Cha- holding her hands, thinking it had

He felt that the sexual harass- Berkeley backed the Taurus brol stunned her with a stun gun all been so pointless and unneces-
ment complaint she made about into Chabrol’s 8arage in the Albé- and Strangled her. sary,” he wrote.

im was part of a campaign to marle Acres subdivision about 7:50 “Trying to hold her hands and “I apologized to her out loud,
ruin his life. And he wanted, he a.m. Chabrol’s wife and children _ stop her yelling was futile,” he hoping that somewhere she
wrote, “to exact some measure of _ were away, visiting relatives in wrote in a 17-page Statement to heard.”

/

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4.9

issa Harrington’ life


Sap report

GREENSVILLE COUNTY —
Andrew J. Chabrol died in Vir-
ginia’s electric chair at 11:05
p.m. Thursday when 1,900 volts
of electricity surged through his

e execution - he had not

ed, ‘but “had sought: to

has , came only 350 days after

a Circuit Court judge sentenced

him to death for the July 6, 1991,
murder of Melissa Harrington.

Chabrol, acting with an ac-

house, took her to his Chesa-
peake home, tied her to the bed

“was
complice, abucted Harrington

‘from her Virginia Beach-town- § é had been st s
~ “It is incomprehensible that

and raped her. When her body
_was found hours later, her face
3 covered by duct tape and
gled.

one human being could do to an-

is it 2.

journal of Andrew Chabrol’s last day.
§ @ Chabrol’s final hours

@ The final hours of the victim, Mel issa
Harrington, left _

mq @ How the electric chair works .

Ledger-Star compiled a

other as was done in this case,”
Judge Russell I. Townsend Jr.
said upon sentencing Chabrol,
36, a former Navy lieutenant.
Chabrol: has declined recent
requests for interviews, but said

a s

in a jail interview last year that

he believes in an afterlife and -

hopes to rejoin his wife Ann in
heaven...

“T can’t imagine the brain sur-
vives more than a second,” he
said of being electrocuted. “I’m
not worried about the chair .
Although I might hope for some-
thing quicker, like the
guillotine.”

This story was resiortial by staff
writers Laura LaFay, Joé ‘sa

~ son, June Arney and Matt

ers and compiled by staff Hes 8
Marc Davis and editor Bill
Burke.. LaFay was an official
witness to the execution.

‘Andrew J. Chabrol

Had sought to oe has death
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VIRGINIA HISTORICAL MAGAZINE

Ordered that the heads & quarters of

up in severall parts of this County. i mv sentian be set

A Copy—Teste:

P. G. MILLER,

November 23d, 1893. Deputy Clerk Goochland County Court

At a Court held for
Goochland Count i
- erat y the nint
Domi MDCCXXXIII for laying the Condy ah of October Anno

Present:

pone ee Daniel Sfoner, Tariton fllemin
iam Cabbell, James Skelton, Gent. Justic

Goochland County

George Payne,
es.

o'n's # Sb pte's ad os oe Pe Dr. Tobacco.

a
.
oe eee eee ereees
a oe
eee

ae M1 1732-0000... ee. ze wane a aco)
oa going to Williamsburg for a Comission or Oy ‘i -
a. Aah Aad Champion, Lucy, Vialestine ped
tare y eorge, Negros go miles goin at. l
3 toe les returning at alb p. mile eae
- » MUG cin ce eceascacces
A 2 sumoning the Justices and attendin th Sart =
nt € tryal of the said Negros eS ta
oe NEZTOS. 00... eee ee eese eens
ae el mr Champion & Valentine, 250lb pa oc
_ ll oviding Tarr, burying the trunk, cuttin a =
o Kiar Ps Carts & horses, carrying and sctiiog
de S$ & quarters of the two Negros at th falacel
gees ioned by order of Court. ane
Til Hes oath a itt ote tg odsene's
cages = Eatin ropes to hang the two said Negros % es
. mprisonment of C i fey.
he ; of Champio
big pd 22 days imprisonment of iy @ a _— ie
me - for Comitment & releasment of Luc 's iepésn, a
Pre corge & Harry .......... eek aia:
; , mn Bee e eee e cece eee eens oi & oem Khe
bi i. pil 12 days imprisonment of Valentine @ s5lb ie Z
Te Bo: = 4 one imprisonment of Sampson @ Ib sews
beg 4 days imprisonment of Harry (@ sb. aes =
- for 4 days imprisonment of George @ sib Mecsas, me
45 eevee 20

An Extract—Teste

P. G. MILLar,

Nov. 23d, 1893. Dep. Clerk Goochland Co. Ct.

s

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2

VERS

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ee

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Ere oh ete meee In acts
=“ s . ; tN vp ae ‘

se

Commodore Walter Brooke.—Miss H. R. Rooker, of Chariestown,
W. Va., sends us the following sketch of Commodore Walter Brooke—
her grandfather—whose name, it will be recalled, was included in the
list of the officers of the Virginia Navy during the Revolution,
published in the July (1893) number of the Magazine. Commodore
Brooke was one of the three officers of that grade connected with the
Virginia Navy at that time: .

Walter Brooke was a direct descendant of the first of his name who
settled in Maryland, Robert Brooke, who, according to the old record
from which I copy, ‘‘arrived out of England, in Maryland, ye 2oth of
June, 1650, ia ye 48th year of his age, with his wife and ten children,
and 28 white servants. He was the first that did seat Patuxent, about
20 miles up the river, at Della Brooke.” From these eight sons and
two daughters there were numerous descendants, who, in time, spread
from St. Mary’s county to the counties of Charles, Prince George, and
Montgomery in Maryland, and some of whom probably emigraied to
the neighboring State of Virginia. Walter Brooke was a native of
Charles county, where his father, Thomas Brooke, resided, at his es-
tate “ Chickamuxen,” on the Potomac. The father having married into
the Mason family of Virginia, his son afterwards took up his residence
in that State, which accounts for his being in the Virginia Navy.

Having lost his father before attaining his majority, he showed no in-
clination to settle down quietly to a planter’s life, but displayed that
love of adventure which he may have inherited from the early settler,
and which led him to adopt a nautical life. We afterwards find him in
command of a merchant vessel sailing to London from Alexandria
(called in those early days Belle Haven), which was then a port of much
greater importance than at present. In a letter to him, dated 16th
February, 1775, the writer says: “You are take care not to carry goods
of any kind, as the Committees are very strict, and if you transgress
any of the resolves of the General Congress, it will ruin your voyage
and render you obnoxious to your country.” This, it will be observed,

was two months before the battle of Lexington, and we seem to catch
the mutterings of the approaching storm which was soon to burst over
the land.

Naturally, when the Navy Boards were looking for commanders of
their vessels, their attention was called to Captain Brooke, as a man of
experience in that line. From the records of the Navy Board at Wil-
liamsburg, it appears that he was the Captain of the sloop “ Liberty ”
in August 1776; and in the journal of the Virginia Council, 8th April,

1777, appears this entry: “On the recommendation of the Navy Board

it is ordered that a commission issue appointing Walter Brooke, com-

modore of the Navy of this State.” A few extracts from letters of

Thomas Whiting, First Commissioner of the Navy Board, to Commo-

dore Brooke will throw some light on the duties of this post.

“oth April 1777. We are informed on very good authority that a

[Cn Li 4 MAL

HARRY CHAPMAN | CULPEPPER CH. VikeiiA | §-9-/896
RECORD | B | |

CRIME Mi YIRDER | Sept "6 | OTHER

"Henry PENDLETON = | £B | oe Hy/ lirstat

MOTIVE

/puacrtaat belied that vatbrn Aad tpittll ed, Aes wtPha-.

Trached Aecéee den to tet Ame at Nixeyrile snd Cterght Leews

TRIAL

APPEALS

FRANK NEWTON OFFICE SUPPLY—ODOTHAN


Case of Newton Chander
Mechlenbery lo. fa. 87.2

Upgrade To Corrtirmed Status per

1872. arden Hecord of boverva0r..
Va. Stale Archives.

CHANEY. Isaac, black, hanged at Richmond, Virginia, on July 16, 1866,

"From the RICHMOND WHIG, July 17, 1866:

"In October last, as our readers are aware, Mr, and Mrs, Gerald of Rockbridge County,
were the victims of a brutal murder, and Isaac Chhney, a negro, being arrested on sus-
picion of committing the deed, was tried before a Military Commission, found guilty and
condemned to death, After being for some time confined at Staunton, he was removed to
the Libby Prison, in this city, and various days were fixed for his execution, but he was
as often reprieved, The fahal day was at last set for yesterday, and the prisoner given
to understand that he need hope for no further reprieves.

"Chaney, for some time previous to the day fixed for his execution, held daily interviews
with 2 negro preachers, under whose ministrations he professed a change of heart and his
readiness to die.

"The execution, which took place in the interior of the prison, was strictly private

and only persons holding special permits from General Terry were admitted, but this did
not prevent the gathering of an immense throng around the prison, seemingly inspired by
a curiosity to gaze at the walls, within which was to be enacted the fearful tragedy,

or possibly hopigg to get a glimpse as he made the fatal plunge,

"The negro divines alluded to, Jas, H, Holmes and Nelson A, Vandervaughn, spent the
morning in the cell of the condemned man, who ate his breakfast with apparent relish after
a sound night's sleep, He then confessed having committed the murder for which he was
about to die, stating that he was induced to the act by feelings of animosity toward Mr,
Gerald, expressing his regret for the act, acknowledging the justice of his sentence,

and professing himself ready to die,

"At 11:5 the prisoner was led from his cell accompanied by his reverend friends, and
conducted to the trap door on the third floor of the building, He was stout, thick set,
and wery black, about five feet nine inches in height, 32 years of age, weighing about
175 pounds, and with a countenance brutal and sensual, expressive of much low cunning and
ferocity. The face was that of a bold, bad, passionate, revengeful man, and a physio-
gnomist would havepronounced him capable of any crime,

"The rope is attached to a stationary windlass over the trap-door already referred to,
and the black cap was drawn over the face of the doomed man, who bore himself with won-
derful coolness, und a tremor being visible, as the rope was adjusted and he bade fare-
well to the group around him, At 10:0 the trap sprung and the murderer fell with light-
ning rapidity through the drop, but the rope which was new and prepared expressly for
the occasion, and which had been thoroughly t ested, gave way, and the presioner fell to
the second floor, He alighted on his feet, tottered for a moment and fell back, sup-=
porting himself on his hands, He was raised up, but did not seem to be seriously in-
qjured, and remarked that 'he did not mind hanging, but didn't like to be choked in that
waye!

"He was led upstairs, and a new rope being procured, the murderer was swung off again at
11:0 . His neck was broken instantly, and he died without a struggle, only a few con-
vulsive tremors in his limbs being visible, The body hung for 20 minutes and life

being pronounced by Drs, Brown and Tremaine, extince, the roppse was cut down and delivered
to the Freedman s Bureau for burial,

"This negro was born in Ohio, in 183, joined the Federal army during the war, being
attached to Sherman's calvary, was captured by the Confederates, and sold to Mr, Gerald,
In October last he iturdered his master and set fire to the house, burning up Mrs, Gerald
who was asleep in the house at the time, For once military law has awarded justice,"

NEW YORK TIMES, July 20, 1866 (3/2.)


_ CHRISTIAN, Julius and SMITH, Patrick

Christian, 2l-years-old, and Smith, 20-years-old, were black residents
off New Kent County, Va, Smith had, to some extent, been raised by
John S,. Lacey, a l5~year-old respected white man who dealt in hogs
and cattle, Lacey became aware of some criminal activities in which
they and Patrick's younger brother, Claiborne, had been in volved
and threatened to notify the authorities, Christian and the Smiths
knew that Lacey frequently made trips to Richmond where he sold stock
and that when he returned he would Carry, considerable sums of money,
so they. planned to waylay and kill him as he returned from one of the
trips. On the night of January 17, 1879, they lay in wait near
‘Tallesville and when Lacey approached driving his cart they asked
him for a ride. He refused and they dragged him from the vehicle
and began stabbing him, Claiborne Smith, frightened by iamerts the
resistance of Lacey who had armed himself with a hatchet, fled, but
the other two wrested the hatchet from their victim and nearly de-
-capitated him with it, After Lacey was dkad, they stole groceries
and dry goods from the cart and the money in his possession before
fleeing, The bo i . i

the meantime, Gisborne sac Foy Tee pillars abuie Kis nied
pation in the robbery=murder and named Patrick and Christian as his

accomplices and the actual killers, All were taken into custody and

an unsuccessful attempt was made to lynch them on the night of Jan. 19,
Several months previously, the New Kent County Jail had been burned in
an escape attempt by a prisoner who was killed: in the fire and it was
necessary for them to be held in the Henrico County Jail at Richmond
from whence they were weturned for their trial where all: were convicted
and Patrick Smith and Julius Christaan sentenced to die-and- Claiborne

j j j i ith and Christian
Smith sentenced to 18 years in prison, Patrick Smit
were returned to the jail in Richmond to await their execution and they

attemted to set fire to it in effect an escape but only succeeded in

nearly suffocating themselves, When they were returned to New Kent

Court House on the train for their execution on March 25, 1879, they
appe ared indifferent to their fate and freely related the story of

the crime, laughing at incidents they found amusing. When they _
arrived at the Court House, they were dressed in black shrouds before |
bheymountéd the gallows in the presence of 2,000 witnesses. Both made
speeches acknowledging their guilt and warning otheks to profit by aa
their fate, Smith's neck was broken by the fall but Christian died of
‘strangulation, - Smith was buried at the foot of the gallows but Chris-
tian's mother claimed his body and it was delivered to her for burial,

NATIONAL POLICE GAZETTE, 2-1-1879(5-1); 3-8-1879(15-3); l-5-1879(6-)

CHRISTIAN, Julius and SMITH, Patrick

Both black, hanged New Kent Court House, Vas, 3425-1879

See large card

—NATIONAL-POLICE GAZETTE,” Grit Aets ee
— ye5 -1879(6-)) “Se x ge


N DOUBLE-BARRELED “DROP.

