Virginia, T,V-W, 1805-1997, Undated

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By Anne Gearan
The Associated Press

BOYDTON, Va. (AP) — These
days, Prince A. Thomas Jr. patrols
the razor-wired, 20-foot fences sur-
rounding the Mecklenburg Correc-
tional Center. He has little contact
with death row or its inmates.

“T don’t like to go over there,” he
said.

Small wonder. Ten years ago, on
May 31, 1984, Thomas was among
14 prison employees who were tak.
en hostage by a determined band of
six condemned men — stripped,
bound and locked in a cell.

The six, sentenced to die for a to-
tal of nine murders, then drove
through the open gates of Virginia’s
most secure prison. It was the larg-
est death row escape in American
history. | an

All were recaptured within three
weeks; five of the six have been exe-
cuted. The breakout still haunts
Mecklenburg, though employees
rarely mention it. ,

“You don’t ever get over it,” said.
Thomas.

“You can’t take nothing for
granted. The only reason you walk
out of here every day is because the
inmates let you walk out. .. . ’m

very aware of that.”

The escape was carefully
planned, craftily prepared. The in-
mates had secreted homemade
knives in cracks in their cell walls,
then painted over the cracks. Over
months they listened to the guards’
conversations over. an intercom sys-
tem, noting assignments, names and
shift changes.

The Briley brothers — James and
Linwood — were the masterminds;
they had been accused of 11 mur-
ders in Richmond, although they
were not tried for all of them. “You
can’t burn a guy but one time,” the
city prosecutor said after both Bri-
leys were sentenced to death.

Richmond _ Circuit Judge James
Wilkinson called the brothers’
crimes the “vilest rampage of rape,
murder and robbery the court has
seen in 30 years.” .

killed an elderly

house,”

ee

Death Row breakout |
| still haunts employees |
on the job 10 years later :

The others: Derick L. Peterson, 22,
killer of a supermarket worker; Wil-
lie Leroy Jones, 26, who robbed arid

couple; Lem bp.
killing |a

Tuggle,; 32, convicted of
29, who

woman; Earl Clanton Jr.,
strangled a librarian.
No one noticed when, after an
evening recreation period, Clanton
hid in a bathroom instead of returh-
ing to his cell. About 8:30, Clanton
emerged and ier ag a lone
guard in the cellblock’s control
room.
He released the others, and for
more, than 90 minutes the group
held the building hostage. '
No one outside the building knew
anything was amiss. About 10:30,
the group forced a hostage to radio
an emergency call. There was ‘a
bomb on death row and the guard
would need a prison van immedi-
ately to remove it, the guard said. |
The six.donned. riot gear and ran
from the building, pretending to
douse the bogus bomb with fire ex-
tinguishers. They jumped into the
waiting van and disappeared into
the hot, late spring night. It was
close to a half-hour later when pris-
on officials discovered the ruse.
“It. was a freak happening,” said
Jerry Davis, records manager at the
prison. He is one of only a few se-
nior prison officials who remain -—
most were transferred after the es-
cape. ,
‘They walked out, they did not

break out. You have to remember

that. It took human error for them to
escape,” Davis said.
The escape terrified prison em-
ployées and residents of this rural
tobacco farming area near the North
Carolina line, where the prison rep-
resents welcome employment but
also makes an unsettling neighbor.'
“I was afraid to even go out of my
said prison. operations offi-
cer Joanne Royster, who was an in-
mate counselor at the time of the
escape. be 4
Clanton: and Peterson” were
caught the next day in Warrenton,
N.C; Jones and Tuggle a week later,
in Stanford, Vt.

.
ee


Recaptured Killer

Executed in Virginia

RICHMOND, Dec. 15 (AP) — A
murderer who was one of six death-
row inmates to escape from a Virgin-
ia prison in 1984 was executed by
injection on Thursday night.

The prisoner, Lem Tuggle, 44, was
put to death for the 1983 murder of
Jessie Geneva Havens, 52. The au-
thorities say he raped and shot her
after they met at a dance. The killing
took place four months after Mr.
Tuggle was paroled in another case.
He served half of a 20-year term for
murdering a 17-year-old girl, Shirley
Brickey, in 1971.