Which Opened the Gate of Eternity fo
‘Two Callous, Sooty Murderers, in JucXcia
Retribution for a Cold-Blooded Crime. _

‘TenstTatrs, Va., March 25.—Patrick Smith and Julius

Christian, two ‘negroes convicted of the murder of

John ce Lacy (white). on January ‘17th : last,

were hanged to-day at New Kent County Court.

House. About. 2 ) people were “present. mostiy

whites, but quite ib number were colored women,

The prisoncrs had been confined. in Henrico county

jail in Richmond, the New-Kent prison-having been

burned some months ago by a pridoner who lost his
life'in an attempt to escape “by. this means. They
wer: transported this morning by: way of. the: York

Kiver railroad to Summit station, where a guard of

about thirty well-armed mounted ‘mer awaited. to

escort them to the county court-house, ® The: prison.
ers displayed to the very end the utmost indifference
as to their fate, While on the train they’ converacd
frevly with anyone addressing them, and when ques.
tioned gave an account of the whole. crime’ down to
the minutest dctaila, at times laughing at some deeini
ingly ludicrous incident. “Upon. arriving at the court.
house they were -: Paw aitts ;
3 ATTIRED IN LONG BLACK SHROUDS,
They were driven. to the place of execution, where
the impatient crowd received them with execrations.
Upon being informed that they could make any state-
ment they wished cach one addressed. the. crowd, ac.
knowledging his guilt. warning all against giving was
to temptation, and finally going off inti the droning
monotone peculiar to the race when ‘quoting script.
ure;and giving vent to pious eaclamations. The
black.caps were then drawn over thoir heads and the
next moment. the traps: were sprung. » Christian
struggled considerably, but Smith's neck was probably
broken, and hie struggles were of short duration. mS)
twenty minutes after the trap was sprung the bodier
were taken down, that of Smith being’ immediately
buricd ut the foot of the gallows.. ‘Christian's ody
was kent to his mother. ea WA er ee Aa,

| According to the confession of Christian.

the truth-
‘fulness of which: was not, questioned by Smith, the
‘murder was plotted severafdays before it occurred, 8
third negro, Claiborne Smith, Pat's” brother, being ¢!

‘the party. Smith ie reported to have said at that

“ONE MAN HAS GOT TO, DIE,” uae %

| Though no name was mentioned, all knew who was

| meant. ‘The main object of the murder ie said to have
been a desire to destroy the evidence of a former
| crime committed by one of the negrocs, of which Lacy:
| was cognizant, and which he hed threatened to. dis-
i close, Robbery. was another incentive, the negrocs
| being aware that Lacy would return from Richmond
| with the proceeds of some hog sales. ‘They laid in wait
| for their. victim at 4 lonely poiat: on. the road near
-Palleysville; and whon Lacy came along in: bis cart
the negroes allowed bim to pass for some little. dis:
etance:. They then overtook him, engaged him ‘incon-
“versation and asked if-he would not. give then a lift
in his cart. Lacy refused, and one of ‘the ‘negroes
- dropped on his hands and knees, crawled underneath
| the cart and scized Lacy by his legs, which: were
' dangling over the front. Another ran on ahead and
_ stopped the horse, but Claiborne Smith-at this point
(a BECAME FRIGHTENED AND RAN OFF.” "
. Deaspite'a vigorous resistance, Lacy was .dragged to
the ground, stabbed several times and finally. dis-
patched by Sinith with a hatchet: which Lacy: had
seized to defend himself.” To'effectually complete the
job, Snith ucarly decapitated their victim. The mur-
. derers then robbed the cart of grocerica and dry goods,
‘rifled Lacy’s pockets; thrust the body into the vehicle
and led the horse into Lacy's premised. 00 + |
. Suspicion was first directed toward the two men
| .executed to-day by the revelations of Claiborne Sinith.
| and ultimately-they made no denial. Smith. was
| about twenty Years of age and was tained by the man
“he helped to kill. “Christian ‘was about a year older.
: Both were notoriously bad characters, They Tecently
tried to effect an escape. by setting fire tothe Henrice
| jail, but: only succeeded in nearly suffocating. them-
—pelvens Claiborne Smith, as ancaccessory’ before the
. fact, waa sentenced to the :pehitentiary for eighteen
yvars.. A fourth man, an old: negro named Andrew
Whitney; ia yet to be tried as an accomplice, two of
“the other criminals having been fotind in -his: honse
with the stolen plunder,
é : ET _ Ses


®e

ing, at five o’clock, closed one of the most remarkable.
balls ever known in the bistory of Virginia—a gallows
ball. Yesterday two negroes, Patrick Smith and
Julius Christian, were hanged for murder, and the
| hanging attracted hundrede from every part of the.
| country. The negroee came in immense numbers. » It
was a gala day forthem, and they were all in holiday

attire. The field in: which the men were hanged .

looked like 9 country fair. Booths were erceted. An
enterprising Yankee had a side show and educated
| pig, and itinerant musicians enlivened the occasion.
| After the hanging the ctowds of whites went away,
but the negroes hung about the field and aroun@ the
shallow graves of the felons until dark. . They had

deterinined to have a ball, but according to some
superstition among them it could not begin until . >
: - AFTER

; THE MIDNIGHT HOUR. :
Alarge barn neaf the field was swept clean by bun-
dreds of willing hands, At~ twelve o'clock it wae
crowded. On a amall stage in a corner the stand for
the musicians was placed, which was occupied by
four banjo players and one fiddler. In the middle of
the room was another stand, upon which the man
who called out the figures stood. It was. 8 weird
acene. Boys stood in the corners of the room with
pine-knot torches, which filled the place, with black
smoke, and made a murky light... ¢ Pro ages

At‘ 12:15 the festivities began. Peter Johnson, &
burly tobacco hand, occupied the stand in the middle
of the room, and sang out in stentorian voice:
‘Choose ‘your partners.” The strangely made-up

orchestra struck up “ The Mississippi Sawyer,’ a wild |:

Ethiopian air, and the dancing began. As. the music
went on, the musicians and dancers grew wild and
wilder, until they shouted and. sang as though pos-
sessed by the devil.. Such exclamations as “I could
die dis moment!” “Oh, Lord, how happy lis!" and

| the like were heard, especially from the women. At

about two: o'clock Lucinda Macon, an old Voudou |
negress, suddenly made her appearance in the barn.
The musicians and gh te A

: DANCERS STOPPED, IN TERROR. neTyr
The old hag slipped into the middle of the room, and:
then began a series of strange incantation scenes.
The “ trick” doctrese was dressed in an old blue and
white checkered dress, and had in her hand a large
bundle, tied up in a red handkerchief. She opened
it, and after muttering a lot of gibberish, in what the
negroes say here was an African dialect, she. said she

| had the rope with which the men were hanged, and
| that after she had touched any part of it, that picce
, would secure the possessor against the evil designs of
' any person who tricked them or poisoned them. She
cut it up in small bite, and over each bit she mut-

tered and sprinkled something from.an old jug, and

then she sold it for fifty cents. The rush for there”

pieces of rope was great. ‘The men fought for them.

(This ceremony was kept up until half past two ‘A..
M. The rope did not go around, when this became
known, those who did ‘not ‘get a piece acted like «

fiends, and
BEGGED THE HAQ@ FOR A THREAD ONLY.

She told them that nothing else would effect the
charm except small particles of the clothing in which.
the men were buried. A large party was then started
off to the grave underneath the gallows, for the pur-
pose of disinterring the bodies and bringing back the _
garments. They soon returned in horror to the ball-
room, swearing that they had seen the two. men. who
were hanged walking around the grave. The hag -
added to the excitement by declaring, at the -top of
her voice, singing out. the words, that Smith and |
Christian had not died, because she had given them a
charm. The secret is, that the visit of the dancers to
the grave frightened off two reaurrectioniste who were
after the bodies: for the doctors... The dancing and
singing was kept up until five o'clock, It was an-
nounced by the Voudou doctrees that all who dance?
at the yallows ball would be able to dance as long aa
they lived, vo matter if they lived to be tiinety-one, |


BRO WV iN 5 ] ( he 1 i cd 26 bao e . .
9 bla C k a & © 9 1 3 ¢ e V ch ao D E ( ry Ss lL & ) j = H 6 2) £ — l va l
\ e E { W h ¢; @) ) - 6
sie

Place: Police Headquarters» a
Le portsmouth, Virginia
February 16, 1941 .
ok bt 6:10 PeMe -

Ya

-

I, Charles Brown, make the following voluntery statement to

sheriff W.-C. Whitehead, Detective LeAe Broughtons Detective BBs

; Andrews, Troop WeGe arpeimx Strange » whom I know to be
petcoreemennnsene DOLICO™ ao ficerss and” that anything that I say can be us ed
against me in courte I have not been promised anything nor

have + been threatended in any Ways I make, this statement

xokantx because 44% is the truthe

t left Smithfield about 11 poms Paturdey » Y pruary 15, 1941;
ith Jesse Denson and another man I dia néd knew and -
I got off the car at Martin's lene ana went on to Mrse Crowley's

oil lemp in her hand. She was aressed in her night clathesel
. stepped on the porch so she coyld not see mé until she was got

down stairse I Kept the
the steps then ran in and grabbed her, She, Mrse Crowley; threw

the lamp at me and the lamp expoded and caught the curtain on
firee I toted her out the back door on into the woa s across
Mre Jonnson's avenues I peat her with my fists in the nalle I

seuss en et her -4Anto-~-the wood Be She was

veer Oae @
ak hollering, Ont Oht Helps Helpt in the hogeLote 1
and pulled her dress “over her head and got gome pussy from Mrse

CME Crov.de « ohe tried km 3&5 hard she could ‘to get co el couldn't and
M Cro » I pickdd

her up in the woods pecause she nad wssed out and rought her pack
to the well and took her py the feet and swung her head against the
wells I would have swung her some mae but a car came by and

got scarede 1 went a.
road to Carrollton, On around the airt road, near Mre Quincy

Gilliamts stores then to Ghuckatuck and to Suffolk mnxza walkinge

I caught a ride from Suffolk to Portsmouth and got in Fo rtsmouth
around 8 Semles Sundsy » February 16, 1941; ana was at father's home,
when the déficers arrived to arrest mee I ran when the officers came

on the porch pecause i was scareds
I have read the above statement and certify that 4t is the t

to the best of my knowledge and peliefe 1 willingly sign my name to

7 this Pete 4 @ WieAAeam rp
oo fe bisnecs es” Liv £2 ”) ) 2 eek MR

Nena ft


: i

The Court instructo the jury that if you believe

from the evidence, beyond o reasonable doubt, that Emma

Elizabeth Crawley,was, at.the time the offense was com-

mitted, a female over the age of sixteen (16) years and

that the saoueed had sexual intercourse with the saia

Emma Elizabeth Crawley by force and against her will

and without her onsent, ,then you shall a Pe accused
A

/ pak, Gthtn., bok yafr- tr KRAtddehe tn? LG 7
guilty aS charged in the indigtment and tigt his punibhment
y lef vt Nety  F)

> Lay Lhe, fe them ok _— bene Rccat x (eames -
etdeath’ or-confinement in the penitentiary for lifé, or

for-any-term-not—less—than—five years,-Gy—pOte—~

-III-

7 ~
he Court instructs the jury that the woman must

no ° { f s d 2s s t BA t 11

not be rape, but as to this consent

it must be a conse
nt
not controlled ana dominated by fear

A Consent induced by

fear of il.
bodily harm or personal Violence igs not consent
9

and res
istence 9n the part of the woman is not necessary
,

i & U y S$ Ss
’

that there i |
here is dread or fear of death or bodily injury on
the part of the woman,

BrOWN, Charles

Black, 26, elec. Va. (Isle of Ww
Convicted of 4-15-1941 rape of

blizabeth Crawley near nescue,

and court-documents,; sent by He
341, omfithfield, VA 23430 - Va

ight) 9-26-1941,
mma

wee confession

len H. King, Box

- B&M EX

e

ee

COMMONWEALTI OF VIRGINIA,
County of Isle of Wight, to-wit,
In the Circuit Court of said County:

The grand jurors of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in
ind for the body of the said County of Isle of Wight, and
now attending the said Court at its January term, 1941, upon
their oaths present, that Charlie Brown, on the 16th day of
February, 1941, in the said County of Isle of Wight, with
force and ‘arms jn and upon one Emma Elizabeth Crawley, she
being then and there a female over the age of sixteen years,
to-wit, of the age of twenty-three years, violently, auiaw
fully and felonivusly did make an assault and her, the said
Emma Elizabeth Crgwley, then and tnere to-wit, on the day and
year aforesaid, in the County aforesaid, did feloniously ravish
and carnally know, against her will and by force, against the

peace and dignity of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

‘ > 4a
vey Commonwealth,

= ;

7 Witnessessworn in open Court and sent
on to the grand jury to give evidence;
W. G. Strange’

W. C. Whitehead
Dr. Hugh Warren

lr — gana ee
MRO

STATE PRISON BOARD

Cammonmealth of Virginia Ww... corrals

: CLYDE H. RATCLIFFE
; THE PENITENTIARY ane waa.
RICHMOND ERNEST T. TRICE, M. D.

RICE M. YOUELL
SUPERINTENDENT

September 26, 1941

f Mr. RF. A, Fdwards,
Clerk of the Circuit Court,
Isle of Wight, Virginia,

DearvSiri~

ow a provision of Chapter 3989. Acts

I quote bel
of the Assembly 1908:-

"The superintendent shall certify the
test a the execution of the condemned ‘
felon ‘to the clerk of the .court by Mer
such sentence was pronounced, who sha
file such certificate.with the paper?
of the case and enter the same upon the

records of the case."


(VIRGIVIA )

THE PRINCE WILLIAM JOURNAL/MANASSAS WEDNESDAY-THURSDAY/SEPTEMBER 16-17, 1992 AQ

wait death in electric chair

h row inmates

| murder in Prince William County who are awaiting
osecuted by Paul Ebert.

NAME

CRIME

Killed Su Cha Thomas
of Dale City while
committing robbery.
On death row since
Nov. 1982

Killed Manassas Police
Sgt. John Connor with

rs ie

Michael George

an assault rifle.
On death row since
May 1989
; ee /
i ry ,
— ~~ S
Roy Bruce Smith

Killed Alex Sztanko of
Woodbridge after
robbing him and
torturing him with an
electric stun gun.
On death row since
Feb. 19917

<

*red Smith to drop his
>n Smith refused to
ro exchanged gunfire, |
Connor was shot four |

onvicted in May 1989
need to die. He awaits
ate.

22, 1988, Dawud Mv- |
ng a 48-year sentence

id grand larceny he

Grayson County in

Orning, Mu'min, also

d Michael Allen, fled a

enance shop on Tele-

‘Woodbridge, where

% in a prison workers

A few minutes later, he walled

into Dale City Floors, a store in fparv-

dale Plaza otf Dale Boulevard, whew
he stabbed shopkeeper Gladys °
wasky with a sharp, pointed ob eck.
Mu'min, 36, returned to his wor! de-
tail within the hour, wearing
pants inside out and his clothes cov-
ered with blood.

@ In June 1990, Michael «
George used an electric shock “'s hw
gun” on 15-year-old Manassas +
dent Alexander Sztanko, whose body
was found in a wooded area of .
City. George robbed and terror; 2e/
Sztanko by firing the gun at as
thighs and testicles of the tee. be-
fore shooting him in the back o: te
head with a 9-mm handgun.

After 10-year delay,
Bunch will die first

By JOHN MERCURIO

Journal staff writer

Timothy Bunch, the Quantico Ma-

rine scheduled to die Dec. 10 in Vir-
ginia’s electric chair, would be the
first county resident executed by the
State. .
Bunch has been on death row
since his 1982 conviction for the
murder of a Woodbridge woman,
and his attorneys have exhausted ap-
peals filed on his behalf.

While Bunch’s execution would be
the first of a Prince William resident,
the county has more inmates on
death row — six — than any other
jurisdiction in the state.

On Jan. 31, 1982, Bunch, a ser-
geant with the Quantico Security
Battalion who had spent only a few
months on the marine base, shot and
strangled Su Cha Thomas in her
home at 14428 Meridian Drive in
Woodbridge and stole more than
$20,000 worth of jewelry and an un-
known sum of money, according to
court records.

Thomas, 40, was a secretary for
Meradcom, a credit union at Fort
Belvoir.

Bunch. who had asked Thomas to
dinner earlier that day, arrived at her
one-story, white-paneled house,
where the couple engaged in a game
of “hide and seek”’ at his request, ac-
cording to a statement made by
Bunch at the time of his arrest, au-
thorities said. Bunch hid; Thomas
sought.

“Bunch had made up his mind to
kill her, so he was just playing with
her mind before he shot her.” said
Commonwealth's Attorney Paul
Ebert. who prosecuted the case. “He
knew what he was planning to do the
whole time.”

Minutes later. after Thomas had
found Bunch hiding in a bathtub be-
hind a yellow shower curtain, she
suggested they quit the game and
leave for dinner. Bunch then pulled a
.22-caliber pistol from under his
jacket and shot Thomas in the tem-
ple, according to coun records.

When Bunch determined that the
shot had not killed Thomas, he
dragged the unconscious victim
across the hall to her bedroom,
where he wrapped a scarf around
her neck and hanged her from a
doorknob, according to the records.

Ue

ERS S
SESS

REC ere Se
SERS
SSN :

ASN

ok

~

SSS

A neighbor found Thomas’ body
the following afternoon.

Before he left several days later
for a one-year assignment at the U.S.
Marine base in Iwakuni, Japan,
Bunch hawked most of Thomas’ jew-
elry to a pawn shop in Arlington,
Ebert said. Investigators ascertained
from the store’s records that Bunch
had pawned the jewelry — evidence
used to link him to the murder.

Bunch was arrested in Japan on
Feb. 17. His five-day tnal began Aug.
11,1982.

Bunch has been held at the Meck-
lenburg Correctional Center in
Boydton — about 160 miles south uf
Prince William — since his sentenc-
ing in 1982. His execution is sched-
uled for the Greensville Correctional
Center in Jarratt.

Several death sentences have been
overturned by presiding governors
since the General Assembly legalized
capital punishment following a land-
mark Supreme Court decision in
1976. But Eber said Bunch’s attor-
neys have exhausted the state ap-
peals process and that the execution
likely will take place as planned.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied
Bunch’s request for habeas corpus
last June, leaving clemency by Gov.
L. Douglas Wilder his only recourse.

Inmates frequently request wnts
ce! habeas corpus, which imply they
are being imprisoned without just
Cause.

Dawud Mu'min, a death row in-
mate convicted of murdering a Dale
City shopkeeper in September 1988
after he fled a prison camp in Hav-
market won a writ of habeas corpus
from the Circuit Coun on Aug. 10.

Mu'min. also known as David Mi-
chael Allen, was to receive an execu-
tion date with Bunch, but Ebert's of-
fice withdrew that request pending
the outcome of the most recent court
order.

“The court will not do anything in
the case until (defense attorneys}
have exhausted their legal reme-
dies,” said Ebert. “That's what takes
so long to get these people executed
| His attorneys} contunue to file writs
of habeas corpus, and the process
takes $0 long w get through the sys-
tem that they manage to take as long
as they possibly can.”

b SR

SSS

XS SS SE SSS
Sa Sw

SS

~

BUNCH, Timothy D., wh, elec. VAS (Prince William) Dec. 10,

THE WASHINGTON Post

1992

..+R FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1992 C5

Associated Press

JARRATT, Va., Dec. 10—Tim-
othy Dale Bunch was put to death
tonight in Virginia’s electric chair

man after a federal appeals court
‘rejected an attempt to have the ex-
ecution videotaped.

Bunch, convicted of the 1982
capital murder and robbery of Su
Cha Thomas, was pronounced dead
at 11:20 p.m., said Wayne Brown,
operations officer at Greensville
Correctional Center.

ecution, a. three-judge panel of the
Ath U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set
aside a ruling that would have al-
lowed the proceedings to be taped.

Earlier in the evening, U.S. Dis-
trict Judge Robert R. Merhige Jr., of
Richmond, had granted a request by
a death row inmate who argues that
the electric chair is an unconstitu-
' tional method of execution.

The inmate, Syvasky L. Poyner,
wanted to have the execution filmed
without Bunch wearing the tradition-
al leather mask that covers a con-
demned prisoner’s face. But the ap-
peals court panel, saying the request
looked like “an attempt by Poyner to
interfere in the execution,” stayed
Merhige’s order on a 3 to 0 vote.

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 9 to
0 vote at 10:45 p.m., also denied
Bunch’s requests for it to issue a stay
and to hear his appeal, court spokes-
man Ed Turner said.

After Bunch was led into the ex-

for the murder of a Dale City wo-.

About 30 minutes before the ex- |

Timothy Dale Bunch, 33, was the
17th person killed in Virginia since it
resumed capital punishment in 1982.

ecution chamber and strapped in by
five guards, he spoke from notes and
extemporaneously for six minutes.

Bunch said he first considered
going into the lotus position and
making the execution team carry
him into the death chamber.

“But I deemed I was not ready for
that, and that I was not near the
Buddhist monks before me who
died like me, immolating them-
selves in Saigon,” he said.

After commenting on society’s
treatment of the poor, the elderly

Killer of Va. Woman Executed

vedas Appeals Court Rejects Effort to Have Proceedings Videgtaped.

and criminals, Bunch thanked his
family and the family of his victim for
their letters to Gov. L. Douglas Wil-
der asking for clemency:: “This is a.
lesson to all of us to bé<forgiven. I.
hope that lesson is realizéd;” he' said. ...

“To tell you the truth, 1 wanted.
this to be a filibuster,” he-said near;
the end of his speech, “butT-think it it's
time for me to shut up “As Steve
Martin said, ‘Comedy is not pretty.’.”..

Bunch, a former Maririe, told po-.
lice he experienced sextial release
when he shot Thomas ‘ifi*the head.
on Jan. 31, 1982. He then dragged :
her across the floor and used a scarf:
to hang her from a doorknob. 3th!

In Wednesday’s Richmond Times-
Dispatch, Bunch, 33, was quoted as
saying he lied about experiencing
sexual release. He said he made up
that part of the story in hopes of be-
ing sent to a mental institution and
not prison.

“I thought that someone would see
through this Freudian thing of the
gun going off and I’m having an or-
gasm,” Bunch was quoted as saying,

Another unusual aspect of the case
was opposition to the execution from:
Thomas’s family. Tong Yi, her broth-
er, and Peter Yi, her nephew, flew to
Richmond from California last week-
end to attend a rally for Bunch. Tong:
Yi also wrote a letter asking Wilder
to spare Bunch’s life.

However, Wilder said he also re.
ceived a letter from Thomas’s for-.
mer husband asking that the exe-
cution go forward.


Killer: Life worse than execution

ASSOCIATED PRESS __

An Indiana native sentenced to die
last night in Virginia’s electric chair
said a worse penalty would be re-
quiring him to spend the rest of his
life in prison.

Confessed killer Timothy Dale ~

Bunch, formerly of Madison, Ind.,
told the Indianapolis Star he has
hope for a last-minute reprieve but
will accept whatever comes.

“If it happens, for me the pain will
be over,’ said Bunch, 33. “Once to-
morrow comes, the pain will be over
for me and I’ll be free.

“And I can’t suffer. I mean, if you
want me to suffer you can make me
stay in prison for the rest of my life.
That would be pure suffering.”

Bunch was scheduled to die in
Virginia’s electric chair at 11 p.m.
yesterday for the Jan. 31, 1982,

shooting and strangulation death of
Su Cha Thomas, a Northern Virginia
woman.

Gov. L. Douglas Wilder has re-
fused to halt the execution, despite a
letter from Mrs. Thomas’ brother,
Tong Yiof California, asking the gov-
ernor to commute Bunch’s sentence
to life imprisonment.

Mr. Wilder said he also received a
letter from the victim’s husband,
Bruce Thomas, who supports the ex-
ecution. Mr. Wilder said he had
never before received conflicting
letters from relatives of a capital
murder victim.

Bunch was a Marine sergeant sta-

tioned at Quantico, Va., at the time of
the 1982 slaying. Mrs. Thomas died
in her Dale City home after Bunch
shot her in the head and hanged her
unconscious body from a doorknob

with a scarf.

Bunch was transferred to Japan
before he became a suspect but was
brought back to Virginia for ques-
tioning and then confessed to the
slaying.