In May 1984, Mr. Tuggle was one of
six inmates who used homemade
knives and stolen guard uniforms to
take 13 prison employees hostage
and bluff their way out of the Meck-
lenburg Correctional Center. Mr.
Tuggle was captured with another
inmate in Vermont, and all the es-
capees were caught within three
weeks. The other five have since
been executed.


G4 Frivay, DECEMBER 13, 1996 8 THE WASHINC

|

Va. ‘Takes Lead in Executions as Tugele
Becomes 7th Put to Death in State in 96

TUGGLE, From G1

after Tuggle was paroled from a 20-
year sentence for the 1971 murder of
a 17-year-old girl.

On May 31, 1984, Tuggle and five
other inmates, led by brothers Lin-
wood and James Briley, won national
notoriety by donning stolen guard
uniforms, bluffing their way through
guard posts and staging a Holly-
wood-style escape from Mecklen-
burg Correctional Center in a prison
van.

Tuggle was arrested about a week
later in Vermont, driving a pickup
truck he had stolen in North Caroli-
na. All six were back in custody
within three weeks, and all but
Tuggle were executed before 1993.

Tuggle’s death brought to 36 the
number of executions carried out in
Virginia since the 1976 Supreme
Court ruling that legalized the death
penalty.

Though Virginia ranks 18th in the
number of inmates on death row,
with 50, the state currently is third
nationwide in the number of execu-
tions it has carried out since 1976.
Texas ranks first, with 107, and
Florida second, with 38, according
to Richard C. Dieter, executive di-
rector of the Washington-based
Death Penalty Information Center.

Tuggle’s attorneys argued on ap-
peal that he was denied an indepen-
dent psychological evaluation before
his trial and that a jury sentenced
him to death after-a prosecution psy-
chiatrist testified that he would re-
main a danger to society if allowed
to live. The federal appeals court in
Virginia ruled that the jury would
not have decided differently even if

yi PHOTO/ASSOCIATED nn
LEM TUGGLE
...had two murder convictions

an independent psychiatrist had
been allowed to testify.

In denying clemency, Allen said,
“The loved ones of Jessie Geneva Ha-
vens and Tuggle’s earlier victim, Shir-
ley Brickey . . . will not be with them
this holiday season, or any other time
of year, because of the heinous crime
that was inflicted on them.”

Tuggle had won few defenders
during the more than two decades
he spent in prison, and in a recent
telephone interview with the Associ-
ated Press, he spoke of resignation
about his fate.

“I’ve been on the row for 13
years. I’ve just gotten used to it. You
face death every day, and you finally
just get immune to it,” he said.

Department of Corrections
spokesman Dayid Botkins said that
with four executions in the last three
weeks and two more scheduled for
next week, the department’s 12-man
execution team has endured periods
of “high stress” related to “this ex-
tremely difficult task.”

“Obviously, this is the time of year
for celebration and pleasant
thoughts. Certainly, making the
transition from putting someone to
death and going home to look at the
Christmas tree could be rather jolt-
ing,” he said, adding that psychologi-
cal counseling is available to all who
participate in an execution. “To my
knowledge, none has felt the need to
participate in anything like that, but
then, we’re still not done.”

Opponents of the death penalty
accused the Allen administration of
using Tuggle’s and other executions
for political gain.

“These politicians believe that a
tough stand on the death penalty and
achieving lots of executions is what
the public wants and is what will win
them elections,” Dieter, of the Death
Penalty Information Center. “I don’t
know if that’s what the public really
wants or if that’s just the political
perception.”

An Allen administration spokes-
man said the flurry of executions has
resulted from a change in state poli-
cies, effective July 1, that limits a
death row inmate’s options for ap-
peal. The change removes one stage
of available appeals and requires lo-
cal courts to set an execution date
within 70 days after an appeal has
been rejected by the Virginia Su-
preme Court or the 4th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals.


Murderer
Executed in
Va. Prison

State’s Death Count

Reaches 7 for 1996

ft - 1 3.9L

By Tod Robberson
Washington, Post Staff Writer

Convicted murderer Lem Tuggle,
the last survivor of a group that car-
ried out the biggest death-row es-
cape in U.S, history, said a final
“Merry Christmas” last night, then
was put to death, making Virginia
the state with the most executions
for 1996.

The Christmas message was his
last statement before administration
of a lethal injection, and he was pro-
nounced dead at 9:12 p.m., the As-
sociated Press reported.