But Bunch contends his constitu-
tional rights were violated when he
was coerced into confessing after re-
questing a lawyer several times.

. On Wednesday, Bunch talked by
telephone with relatives and friends

-and tried.to stay upbeat.

He said he was encouraged by the
letter written to Mr. Wilder by the
victim’s brother.

“Here I am at the very end right
here, and just weeks ago the [vic-
tim’s] family has completely for-
given me and want me to live. I’ve
experienced a rebirth,” said Bunch,
who has adopted the Quaker faith.


‘NESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1992

TheWashingtonPost

FEDERAL DiArY/WEATHER/ OBITUARIES

Victim’: s Family Seeks Clemency for a Killer on Death Row

~~ + © ‘By Bill Miller
“Washington Post Staff Writer

* Saying the execution of Timothy Dale
Bunch would only add to their sadness, the
family of the Dale City woman he mur-
dered has asked Virginia Gov. L. Douglas
Wilder to spare Bunch, scheduled to die
next week in the electric chair.

--Tong Yun Yi, the brother of Su Cha
Thomas, who was killed in 1982, also is
expected to attend a rally for Bunch Sat-
urday sponsored by death penalty oppo-

-

nents at the University of Richmond, or-
ganizers of the event said.

Executing Bunch, Yi wrote to Wilder,
“does not give our family any joy or sat-
isfaction. It only leaves another death and
sadness to his family. Perhaps, his family’s
sadness is deeper and more painful than
ours.”

“All of us, my family believe having Mr.
Bunch in jail should be enough punishment
for him,” Yi continued. “We believe that
Mr. Bunch’s repentance, be penitent for
sin will make peaceful for my sister.”

Bunch, 33, a former Marine sergeant
stationed at Quantico, admitted to killing
Thomas, 40, an acquaintance, by shooting
her in the head and hanging her. His law-
yers said Yi and other relatives of Thomas
have never met Bunch, but agreed to
write to Wilder after receiving a call from
Bunch’s defense lawyers.

“I was simply overwhelmed,” Bunch said
yesterday in a telephone interview from
his cell at the Greensville Correctional
Center in Jarratt, where he is to be put to
death Dec. 10. “The most important thing

is I have gotten forgiveness from them
and now I can be at peace no matter what
is in store.”

A spokeswoman for the governor said
the letter marked the first time a victim’s
family has asked Wilder to show mercy for
a condemned prisoner. Wilder is review-
ing a clemency petition filed by saesenci
lawyers last month.

Yi wrote to Wilder after he was ap-
proached by Tracy Rice, a Los Angeles
lawyer and a board member of Death Pen-
alty Focus, a California organization op-

posed to capital punishment. Rice said th:
Yi convened a family meeting and that h
parents, brother, and sister urged him 1
write the letter for them.

Yi, 43, who lives in central Californ
and came to the United States from Seo
in 1981, could not be located for comme:
yesterday. His letter was written Nov. Z
in Korean, with a translation sent to tt
governor’s office and made public th
week,

The translator, Soni Kim, of Annandal

See BUNCH, D5, Col. 2

Asks Mercy for
Va. Murderer

BUNCH, From D1

said Yi conveyed many of the same
feelings in a telephone conversation
with her last month.

Though sometimes in broken
English, the translation is vivid with
emotion.

“We want Mr, Bunch to spend
rest of his life that he can able to
smell of roses in May, sunshine and
shadows in July, hear sounds of
leaves on the ground in October,
and through the window he can able
to see white snows falling down,” Yi
wrote. “I believe even my sister
wish that from the grave.

“All of my family members are
praying for one’s life, Mr. Bunch’s.”

Paul B. Ebert, Prince William
County commonwealth’s attorney,
said Wilder should not tbe swayed by
Yi's appeal.

“The reason for the death penalty
exists irrespective of the personal
feelings of the family,” Ebert said.
“Bunch, to my way of thinking, is
dangerous. We consider victims’
wishes, but they certainly don’t dic-
tate to us. We can’t administer jus-
tice according to their feelings.”

Trial testimony showed that
Bunch shot Thomas in the head
with a handgun after coming to her
apartment Jan. 31,.1982, supposed-
ly to take her on a dinner date.

After shooting her, Bunch
hanged her while she was still alive
by a scarf from a doorknob in her
apartment. Before leaving, he took
her diamond ring, a gold chain, a

. string of pearls, a watch, several
_ bottles of liquor and other: belong-

‘said the -killing sexually aroused
’ denied robbery was a motive for the

“. summer and refused his attempts at

ings.

After the killing, authorities said,
Bunch pawned the watch and sent
the handgun and pearls to his moth-
er. Shortly after, he left Quantico
for an assignment at a Marine duty
station in Japan. Prince William po-
lice arrested him in Japan, 16 days
after the killing, after a pawn ticket
for the watch showed Bunch’s name
and address, Ebert said.

A cornerstone of the case against
Bunch was his statement, made to
Donald L. Cahill, a Prince William
County detective. At the trial, Ca-
hill testified that Bunch said he
killed Thomas because “she was a
slut and she reminded him too much
of his wife and he wanted her mon-
ey.” Cahill also testified that Bunch

him.
Bunch admitted during his 1982
trial that he killed Thomas, but he

killing, He claimed that he killed
Thomas ‘out of anger toward his
wife, who had left him the previous

reconciliation, and because he
feared Thomas would reject him.
He has been on death row since
his sentencing in November 1982.
Bunch and his lawyers have filed
numerous appeals without success.
In September, the U.S. Supreme
Court declined to review his case.
Bunch, who is from Madison,
Ind., would be the ninth person ex-
ecuted in Virginia since Wilder took
office in 1990. Wilder has granted
clemency in two cases, commuting
the prisoners’ sentences to life.
Lisa Katz, a spokeswoman for
Wilder, said the governor had re-
ceived 266 letters, faxes and phone
calls in favor of clemency for Bunch.
Three others who contacted the
governor’s office were opposed.


Sateen sacs et petite a eee

FO Ty SES

en sciiiiiliniteaatiaiie

Bunch with capital murder, murder,
robbery, and use of a firearm in a
robbery.

By this time Bunch was already in
back in Japan on Marine Corps duty.

Prince William County Asst. At-
torney William Hamblen and Inves-
tigator Cahill flew from the U.S. to
Iwakuni where the suspect was sta-
tioned. At first the two told Bunch
they wanted to ask him about the
watch he’d pawned at the Arlington
shop. Bunch acknowledged that he’d
pawned it, as the records suggested.

Investigator Cahill next asked him,
“What about the jewelry that was
missing?”

“What jewelry?” asked Bunch.

“The rings,” said Cahill.

“You mean the diamond ring?”
replied Bunch. “I don’t want to talk
about it ... I might want a lawyer.”

The presence of Hamblen was hav-
ing an unsettling effect on Bunch, so
the prosecutor got up and started to
leave.

“The gun is at my (relative’s)

house,” said Bunch, relaxing and get-
ting over his initial nervousness.
“And the ring is over here.”

But that’s as far as Cahill got with
Bunch for that day. Nevertheless,
they’d made some progress. When

Bunch later refused to. sign a consent
to search form, they executed a

search warrant. Inside a briefcase on
a table in his room was a white gold

ladies ring without the diamond. The

diamond stone was found wrapped
in tissue paper inside a military
sewing kit.

In interviews with Marine Corps
associates, Investigator Cahill learned

‘that Bunch had been talking a lot

about drugs and sex. In addition he
was heard wondering aloud if he
could go all the way across the U.S.

without being caught. His behavior

was described as “strange” by those
who had been with him.

Timothy Bunch was arrested. He

returned with Hamblen, Cahill and
two marine guards. On Feb. 21,

1982, he and Cahill spoke together

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54

after Bunch was advised of his
rights.

Bunch said he went to Su Cha
Thomas’ house at noon on Jan. 31.
She told him that she had a blind
date at 3 p.m., before which he
would have to leave. During that
time the two had intercourse, Bunch
said. He returned to the house at 6
p.m. and began drinking. He re-
turned to the house at 6 p.m. and be-
gan drinking while Su Cha was
cleaning. At about 7:30 he shot her,
then hung around the house listen-
ing to music and drinking. At 8:30
p.m. he hung the victim on the door-
knob,

At his friend’s house, he showed
the gun to his friend.

In a later interview, Bunch related
what he’d done the previous evening.
The suspect said he’d gone to Wash-
ington, D.C., to pick up a prostitute
but that she’d conned him out of
$300. She’d jumped out of his car
after he’d given her the money and
he had to chase her into a drug store
to get her to come back. He told
Cahill that he’d planned on taking
her out and shooting her to death.

But the prostitute wouldn’t get
back into the car alone and insisted
that Bunch allow one of her girl-
friends to get in also. So Bunch let
the two of them get in. They hopped
into the car.

The next thing he did, he told
Cahill, was pull the gun out and de-
mand his $300 back. At this point
several other prostitutes came over
to the car, diverting Bunch enough
so that the two who were already in-
side were able to get out. Bunch
drove off, hid his gun, and returned
to the area where he called police
and filed a larceny report with one
of the officers.

After leaving Washington, he drove
to Springfield Mall in Virginia where
he parked the car and slept in it un-
til 9 a.m. At 10 o’clock he drove to a
rest area on I-95 and called Su Cha
Thomas. She told him to call back at
noon as she wanted to get some more
sleep. But instead of calling, Bunch
said he went directly to her house,
staying until nearly three.

Cahill wanted to know what he did
in more detail after he returned at
6:30. Bunch said he was drinking
wine while she was cleaning. He
then offered to take her out to din-
ner at a Korean restaurant and asked

ee,

A AYE PEE

aa

her to get read)
dressed for dinne1
was ready to go,

hide and seek witl |

bathroom, and sh:
let’s go.”

She then came
and turned arounc
ing out. Bunch sa
from his pant’s b:
and shot her in th
as she was walkir

The suspect to]
decided he was §
few days earlie1
wanted to kill
thought about kill
when he woke up
of the mall, he de
day he was going
her jewelry and |

Bunch describe
said that doing i

and when he sho’ |

point of having a

lowing that, he tt

and ransacked th«

The reason he >

doorknob, he saic
she was dead. '
phone off the hoc
off everything in
two bottles of
watch, diamond 1
pearl necklace.

Cahill asked Bi
her.

“She was a slut
said she remind
woman he hated
money. He addec
tasy of killing th
other woman, an
kill other people i
with it.

On February 1
Ahrens and Inve
Bland traveled to
in Indiana to try

that the postal se —

livered to a relati

gun, and in a dre

of pearls that the
ognize. These it
evidence.

As Timothy Bu ©

Prince William-!
Jail awaiting his
he began to hav
about his earlier
own sanity. Also,
there were quest)
tal state that the


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52

to the U.S. Marine Corps base in
nearby Quantico, Virginia, from a
tour of duty in Japan. The man,
named Timothy Dale Bunch, had
previously rented a room at Su Cha’s
house.

Bunch had made comments earli-
er about Su Cha, he explained. The
police officer wanted to know what
the comments were about.

“He said, ‘Someone should go up
to that bitch’s house on Dale Boule-
vard and knock her off and get her
jewelry,” the caller explained. “He
kept saying it over and over.”

Soon after, Officer M. E. Crosby
interviewed the caller to get more
details. The man told him that Bunch
had gotten a relative to send him a
.22 Beretta automatic handgun from
his hometown in Indiana. When the
gun arrived, Bunch let him look at
it. The barrel had six lands and
grooves and a right hand twist, just
like the murder bullet. The gun came
in a wallet-type carrying case.

The reason he knew so much about
the gun, he explained, was that he’d
worked for a gunsmith for three
years and tended to notice the pecu-
liarities of each firearm that he came
across.

“I gave him a box of .22 caliber
shells,” the friend added, noting that
he had no idea it would be subse-
quently used possibly to kill some-
one. “He asked me if a shot from a
Beretta could penetrate the human
skull and I told him it would not.”

Crosby wanted to know what
Bunch had told his friend as to why
he had the Beretta sent to him.

“He said he had to testify in a court

martial in Quantico and he needed it
for his personal safety because of
what he might say in court,” the
friend explained.

Soon after, the friend gave Officer
Crosby a box of the same kind of .22
caliber bullets for testing that he’d
given Bunch. Crosby also talked
with the man’s girlfriend, who simi-
larly told him she’d seen the Beretta.
She also explained Bunch had been
pawning rings and watches because
he was low on money.

Washington D.C. pawnbrokers and
coin shop dealers were contacted by
Prince William County investigators
to check on whether they had issued
receipts to Timothy Bunch for items
received between January 31 and
February 3, 1982.

ee

Two days later, t)
for another intervie
Investigator Donald
time the friend sai
tried to “fix him up
Su Cha Thomas b
had declined. Bur
him he’d had relatic
an and kept talking
an’s ring” which
$10,000 to $14,00'

Cahill wanted |
what happened on
uary 31, the last
known to have bec

“He came to m)
bottles of whiskey ©
“They were nearl
with the gun and
had been fired rec:

. what he’d been doi
‘he was target shoc

Cahill learned
friend saw Bunch
so as to ship it ba
Indiana before rett
Marine Corps duty

“Is it customary
fication when paw
the friend quoted |
“When I said *Y:
Lord.”

Investigator Cah
contacting the Un
Inspector’s office i
as soon as he lea
tion. He asked the
reau of the postal
on deliveries of p:
ative’s home in Ir
received back wi
matching the frien
received by the p
shipped to the rel
a few days earlic
been delivered to
dence, they report

Authorities nea
County, just across
er from Washingt
tional feedback o
Investigator Cahil
sor, Sergeant Ra)
Prince William C
partment. Arlingt
tive Cecil Arno]
pawn shop slip is
February 2 for a
was shown to Su
band and he posi
as the victim’s.

On February |!
were sworn Out «

arine Corps base in
co, Virginia, from a
in Japan. The man,
1y Dale Bunch, had
->d a room at Su Cha’s

ade comments earli-
a, he explained. The
vanted to know what
were about.
ymeone should go up
10use on Dale Boule-
< her off and get her
caller explained. “He
yver and over.”
Officer M. E. Crosby
e caller to get more
n told him that Bunch
slative to send him a
omatic handgun from
in Indiana. When the
unch let him look at
had six lands and
right hand twist, just
bullet. The gun came
> Carrying case.
> knew so much about
lained, was that he’d
gunsmith for three
>d to notice the pecu-
firearm that he came

a box of .22 caliber
nd added, noting that
1 it would be subse-
ossibly to kill some-
| me if a shot from a
penetrate the human
| him it would not.”
ited to know what
| his friend as to why
etta sent to him.
ad to testify in a court
itico and he needed it
al safety because of
t say in court,” the
d.
ie friend gave Officer
f the same kind of .22
for testing that he’d
Crosby also talked
girlfriend, who simi-
he’d seen the Beretta.
ined Bunch had been
and watches because
money.
).C. pawnbrokers and
srs were contacted by
County investigators
ether they had issued
othy Bunch for items
een January 31 and
82.

eee es

Two days later, the friend came in
for another interview, this time with
Investigator Donald L. Cahill. At that
time the friend said that Bunch had
tried to “fix him up” with a date with
Su Cha Thomas but that the friend
had declined. Bunch had also told
him he’d had relations with the wom-
an and kept talking about “that wom-
an’s ring” which was worth about
$10,000 to $14,000.

Cahill wanted to know exactly
what happened on the night of Jan-
uary 31, the last day Su Cha was
known to have been alive.

“He came to my house with two
bottles of whiskey,” said the friend.
“They were nearly full. I saw him
with the gun and it smelled as if it
had been fired recently. I asked him
what he’d been doing and he told me
he was target shooting.”

Cahill learned further that the
friend saw Bunch wrap up the gun
so as to ship it back to a relative in

Indiana before returning to Japan for |

Marine Corps duty.

“Is it customary to ask for identi-
fication when pawning something?”
the friend quoted Bunch asking him.
“When I said ‘Yes,’ he said ‘Oh,
Lord.”

Investigator Cahill lost no time in
contacting the United States Postal
Inspector’s office in Washington D.C.
as soon as he learned this informa-
tion. He asked the investigative bu-
reau of the postal service to check
on deliveries of packages to the rel-
ative’s home in Indiana. The report
received back was that a package
matching the friend’s description was
received by the postal service and
shipped to the relative’s home only
a few days earlier. It had already
been delivered to the Indiana resi-
dence, they reported further.

Authorities nearby in Arlington
County, just across the Potomac Riv-
er from Washington, provided addi-
tional feedback on prior efforts for
Investigator Cahill and his supervi-
sor, Sergeant Ralph Ahrens at the
Prince William County Police De-
partment. Arlington County Detec-
tive Cecil Arnold had obtained a
pawn shop slip issued to Bunch on
February 2 for a watch. The watch
was shown to Su Cha’s former hus-
band and he positively identified it
as the victim’s.

On February 10, 1982, warrants
were sworn out charging Timothy

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P.O. Box 91, Rouses Point, NY 12979-0091 t

yas advised of his

1e went to Su Cha
at noon on Jan. 31.
hat she had a blind
, before which he
leave. During that
d intercourse, Bunch
ied to the house at 6
n drinking. He re-
use at 6 p.m. and be-
while Su Cha was
out 7:30 he shot her,
nd the house listen-
d drinking. At 8:30
e victim on the door-
s house, he showed
riend.
rview, Bunch related
the previous evening.
d he’d gone to Wash-
) pick up a prostitute
conned him out of
umped out of his car
n her the money and
her into a drug store
‘ome back. He told
d planned on taking
oting her to death.
titute wouldn’t get
ar alone and insisted
ow one of her girl-
n also. So Bunch let
1 get in. They hopped

ing he did, he told
1 the gun out and de-
) back. At this point
rostitutes came over
erting Bunch enough
who were already in-

to get out. Bunch
is gun, and returned
ere he called police
eny report with one

Washington, he drove
Mall in Virginia where
sar and slept in it un-
-o’clock he drove to a
95 and called Su Cha
old him to call back at
nted to get some more
ead of calling, Bunch
lirectly to her house,
early three.
1 to know what he did
after he returned at
said he was drinking
e was cleaning. He
) take her out to din-
1 restaurant and asked

her to get ready. When she got
dressed for dinner, and told him she
was ready to go, he said he played
hide and seek with her. He hid in the
bathroom, and she said, “Come on,
let’s go.”

She then came into the bathroom
and turned around and started walk-
ing out. Bunch said he took his gun
from his pant’s belt on his left side
and shot her in the back of the head
as she was walking into the hall.

The suspect told Cahill that he’d
decided he was going to kill her a
few days earlier. He said that he
wanted to-kill someone and he
thought about killing a prostitute but
when he woke up in the parking lot
of the mall, he decided this was the
day he was going to kill Su Cha, take
her jewelry and leave.

Bunch described shooting her and
said that doing it felt “real good”,
and when he shot her he was at the
point of having a sexual orgasm. Fol-
lowing that, he turned on the stereo
and ransacked the house.

The reason he hung her on the
doorknob, he said, was to make sure
she was dead. Then he took the
phone off the hook, wiped his prints
off everything in the house, and took
two bottles of liquor, the Rolex
watch, diamond ring, gold chain and
pearl necklace.

Cahill asked Bunch why he killed
her.

“She was a slut,” he answered. He
said she reminded him of another
woman he hated and he wanted her
money. He added that he had a fan-
tasy of killing the boyfriend of this
other woman, and he would like to
kill other people if he could get away
with it.

On February 15, 1982, Sergeant
Ahrens and Investigator Harvey C.
Bland traveled to Bunch’s hometown
in Indiana to try to locate the gun
that the postal service may have de-
livered to a relative. They found the
gun, and in a dresser drawer a string
of pearls that the relative didn’t rec-
ognize. These items were seized as
evidence.

As Timothy Bunch remained in the
Prince William-Manassas Regional
Jail awaiting his August, 1982 trial,
he began to have second thoughts
about his earlier confessions and his
own sanity. Also, to satisfy the State,
there were questions about his men-
tal state that they wanted answered.

One forensic psychiatrist, Dr.
James C. Dimitris retained by the
State, agreed in part with the defen-
dant that he had some mental disor-
ders. He said that Bunch had “per-
sonality problems of a mixed nature.”

Dr. R. Jackson Dykes, assigned to
the Prince William County Mental
Health Center, had a less sympathet-
ic view. His opinion was that Bunch
had “no indication of a thought dis-
order, delusions. Similarly, his intel-
lectual and memory functions were
all intact, and there is no evidence
of an organically-based dysfunction
of the brain.”

At Bunch’s trial, testimony by In-
vestigator Cahill capped the several
days of testimony as the Common-
wealth outlined its case. The stage
had been set several days earlier
when Judge Percy Thornton, Jr. de-
nied a motion introduced by defense

attorneys Richard Boatwright and

Lloyd Henrichs seeking to prohibit
the use of Bunch’s confession as ev-
idence in the trial. Describing what
Bunch told him during his interview,
Cahill said Bunch “felt like he was
up in the air (after the shooting). He
sat around and drank more wine and

just ‘at down and figured out what
he was going to do next.

Dr. James Beyer, the pathologist,
testified that Mrs. Thomas could
have lived for an hour longer fol-
lowing the shooting. He said there
were strangulation marks on her neck
observed in the autopsy.

As Bunch’s trial came to a conclu-
sion, a deathly shadow cast from the
state capitol in Richmond more than
100 miles away, crept into the court-
room. Frank Coppola, a former po-
liceman and former seminarian, was
facing death in Virginia’s electric
chair later that very night for the bru-
tal beating death of a woman. Cop-
pola was refusing to blink and ear-
lier had fired defense attorneys trying
to stay his execution. Nevertheless,
if his execution was to be carried
out, it would have been the first in
20 years.

The next day, less than 24 hours
after Coppola died in the chair, the
jury returned with a guilty verdict
for Bunch on counts of capital mur-
der, robbery, firearms and first de-
gree murder. Arguing for imposition
of the death penalty, Commonwealth
Attorney Ebert said that the killing

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"HERALD OFFICE, NORFOLK, March 30 = THE MURDER CONFESSED. = Manuel Philip Garcia, one of
the two Spaniards committed to our jail for the murder of Peter Lagoardette, has made a
confession of the facts amd circumstances of that horrid transaction to the Mayor, but

as the case is to be brought before the examining court today, we forbear for the present
to detail them. All that we feel ourselves st liberty to state is the confession goes to
acquit the confessor, while places the whole burden of guilt upon his comrade, whose real

name he says is Yemar Garcia Castilano.. No other motive is suggested for the perpetra-
tion of the murder than a quarrel of .some months's standing between Lagoardette and
Castilano, respecting a girl in Baltimore, by the: name of Binney. It was expected that
this. man's confession would have developed other crimes, and led to the discovery of
their agents; but he has implicated no individual but Castilano." DAILY NATIONAL IN-
TELLIGENCER, Washington, D. C., April 3, 1821 (3/1.) !

"THE LATE MURDER AT NORFOLK. - By little and little (says the Norfolk HERALD) the clue of
this dark and horrible transaction continues to be unravelled. We have been favored
with the perusal of a letter to a gentleman in this town from his friend in Baltimore,

by which it appears that a Spaniard named Garcia, who has been living in that city. for
some months, was missed about 3 weeks ago, and was supposed to have been murdered by the
two men who are now in custody iin this town, for the murder of Lagoardette. The names by
which these men were known at their examination on Thursday last, viz. Manuel Philip Gar-
cia and Joseph Garcia, are not it seems by which they passed in Baltimore; the proper
name of one of them is said to be Demar Garcia Castilano. This man is known in Balti-
more, and was seen to take a matress, trunk, etc, out of Mr. Garcia's house about a
fortnight ago. It is supposed that Mr. Garcia had some valuables in his possession as
well as money. It also appears that themen in custody had invited Mr. G. to dine with
them out of town, from whence he never returned. (A letter from Norfolk mentions that the
two, Garcias have made a full confession of their crime.)"

DAILY NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER, Washington, DC, April 2, 1821 (3-3. (

"HORRIBLE AND MYSTERIOUS MURDER - Norfolk, Mar. 21: We have seldom deed: either in the
annals of life or in the pages of romance, of deeds of bad and horror, equal in atrocity
and shocking circumstances, to bhe which has just fallen under our notice - the parti-
culars of which, as far as we have been able to collect them, we here lay before our
readers: About the first of this mohhh, two Frenchment came to this place from Baltimore
and rented a small dwelling house in a retired situation near Plume's Rope-Walk, but
seldom made use of it and then only at night. Their mysterious movements excited consi-
derable curiosity in the neighborhood, and even suspicions not altogether honorable to
them. Yesterday moniing these two men and a third were observed to be in the house, and
between 9 and 10 o'clock a Mrs. Lester, residing in an adjacent tenement, was alarmed by

a sudden cry, which seemed to be the cry of "murder.! Some time after, twa of the men
left the house. Mrs. Lester, under the conviction that there was something amiss going on
in the house, related the circumstances to a constable, who entered the house, and dis-
covered a spectacle truy horrible and revolting to every: feeling of humanity. In a chamber
of the second story was extended on the floor the naked trukk of a human being, divested of
its head end limbs, and in the fire place lmy the head, feet and hands, burnt almost to
cinderst The arms were separated from the body at the shoulder joints, and again divided
at the elbows; and the legs cut apart at the joints of the knees; indeed, the whole in-
fernal operation appeared to have been performed with the desterity of a.surgeon. The
limbs, thus separated, were thrown together in.a bucket. On the floor lay an axe, be-
smeared with blood, with which the diabolical authors of the foul massacre had dispatched
their victim, and two butcher-knives, which had served the office of dissection.