Tuggle, 44, was denied clemency
yesterday afternoon by Gov. George
Allen (R), and the U.S. Supreme
Court turned down his final appeal
Dec. 5,

His execution, at the Greensville
Correctional. Center in Jarratt,
brought to seven the number of exe-
cutions carried’ out in Virginia this
year. South Carolina and Missouri
rank second with six executions each.

Virginia has two more executions
scheduled in the next week that,
barring last-minute Stays, “will put
the state well ahead of its closest
competition” for this year, said Ste-
ven Hawkins, executive director of
the National Coalition to Abolish the
Death Penalty.

Tuggle, whose arm was embla-
zoned with a “Born to Die” tattoo, was
convicted of murdering Jessie Geneva
Havens, 52, of Smyth County, Va., in
1983. Havens was raped, sodomized
and shot in the chest only four months

See TUGGLE, G4, Col. 1


EAGLE

A CLA Aha Friday, June 10, 1994

Judge overturns
conviction of survivor
of death-row escape

By DAVID REED
Associated Press Writer

ROANOKE, Va. — A man
who escaped in the nation’s
largest death-row breakout was
happy to learn Thursday that a
judge overturned his capital
murder conviction, though he
realizes “a lot of twists and
turns” remain.

Mark Miner, spokesman for
Attorney General Jim Gilmore,
said Thursday that Lem D. Tuggle
“will stay behind bars until we have
made our appeal known.”

U.S. District Judge James
Turk ruled Wednesday that
Tuggle must be freed or
retried within six months
because his constitutional
rights were violated repeatedly
during his trial.

Tuggle, 42, was sentenced to
death in January 1984 for the
rape and capital murder of 52-
year-old Jessie G. Havens.

He was one of six death-row
inmates who escaped from the
Mecklenburg Correctional
Center on May 31, 1984. All
were captured within a month.

The five others who escaped
with Tuggle all have been exe-
cuted. It remains the largest
death-row escape in U.S. history.

Attorney Tim Caine said he
told Tuggle to anticipate an
appeal and that the best conclu-
sion he could expect is a new
trial.

He said Tuggle “recognized, too,
that the appeal is likely and this is
not the last step or a big victory.
You just go to the next level. These
cases have a lot of twists and turns
to them.”

Mrs. Havens’ son, Roger,
said he was dismayed at the
prospect of sitting through
another trial.

“T feel really shocked and
amazed and hurt that we’re
going to have to put everybody
through this mess _ again,”
Havens told WDBJ-TV. “I
thought we pretty much had the
biggest part behind us. I think
the man got a fair trial.”

In order to convict Tuggle of
capital murder, the prosecution
had to prove the rape charge. Evi-
dence was insufficient to convict
Tuggle of Ms. Havens’ rape, the
judge said, because no semen
was found inside her body.

Danny Lowe, the _ former
Smyth County commonwealth’s
attorney who prosecuted Tuggle,
said “a horrible conclusion can
be drawn” from Turk’s ruling.
“What this is saying is, you could

never prove rape when there is
no semen and a man kills his vic-
tim. He’s getting the benefit out
of killing his victim.”

But Turk also said Tuggle’s
rights were violated because the
Smyth County court failed to
appoint an independent psychia-
trist and pathologist to help in
his defense.

Department of Corrections
spokesman Ben Hawkins said
he did not know whether Tug-
gle will remain on death row
and was unable to get the
answer from agency directors
Thursday.

Five months before Ms.
Havens’ murder, Tuggle had
been paroled on a 1972 second-
degree murder conviction.

After the record-setting
escape attempt, he tried unsuc-
cessfully to escape again in
1985 and 1987. No escape
charges were ever brought
against him.

MiTtsBueGH
fost- GAzeTTE

TUES. 3-2-95

Sept. 21 execution date
is scheduled for Tugete

MARION — An execution date
of Sept. 21 has been set for Lem
Davis Tuggle Jr., one of six
death row inmates*Wwho escaped
from Mecklenburg Correctional
Center in 1984.

Tuggle was convicted in Janu-
ary 1984 for the rape and murder
; of Jessie G.
Havens, 52.
wi | Less than
+. 1 four months
| earher, Tug-
gle had been
paroled after
; serving time
ey ($1 for the mur-

fe) der of a 17-

% ig :

year-old girl.
mm Tuggle
‘uggle participated 1

the largest death row escape ir
U.S. history on May 31, 1984.