"A Coroner's inquest was immediately summohad, but no evidence appeared which could, in
the slightest degree, criminate any known individual. Neither the name of the deceased
nor that of his companion could be ascertained with certainty,-and all the acount that
could be given of them amounted to no more than we have before stated, except that they
had been seen the night before at a house of no good repute in Church "Ste, and the ver-
dict of the jury was, as a matter of course, 'wilful murder ty some person or persons
unknowne' There was no furniture of any kind in the house, save a few articles of:
bedding and two trunks. What, then, could have been the purpose of these people in taking
he house? In one of the tronks was a number of articles of valuable clothing; in the


Portsmouth |

CASTILLANO, Jose D. Ge, and GARCIA, Manuel P., whites, hanged at MAKXWXK, Virginia, on
) June 1, 1821.

"Norfolk, June 2, 1821 - EXECUTION OF CASTILANO AND GARCIA: Yesterday Jose Dima Garcie
Castilano and Manuel Felipe Garcia, under sentence of death for the murder of Peter La-
gaudette, in this borough, on the 20th of March last, were, pursuant to their sentence,
executed in the old field in the rear of Portsmouth, The circumstances of the horrid
butchery, and their subsequent trial and condemnation, are too fresh in the memory of

this community to rénder any recapitlaution of them necessary or acceptable. They were
taken from the jail at 11 o'clock, and, at their request, walked to the place of execu-
tion, guarded by the Portsmouth Rifle Company, commanded by Capt. Jarvis, and a detach-
ment of U. S. Artillerists from Fort Nelson, followed by a large concourse of people.
Bishop Kelly and Mr. Walsh, of the Catholic Church, attended them, and addressed the

Throne of Grace most fervently in their behalf. The prisoners -then mofinted the scaffold
and Castilano addressed the spectators, who now amounted to between 2 and 3,000, in a

short. speech, of which we heard but little, and concluded with a declaration that he died
innocent. Garcia was silent, but apparently thoughtful and dejected. Castileno having
finished speaking, taken leave of the Bishop and Mr. Walsh, and their arms being pinioned,
the prisoners seated theselves on the scaffold, while Dr. Griffith,of the Methodist :
Church, delivered a very feeling and appropriate discourse on the progress of vice and
whe influence of bad company, which he concluded with an enimated exhortation to children
and parents, and a prayer, full of. compassion for the wretched men about to suffer the |
penalty of the law. Both met their fates with great firmness. They were taken down |
about half past 2 o'clock, and interred under the gallows.

"The ege of Castilano, we learn, was 9, and that of Garcia 37. We understand, also, that
they have left written communications of considerable length, which were not to be opened ~
until after their deaths." DAILY NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER, Washington, DC, 6-7-1821 (2-5.) |

"Norfolk, April 1) - SECOND TRIAL FOR MURDER.-Manuel Philip Garcia, was yesterday put

upon his trial at the bar of the Superior Court of Norfolk County, as an accomplice

with Demar Joseph Garcia Castilano in the murder of Peter Lagaudette. As this case was

included with that of Castilano in the seme bill of indictment, and the witnesses were

the same, there could of course be but little or no diversity between the proceedings in

each. General Taylor again appeared as assistant Counsel for the prosecution, and Messrs.

Allmond and Maxwell as Counsel for the prisoner; but as the cause was to be tried before

a different jury, it became necessary to go on.as minutely with the examination of the

. Witnesses and the pleadings of Counsel,asmat the preceding trial. The receiving of evi-

| dence occupied the Court from 12 'till 5 o'clock in the afternoons; and the pleadings

were not concluded. until 1 o'clock this morning. The jury then retired, and after an
ebsence of precisely six minutes, returned and’ rendered a verdict of Guilty of Murder |
in,the first degree." DAILY NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER, Washington, DC, Spril 18, 1821 (3/h.)

"Norfolk, April 12 - TRIAL OF J. D. G. CASTILANO. = The trial of Joseph Demar Gercia
Castilano, one of the two Spaniards charged with the murder of Peter Lagaudette, in this
Borough, on the 20th of March, came on yesterdey before the Superior Court for Norfolk
County, which commenced its session at Portsmouth, on Tuesday last. The court room was
crowded to overflowing, at-an early hour. Eighteen witnesses were examined on the part
of the prosecution, which was conducted with great ability by General Robert B. Taylor,
Mr. Nimmo, the Attorney for the Commonwealth, being too much indisposed to discharge the
duty. After an eloquent speech of about 2 hours in which he summoned up all the evidence
| in the cause, Gen. Taylor was answered by Albert Allmand and William Mexwell, Esars.,
counsel for the prisoners. The defence occupied more than 3 hours and was managed with
all the ingenuity and zeal which the nature of the case would admit of, or the humenity
of the counsel could inspire.. After an able charge from Judge Parker, the jury retired
a little before 12 o'clock, and in about 10 minutes came into court with a verdict of
‘Guilty of Murder.in the first degree.' The prisoner heard the sentence without emotion,
and was then escorted to his prison. The trial.of Manuel Philip Garcia will take place
tomorrow.-BEACON." DAILY NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER, Washington, D. C., April 6, 1821 (3-8.)

P oon ene fxecuted #/5-/693

6 ™,,.In a trial of 1693. (Northampton Co., Vae), one of

John Swan's slaves, Tom Cary, who had not 'the fear of
God' before his eyes but was 'moved by the instigation of
the Devil,' was found guilty of robbing a house and burn=-
ing it. He was sentenced to be hanged in sight of the
place where the crime had been committed (Northampton
County Orders, Wills, 147-1698, pp 2364239}, The sheriff
of the county petitioned a few weeks later to the General /
Assembly, for 5,999 pounds of tobacco, that amount being
his account of the expenses and the fees for the prosecu-~
ting of that criminal slave. (JOURNAL OF HOUSE OF BURGESSES

Vol, XURXXXXLARRARRAQOMH IT, p 58.)..." STUDIES OF THE
VIRGINIA EASTERN SHORE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, by Su-
sie M. Ames; Richmond; Dietz Press, publishers, 190, pages

174-1756 The Aouse Was That of Thomas Kichards:



1ope it’s all over
ough, cause I’m
tired of taking

her the precious
ay love. I’d hate ©
to kill her!” :

Speen cu Freee RNR RENOIR cn Soa aR ERE
EXCERPTS FROM A SPURNED MAN’S JOURNAL

MORE :
EXERPTS

Chabrol’s
journal

JUNE 17, 1991

“J won't be able to continue
surveillance and try to follow her
home Wednesday... Ifon —

Wednesday I can confirm where she _—
is staying, I can continue to scope relationship
out her routine on Thurs : with the

victim. A8

capture her. on Friday morni

By Matthew Bowers
Staff writer

CHESAPEAKE — Andrew .J.
Chabrol was sentenced to death
Tuesday for what a j called
the “cruel, cowardly and reprehen-
sible” strangulation murder of Me-
lissa M. Harrington.

“It is incomprehensible that one
human being could do to another
as was done in this case,” Judge
Russell I. Townsend Jr. said dur-
ing an hourlong sentencing state-
ment in Circuit Court.

He also sentenced Chabrol, a 35-
year-old former Navy lieutenant, to
two terms of life in prison for rape
and abduction. Formal sentencing
was set-for June 4, but it is consid-
ered a technicality. The state Su-
preme Court will automatically re-
view it.

Chabrol, standing with his head
bowed, showed no emotion when
Townsend announced the sen-
tence. In the front row, Harring-
ton’s husband showed little reac-
tion while her teary-eyed father
grabbed a family friend’s hand.

In a jail interview after the sen-
tencing, Chabrol said he would not
fight his execution. “I wish it had
never happened,” he said of the
murder. “I deeply regret killing
her. ... I feel bad for all the pain
I’ve caused.”

But Chabrol repeated the argu-
ment he made during the three-
day hearing: He felt that Harring-
ton, who made a_sexual-
harassment complaint against him
months after he proposed an affair
and she turned him down, was
stalking and harassing him at
work, and this threatened his mar-
riage. The only way to get revenge
was to kill her, he said.

Harrington, a 27-year-old boat-
swain’s mate and subordinate of

Please see SLAYING, Page A8

Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN

ke Circuit Court by sheriff's deputies after being sentenced Tuesday to the electric chair for

ee cane Iden Ruecell |. Townsend Jr. called the strangulation “cruel, cowardly and reprehensible.” INTERVIEW WITH CHABROL/A9

SLAYING

continued from Page Al

Chabrol’s at Norfolk Naval Station,
was abducted from in front of her
Virginia Beach townhouse July 9.
Hours later, police found her nude
body in a bedroom of Chabrol’s
Chesapeake home, wrapped in a
blanket with her face covered by a
tight mask of duct tape.

‘Chabrol and his longtime friend
Stanley J. Berkeley, 33, of the Virgin
Islands, were arrested in the house. :
A jury convicted Berkeley in March
of first-degree murder, rape and ab-
duction, and recommended the
maximum sentence of three terms
of life in prison, plus $200,000 in
fines. He is to be sentenced in July.

-Chabrol pleaded guilty to capital
murder, rape and abduction in Feb-
ryary. It was Townsend’s first
death-penalty decision as a judge
atid is believed to be the first death
sentence handed down since the
city was formed in 1963.

‘In his closing argument, the pros-
ecutor, Commonwealth’s Attorney
David L. Williams, asked the judge
tg imagine Harrington's terror and
pain as she was tied to the defen-
dant’s bed and assaulted.

ee RSE
* 44 He is an enormous

liar. He is manipulative.
He is evil. He deserves to
go to the electric chair.¥9
* * David L. Williams,

! commonwealth’s attorney

“He is an enormous liar,” Wil-
liams said. “He is manipulative. He
is- evil. He deserves to go to the
electric chair.”

‘Chabrol’s lawyer, William R.
Brown, agreed that the crime was
“terrible,” but said the stress of
Chabrol’s involuntary separation
from the Navy led him to perceive
Harrington as a threat against hi:
family. ‘

When it was over, Harrington’s
family and friends hugged.

“It took a long time,” Joseph H.
Harrington, her husband, said.
“That part’s over.”

“I think the system has proven
it’s worked,” Ervin J. Hackert, the
victim’s father, said.


Not lose his $30,

as feared,
iene of reve:
boatswain’.

May 19,

that
Complaint against him. '
; ites his first threat against

1992:

Sentences Chabr

ol
Prison for rape and abd

ER Nac.

Ourt Judge Russelj LT

Cc
for murder, plus two Sentences


A Clipping From
Virginia Press Services
News Clipping Bureau

P.O. Box C-32015

Richmond, VA 23261-2015

REGISTER & BEE
Danville, Va.
M-F
Circ. M-F 22,000

SAT - mye in VEG?

Date__ . wes

Death sentence for.
ppe-murder ruled

r
"2

[0 IcHESAPEAKE (AP) — Aman
convicted of abducting, raping and’
murdering a woman who had
rejected him was sentenced to die in
Virginia's electiic chair.

Andrew J. Chabrol, who has said +
he welcomes death and won't fight
his execution through court appeals,
told Circuit Judge Russell |.
Townsend Jr. on Thursday that he
had no statement.

Chabrol was convicted in May of
Capital murder in the July 9, 19914
death of Melissa M. Harrington. He
also was convicted of rape and
abduction and was given the
maximum sentence of two life
terms.

Chabrol, a former Navy
lieutenant, meticulously plotted in a.

PEE EE DE NOOR EEE IAT ENON EE AAG OID LIOTTA BESORDAGh Ls ESEES CEE SSS SEELESS SLPS SCTE LEC ETTT TPCT computer journal the abduction of

| . , Mrs. Harrington, a 27-year-old Navy
boatswain'’s mate and his
subordinate. Co-workers said
Chabrol was obsessed with the
woman, although both were married
and Mrs. Harrington had rejected his
advances.

Chabrol said he feared that her
sexual-harassment complaint
against him would cost him his wife
and two sons. He claimed Mrs.
Harrington was harassing him.

. ' Chabrol and his longtime friend,
Stanley J. Berkeley, 33, of the Virgin
Islands, were arrested in the house.
Berkeley also was convicted of
murder, rape and abduction and is
awaiting sentencing.


| ®

CHESAPEAKE KILLER FACES EXECUTION

Chabrol’s journal: Obsession and vengeance

Police seized an extensive computer journal from
the home of Andrew J. Chabrol. In the journal, Chabrol
had written about Navy co-workers, worries about
finding work after leaving the Navy, marital problems
and plans for affairs and sexual escapades. Much of it
also concerned his interest in Melissa M. Harrington,
whom he began referring to as “Nemesis” after she
refused his advances and later made a sexual-.
harassment complaint against him. As weeks went by,
Chabrol wrote about revenge, rape and murder. The
following is excerpts from that journal, which was
entered as evidence in court.

In letter to “Stan,” presumably Stanley J. Berkeley, his
longtime friend and co-defendant:

“(Dhere are lots of foxes I have been eying (sic), but
I have had to be cautious because they are either mar-
ried or enlisted, either of which could spell the end of
my career if they responded poorly to my advances.
That means I have been reduced to flirting and playing
jike I am really a saint.” ‘

“T left the box of roses with a note saying that I
would be back at 12:00, and then at 3:00. When I got
there at 12:00 she was waiting. .. . The long and short
of it was that she turned me down, saying that, and I.
quote ‘you don’t ring any bells for me. I don’t want to
hurt your feelings, but I’m not interested in you. I'll be
your friend, that’s it’...

“Is it over? Don’t ask me, cause I don’t know. I WAS
mad about her, to the point that I felt compelled to keep
trying for her, but not any more: .. . My best assess-
ment is that the action is over. Thus endeth another
sorry chapter of my life. Once again I fail to come up
with the princess. . .. Damn the bad luck! I hate this
rotten, unrewarding life.”

In letter to “Stan:”
“I sure hope it’s all over with, though, cause I’m get-

ting tired of taking flack just because I offered her the

precious gift of my love. I’d hate to have to kill her!”

“,.. 1am working out continuously and developing
my chest and stomach into areas to be proud of. My
weight is now below 150 and dropping slowly. I am de-
termined that I will look like a superman before Melissa
returns from Europe!”

Written after Harrington made a sexual-harassment
complaint against Chabrol:
“T told the Master Chief that I had no intention of

!

Andrew J. Chabrol, left, grew more and more
obsessed with Melissa M. Harrington after she
turned down his advances. In a letter to a friend,
because | offered her the Srecious git ofmy love,

use r ve.
I'd hate to have to kill her! sess

making any move in Melissa’s direction and that as far
as I was concerned, the matter was closed. .. . One
thing for sure; if she goes to tain Miller or someone
over at Legal, I will go to Captain’s Mast. Certainly I
will be found guilty of conduct unbecoming and poor
judgment, if nothing else. I might lose my sepparation
(sic) pay ($30,000), possible benefits with the VA, my
wife and family, and any chance of getting accepted into
the Coast Guard. My response? Nothing. For the next
two months, it’s her move if she wants to make it. In
truth, I don’t see that after the Ball she will have any-
thing to worry about in terms of me — at least that she
knows in the long run, even if she does nothing else.
Going to the Master Chief was all she needed to do to
win a place on my ‘for action’ — List. ; ..

“Whatever the repercussions, I can try to explain
them away to Ann (Chabrol’s wife) without letting her
know the truth. Somehow, I don’t think that will work
for long though, and my next move will be to doa
Death March. Things are getting pretty serious, pretty
fast. I hope for everyone’s sake that Melissa doesn’t do
anything else stupid. That way only she will suffer in
the long run... .”

“. .. [have seen her up in admin, probably still try-
ing to poison Brenda against me. —- her. Her day is
coming, though it’s still some time off. If she only knew;
she should be doing her worst to me now, cause the
penalty can’t get any worse. — her!. . . “Things are
pretty rough between Ann and me, too. — everybody! I
don’t need the aggravation of relationships, I really
don’t. Everyone thinks me a bastard, but ironically, I’m
going to turn into a serious bastard for those who keep
pissing me off; they have no idea that they are seeing
the NICE side of me!”

“The advantage of pretending to settle things with
her cannot be overlooked, either; she would surely tell
the rest of the division that we had settled our differ-
ences, which would totally throw off any later suspi-
cious if she had any bad luck in the new year. .. . I'll

have to think on this.”

“T believe that he (Harrington's husband, Joe) is due
to return from sea next month. . .. What all this means

to me is that he will be around to take the blame for the
revenge I exact on Melissa, whether or not I lay some
groundwork. However, I. won't miss this opportunity to ~
lay some groundwork.”

‘Tl be ordering her surprise in just a matter of
days. . .. “One more thing about her, I planted the
thought with the Chief that I am sweating the thought
that her husband will kill her before I can get me (sic)
revenge on her. I did this to plant suspicion on him.
Wouldn’t it be funny if he actually did either kill her or
have her killed?”

Written after Chabrol’s surprise farewell party on
Jan. 19)

“Let's start with the subject of Nemesis. . . . It oc-
curred to me that she might gain some pleasure out of
seeing me show a preference for her pastry, so I was
forced to give that up. The bitch! Ah well, her day is
coming; I have decided to pay her back for costing me a
relationship with another girl, which she did. By that I
mean to rape her when I have her. Then I will give her
the final payoff. I get so incredibly angry when I think of
her, and I feel so frustrated that I can’t just beat her
senseless, but the payoff will make up for all of that.”

Written hi3 last day in the Navy, where Harrington
wished him good luck at a farewell celebration in a
Norfolk go-go bar:

“T shook her hand and said ‘Thank you’ so that the
guys would think that I was OK Joe who held no :
grudges. The more fool her for giving me an opportuni-
ty to disassociate my self from any motive for her up-
coming death. ...

“Last point: I now have the capital for Operation
Nemesis and Operation Dominican Republic. 15c.”

“On the subject of Nemesis, I got impatient to order
the stun gun, so J took a chance and ordered it, using ~
the Chief's office at work as my mailing address. .. . I
still have to hunt up some powdered magnesium, but I
have time for that.”

“On the home front. . . . I have decided to forgo the -
pleasure of revenging myself to Melissa. I shouldfind |
out very soon whether I am in the Coast Guard or not.” '

“TI was not selected into the Coast Guard. ... Ann
and I are giving serious consideration to going to live in
Ireland. ... Suspect that Nemesis is back in old cave.
Ann leaves in two weeks and I will verify.

ee

“I found out today that Nemesis is putting in for a
transfer to California to be with her husband when he
goes to his new assignment out there in August/Sep-_ |
tember. Two things are clear: One: I have to act quickly .
or not at all, and Two, she is probably living with him ~
NOW. This is Monday, and during this morning’s sur-
veillance I observed her arrive at work at 6:54—-and__-
take white uniform (uniform of the day) out of the trunk -
of her car. . . . I won’t be able to continue surveillance
and try to follow her home Wednesday. . . . If on
Wednesday I can confirm where she is staying, I can
continue to scope out her routine on Thursday and cap-
ture her on Friday morning.”

tte

aeyy

“Eureka! No, I haven’t found the house yet, but ’'m
getting closer. . . . I called her realator (sic). . . and

went and saw her house on the 2nd.... Yup, ’mahit _.
with all the sane people. . . but now on to how I'm get- -
ting closer to getting revenge on one of life’s less sane .-
ones. .. . Joe called me yesterday afternoon to speak to
the prospective buyer. .. AND HE GAVE ME HIS NUM-.
BER!. . . Now it’s down to finding out just where that is...
Tally-ho!

ab-
duct and rape Harrington, and Chabrol kills her. Both
are arrested in Chabrol’s house, where police find her
body.

Chabrol and childhood friend Stanley J. Ber

Exte. bouurm| of Govermr enfrits dated 3/{Yol, W/O and WAI/ol
identity tals mupscratnt as Chpartes’ and g tify HIS Crime as AqylMwaned
bupylity Daze of ¢xecution bf44/ a1. Also notes a Co-defémdeas ame!
‘Walker far whewt rothing farther 1s revealed.

SLAVE

P, Cogbill was compensated in S,ptember, 1861, for an
unnamed slave executed in Louisa County, Va., for an
unspecified crime,

Provided by Shwartz, July 6, 1985; Source: Virginia
T,easury Office, C sh Dysbursement Journals, Library of
Virginia,

[Chaos te & ].

Frederreftsbupy Ya. Ayeri] 13 — On Friday the 50s tue of the un tortumate mer wht Were Compiets thet A

Ponta hat le Pe a cee actly Te Tie Lentce. We wine ait cb Segileg Vhat
tner fad refused to exercise Aik ve of mercy because Fwe o cor were Tyvtved Linler

JeNoWs tnd will be transpartedd. Tf }s clevertty hoped that the remamnder Of these Lorhaypy Liretehes may

tee! the benetts of tars humane provision of tur Canstitetion .

The Otsego Herald 4-25-1816 (2-3)

SlaVesS CHARLES and BMaANURL

Spotsylvania County Oyer & Terminer, March 5,
1816, Charles, Property of George Twyman, and
Bmanuel, slave, convicted of felony and sen-
tenced to be hanged. Charles valued at $500 &
kmanuel at 4600, Both hanged on April 5, 1816,
and execution on that date attested by Dep. Sh.
Robert Crutchfield,

Env. 18 16; Item 153; Box 6: audttor's Records,
4 rehives of Virginia

CHARLES, aKxaKeax slave, hanged Campbell County, Virginia, dulyi2, 1623.

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CHARLES, Slave ofJoshus Edwards, hanged Isle of “ight Co., Va.,
11-27-1761.

"In reference to the execution of Vhearles, the sleve of Joshua

Edwards, in Isle of “ight County, the trisl was on September 3,

1761 (Order Book, 1759-62, 254). Joshua HAXXKAKA (sic) was con-

demned to be executed on September 25th upon being convicted of
burglary of a storehouse and theft of 1):,000 lbs. of tobacco, ‘On
November 2lst (Order Book, p. 268), Charles reappeared before the

oyer and terminer court. It was an odd situation. Cherles was

claiming that even though he had been in jail most of the time since the
trial, he was not the same Charles as the one that was condemned,

an determined he was and ordered him to be hanged on November

Ltr. dated June 3, 1986, from Drl Philip J. Schwarz, Associate Pro-
fessor, Dept. of History and Soe onoeh 912 West Franklin St.,
Richmond, Va, Z¥RRXAWNOLXAZRRRXXHAK 2328) -

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walking, to Hy ‘ea! l eee. |
a jthe girl, twas, attendeg.
hours’ by, .two; preacher. ie
JHev. ' urwell~ ‘and “Rev telkes.’,"' is
miptat re. prayed iw th "she tab ‘Madly [
the past two.) aexs, : ‘and wal f

Kwith ‘her to the chair yosterday moras
ing.: -Bhe’ made*no statement beyond]:

‘she “was at peace with God and was
ready to meet hér fate.’ She had pré-
|vioysiy; confessed: her guilt, .
Leeth, followed the first, application
6} the currant, but two: more shooks,
rie ‘kibseduefity adm istered, aa! ft §
tter,. Of, précaution. ' idepenier ta ;
tdrneq over toa local: cementite,
whipment toi Ner: home - telerog
' ‘Omme of Wiad:

The’ ‘execytion yesterday. bo
wrote the final’ see tetan
‘ativacted dingy et f
abroad, , opm tte Pe rhe och
‘of «the. lay, aoe ~ Belt her
ol and way eh ee ‘wophan,; cond
d to" die in ctris, chatty tn .-

Histor, ot; thé” . sons oarth,, {* a oe
cago newspaper . took .up “arms in hel staat,
aif and dispatohéd- 2-3 oe aie hard
yer from’ Illinois ta saberetee ree i
before Governgr ‘Mame \ 0% tity op
The Governor, after having tide’ od:
shited her,. degtined, to extend. further
clemency, : In:'Aefenne of shia action
Governor Mann tsaped ‘Thyreday*a° ont
prehengsibe: statement’. reviewing
evidence ‘in.the case’ which: pin aa)
a. “premeditated: serine pt: Ne: qiow
brutal mine: ¢ f ae

ee
of
t'


merry

,

yee

~

a . ‘ f «

oo ai

po
< ww

HUGH

win Register S
. Paying ‘Pension
Other Claims : oe

a

HALSEY’S EXPENSE ACCOUNT

Sixth District Candidate Parted
: ‘With $1,100—Institute
a Place Changed, ..

. ra
\ apt vile
ke tow

P|

he

vad

“Not in several yeats
Treasury.

‘

has the ‘ita‘s
of Virginia been In such
1 Prosperous condition as {t Is in this
wood hour. There {s every jadiaut’cn
that at the end of the fiscal yeur, on
September 380, there will be a pub.

ntial surplyg viter the PayMine of

ry sort of 'obl'zation

lovernor Ma
Tegarded ag
terday when
‘Ment, As he
inherited a de
administration.

/

mn felt what may be
“& Patdonable pride yes-

hag repeatedly said, he
ficit from the Swanson

During his first year
In oMee, in, the rean Months of Sep-
tember and October, 1910, he was
forced to bdrrow. mo
mond banks,

ng. He
but the

‘1, was deferrea from
day end from week to week
money waa received to pay

‘y

pension checks will be
” Tat day of September,

-- Ajtor’s office have been
riting them. The
redéem the last

*
2 hg

Richmond Times Dispatch

Thursday, August 15, 1912

he made this announces.

pension cheoks,:

a

ns

HE FAVORS L. 2. MORRIS

George A. Ainslie Now. Only
Candidate—Harwood . Thanks .
' Friends.

G

‘

Becaute of recent ill health and for
busines, reasons, Colonel John 8, Har-~
wood unmnounces through The Timea-
Dispatch this morning that be is not
avd will tot be a candidate ‘tor the
office: of Mayor of Richmond te fill the
forthcoming vacanvy. His. Gecialon in
thin re’pect Is positive, and' was made
known by him yesterday in an, interes
view, . ‘ a

hig removes from the contest oné
of its foremosc fures. Ever alnce
the name of Colonel Harwood was
first suggested, it has beon recognized
that" hjs candidacy would ‘be ‘formi-
Gable, either before the City ‘Council, .
in a preferential Primary or ia a. legal
Primary. Other possible candidates.
have awaited hig decision before
coming to the front, and it {s! proba-
ble that there wiJl be announcementw,
a8 a result, °- ce a
Thanks His Friends, :
“I am indeed grateful and appre-'
clative of the many kind offerg of
support voluntarily made to me,” said
Colonel Harwood yesterday. “Friends
in large numbers have called on me
and havé written and telephoned mae.
IT have received assurances that a ma-
Jority of the City Council would favor
my election, and would put me tn the
office of Mayor. '
“Naturally these kind ovortures and
Pledges of support have produced an
impression on me. I have carefully
considered the matter. The offica of
Mayor of Richmond is one of high
honor, not to be Nghtly refused. It
1s one that should not be refused
unless Jt 1s necessary,
“But I have considerations whish

have swayed me. My health has re-

2 onths beqp carefully '.devoting, ved
«Mention to my recover¥, I. am: much

cently not bean good, and I have for

‘+? it

| Chicago’ People Wa ‘Sen
_ Alienist to Richmond ' t's),
Examine Hen

yi.

GOVERNOR REFUSES REQUE

ath

whdes

op
ws
%
«

‘

$

Lawyer “to Arrive. 'To-Day- for

Final Plea—Girl, Will ‘Die: 7:

“ e. To-Morrow, Z ih ey 4
a hee ae rae

| . ’ ae “* Ff tb re)
Continued efforts are being made by

Unicago pepple, /arouged ' by ‘a! Me. news.
p&per ‘of that city, to secure’ commuts-
ton of the death, sentence of Virginis
Whristian, ‘the, negro gir} who will’ go
tothe electric ohalr early tq-morrow

moining,. Al] such attempt, »4

parents, will meet faflure, °’.

_ A resident of Onicago, moved by, sen«
ment, called Governor Mann on, the
telephone yesterday morning, and ank-
ed him to grant a respite to the girl
until Buch time as. an allenist ‘from
Unicago ¢coujd'cometo Richmond and
examine her, with a, view to finding: (f
Ne ta not mentally deticlent, It ways,
said that the fee and expenses. of thé
allenist would be defrayed at the ather
Pe ee ere a ee ay a
ike Have Alfonists Hore, || '
In reply, the Governor paid that. he’
would give\no further respite, He nes:
called, the ‘faqt if he deemed it .ads.
visable, he could summon {nta'serviog
the superintendents of apy one of: the:
Tour State nospiteia for the insane, or all
of them. They gre men Known to him
ana in whom he has personal conf.
dence, In addition, one of tnem ig an
allenst with,a pational reputation, He
did not think he needed 4 spectaliag;
trom Cnicago, ‘The, girl's sanity haw
never been brought into question,
W. Jd. Anderson, a Chicago suwyer,
dispatched to Richmond as a result
of a newspaper agitation in, that city,
18 expected. to Arrive at 7:d0 o'clock
this morning, and he will soon theru-
alter repair to the Capital /to-.see the
Governor, This attorney - Im ;3atd , to
ak o2Im-~.

4 vat
s he fact 'o
oh gy

nt, td “Sand

¥

4
!

tt adel

DEAF A
PICMIE

Cc! oo NS weded tp
\ The : Old Dor
ee AR °, OF the

é

“te

; Deoclamations: and

ings in the auattoriu
Hotel brought to «
the -thirg day of :
“The Old Dominio:
Deaf.) Thty wag 1:
for a permanent: or
‘Morning's business 1
ning’s entertainment

ture readings by Re
Rev, .0. J. Whildin,
rill and others, Se.
men recited poems ;
| Kuage, and were give
Refreshments were
evening. _-'- |,
The name of the

Old Dominion Socte:
was adopted advised)
Plained that some

speak orally ,and th
rounfoate freely in. t
Rev. J, W, Michaels,

commigtee on corist!
lawa, proposed the 1
adopted unanimously,
‘Offers. Hl-
At the morning »
was chosen ag the ne»
ing at some time du:
Yet ‘to be determined
oMicerg were: elected

have.a reputation for Myer ng
Inalp from. the deaths jy b aw
thet.) duet

“Der, and inten

d to get entirely well

nO

to bear ‘on ‘
seen,

Repamibia.'}9) hay

t
What’ arte’ 2 kesh

51, Begg


.

~- se ~

Which might keep me trom
“ult of health whenever, such

Maat when ie cee pe |Deala will ‘ba: effectual ' ‘The fgorernas . Mesalutionag were

\I should be oalleg to
‘ve my. offloia) duties.
Mmecom Cares.

business interests Virginia: Ohristian is under’ the seg.’ Yegr [which ' ware at

attention. In aq-
‘shed contern, I

1 business en- She Was emplorved ac Smee, Tee er SO, WINS Heal)

vient: White woman was aio Fahd |eating content for
“ecesmary brained her; after driving sloth ‘Wig Ny “igh mien’:
\to dal nor throar With & DEON eR ok td ‘pier Hed ela
Se DY] Went an Outery, Bhe made ® full oOns/ have fils Hats Aine).
am j Tegston later, Paying she diq tha ' Geea Basoclation @ wire or

Wie

wits Neroge Viememey, | tihayille::’ pearetary,

No One in touch with the. B.CURtOd- Richmond: | treasure:
Pelieves for ‘a moment thet: tiese ap. Pottsmouth,: -

{

Nas stated. mogt, Dositively: to the’ Birl'g ling the: presg for tt
dawyers that unless they hove new mas fiodnvention” and tx6
tera. ito Present, they need wot see-hins gO ite." gourtestes

again, AE Rr WL ae Lets

tence ‘of the law for the murder off treaguter A> Renedi:
Mra. ida Belota, of Bamrtn by wing [Co Merrit ented we

Waletrersion ewill be

When, OF
fihend, whe

®/ becaune Mra, Relate had scoused her of wetermelone ana eh

RLERLIHB LB PhS, Boat rcmmittes hy

An &ppeal. was taken (to the / ae
Court, Which refused « Writred arrag,

J. Thomas Newsome and other éofeed4:
jawyers had charge of the case, and
made every effort to , Seve Virginia |
Coristian’s life. They ‘asked the Gov- &

‘{@xtohded time wt Oxpire to-morépwih 2,

|UAisago, fostered by newspaper ‘agiis-

{fait Whereis also an undertone in

erncr for clemency. At the request Aap ae ioe 7
of the attorneys ang Orpanizations or flr) © "0.4, toner
the colored race, a Teapite was granted ey

for thirty dayg to Bive. the prisdner |S
Ume for preparation for eternity, ‘he hee)

Propaian’ ty] y

“

: There beems ‘De an tm

fete  sditeohberg, can
sine minivtrative Board, |
# rch bes Mid erated Me
terday ;‘atternoda. ‘cénsu:
| Fes obiputes. He apoke
th" be

apy

AG: termy in fayor
brasg

the-girl. ‘To the contrary, colored: hep,’

|Ple .Of/ Hampton’ ana: Nowport lowe

tion, that nothing has been ddna.for

Chiougo whioh indioates ‘that’ fie peo,
Diy «interested . there ave deen.) do
Palleve ‘that it tw a oane of Fape'pariie-

{ i 1“ ‘

“Virginta Chriatian will be'-tha’ ‘toret

AHA Bier eseRa, stor
i arigtanes

aga!
WSR” CAPRGLE YS Pandy Sy Us

ae aes | in ‘Phy ‘Timer

[ fate, but see

[ROC to met eside , the Judgment of. the

morning under the head
Of:the People,” ~ odmm!:
A Herne Blair, | whigh
layer of my. candidacy,
Hiatr' from -the bottom of
cah'gdy truthfully that t)
dd thing that has been ;
Qogl\ newspapers about
‘berg ‘bince he entered the
-MS., Hirschberg took px
Cleay that while he wa:
Tefred: toes the “labor «
wag’ his’ purpose "ff elect

if a) °
aS os .

after’ 7 o'clock to-mor
‘Che girl is largely ind!

‘Constantly, Ghee: (Be og
A Norfolk ‘attorney '9alled'.on «th
Governor last evening, |
aMdavita, and, made an extended plea.
for. thi Prisoner, ry @ Governor, saw
nathing ‘to. shake {s. detérmination

OU ee rin ku.

0 of FS 44 ‘


Fl

OW typi w" 5 ‘c\¢
ok AG

D

i

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA’

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH - DIVISION OF VITAL RECORDS m “e
iN |
#)\
Mg ND, VIRG
DEATH 4273 a
) Registered mock 734 :
ted :
AN at! [If death occurred Ina :
pee hospital or institution, :
: -give its NAME instead of :
street and number, and =
fill out No. 18.) :
MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF DEATH hb iw :
16 DATE OF DEATH CL : |
GIG OD ONAN th) (Day) (Year) ;
“8 & ¢ bs We! + Me eS :
HEREBY CERTIFY) :
S18 7
Liast sawh -alive on :
amt * NTE Se 8, ae! 1 X-4 z
and that death occurred, on the date stated above, at m. :
he. G@AUSE OF DEATH* was as follows: Le
1 F ip if ag i: ig by, 7 A GL a :
|| Atos AO RecA heck el. hig te so 2S fa :
ae ie. — ce a “ ‘ te 33 = “ “s aot, aun
Basuesstdennsoehae days
CGO UL ORY re sc slscccsadcsasesstgpaanedpdeceoposuseudetehgnsascnoscesisarsnsvese aauiicess
(Seconpary)
vavoweconncncegeasgannsdunesvacastebexes FB aus latcnecees SNOB sccsessredseonenss OAy®
{BIGNOD) srvesntisorieartineret Y, WALA. LH Agape .
Men INL, (Addr088), AM IEE...Y...
? .
DEATH, or, in deaths from VIOLENT
ca ante, the, Te es OF LNZURY ; and “te) whether ACCIDENTAL,
[SDJCIDAL or HOMICIDAL.

ve [7 ener .
Lf. MILE... VOs/SL & Keegh,

This is to certify that this is a true and correct reproduction or abstract of the official record filed with the
Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia.

DATE ISSUED Aienll z /s aan SSS,

‘

Russell E. Booker, Jr., State Registrar

AUb

Any reproduction of ue 9 198 is prohibited by statute. Do not accept unless on security paper with seal of Vital
Statistics clearly embossed. Section 32.1-272, Code of Virginia, as amended.

444
408
i

CHRIS @) ER,
a dal? ." ; #27

ee epreenceeresintenapent -
A NEGRO FIEND EXECUTED.

Confessed His Hetnous Crime, and Was

Leg In Four Mingepy oye

FREDERICKSBURG, VA., NovVember
14.—(Speclal.)—Moses Christopher Megro),
of Caroline county, paid the penalty of
his crime by being “hanged by the neck
until dead’ at Bowling Green to-duy.
The exccution took place in the jail,
and was private; only fourteen persons,
including the Dispatch representative, be-
ing present. There were, however, quite
a large crowd on the outside, but all
view of the scaffold was obstructed by
ao fourteen-foot fence, which d been
erected around the jail. The xecution
occurred at 12:02, and fin. four minutes
afterwards life was extinct, the neck
having been broken, and death was al-
most instantancous.

MADE HIS PEACE.

In reply to the usual question, ‘‘Have
you anything to say?” he replied “No,”
but just before, the execution, during an’
interview, he freely and fully confessed,
oe suid he had made his peace with his
30d. ;

The erlme for which he paid the penalty
of death was the assault on little Maselle
Carter, the bright and ‘interesting T-yeur-
old daughter of Thomus Carter, which oc-
curred. on September the 13th. So great
was the indignatjon at the time that
| lynching was publicly talked of, and mo
doubt was only prevented by the guar-
antee of a speedy trial, which resulted
in his arrest,- arraignment,.. trial, and
conviction within thirty-six hours after
the offence. He was 19° yeurs old, and
had Jived with Mr. Carter for a number
of years.

The hanging of Christopher was tite
first whioh has occurred in that county
for sixteen years, the last being a negro
named William Robinson, who was-
hansed on. May 3%, 1878, for the brutal
murder of a colored woman named liza |

Roy, and for, whom he professed great
love. ‘

A LALLY

DISPATCH i Virgini
SPATCH, Richmond, Virginia

AXAWEE November 15, 189 (1:2,)