.c The Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- A man who raped, sodomized and shot a middle-aged woman he met at a dance was executed by injection
Thursday night.

Lem Tuggle, 44, who wore a ‘Bom to Die" tattoo on his arm, was put to death at 9:12 p.m His last words were ‘‘Merry Christmas," a
prison official said.

Tuggle died for the 1983 murder of Jessie Geneva Havens, 52. She was shot in the chest four months after Tuggle was paroled — he had
served half of a 20-year sentence for murdering a 17-year-old girl, Shirley Brickey, in 1971.

In May 1984, Tuggle was one of sixdeath-row inmates who used homemade knives and stolen guard uniforms to take 13 prison
employees hostage and bluff their way out of the Mecklenburg Correctional Center. All were caught within three weeks; the other five
have since been executed.

AP-NY-12-12-96 2144EST

Copyright 1996 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.

Friday December 13, 1996 America Online: Galba33 Page: 1

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NEWS
MOUNT AIRY, N.@&

SEP 22 35

Friday, September 22, 1995

N.C. Inmate Drops

By ESTES THOMPSON
AP Writer

RALEIGH — A condemned
murderer talked of forgiving witnes-
ses and going to heaven today as he
was executed by lethal injection after
he dropped his appeals and asked to
be killed. a Ss

Phillip Lee
Ingle, 34, was
the eighth per-
son executed in
North Carolina
since the U.S.
Supreme Court
reinstated cap-
ital punishment
in 1976. He was
sentenced to die for the beating
deaths of two elderly couples he
thought were demons.

“T want to say I forgive you all,”’
Ingle said, his voice barely audible
through the double pancs of glass
separating the witness room from the
death chamber at Central Prison.
‘Life without parole is worse than
the death penalty.”’

Ingle shook his head and said,
“I'm going to heaven!” He talked to
witnesses from the time he was
rolled into the death chamber on a
blue-sheeted gumey until he closed
his eyes and drifted int uncon-

Ingle

40%

Supreme Court Grants Stay For Virginia Killer

From Wire Reports

RICHMOND (AP) — Lem Davis Tuggle, the
last surviving member of a six-inmate gang that
pulled off the largest death-row escape in U:S.
history, won a stay of execu-
tion Thursday from the U.S.
Supreme Court.

The twice-convicted killer
was to have died by lethal
injection Thursday night at the |
Greensville Correctional Center
in Jarratt.

The Supreme Court said it
needs to consider whether to : 2
hear the forma! appeal Tug- Tuggle
gle’s lawyers filed with the court Monday. The
— does not begin its 1995-96 term unul Oct.

Mark Miner, a spokesman for state Attorney
General James S. Gilmore III, said that if the
court decides not to hear the appeal, the stay °
would be lifted automatically. Under state law,
the execution would be reset for a date no more
than 70 days after the lifting of the stay.

Tuggle’s lawyer, Timothy Kaine, said he was
pleased to get the stay, but the real test will be
whether the court agrees to accept the petition.

“Certainly the grant of the stay indicates that
at least the justices feel there are some issues to
resolve,’” Kaine said.

Eight more executions have been scheduled at |
Greensville over the next three months, beginning |

with Dennis W. Stockton on Sept. 27. However,
court intervention for further appeals is likely in
some of those cases.

sciousness with his mouth gaping
open.

“TI love you. I love you all,’ he
said, looking at the son-in-law of two
victims and the sheriff who investi-
gated the slaying.

The injection of deadly drugs
began at 2:01 a.m. and Ingle was
pronounced dead at 2:14 am.

Ingle’s attorney, Julian Wright of
Charlotte, sat quietly watching his

client die. Wright said afterward he
had told Ingle when he visited hours
earlier that ‘‘if he changed his mind,
the procedure was in place to get a
stay. He said he didn’t think that
would be happening.”’

The U.S. Supreme Court on
Thursday night rejected a petition for
a stay.

Last week, Ingle told Gov. Jim
Hunt in a videotaped message that he

van

wanted to be executed if the state
couldn't lock him away for the rest of
his life in a mental institution and
treat him. Ingle’s parents both
suffered from schizophrenia. Hunt
denied the request for clemency.

Judges had ruled that Ingle was
competent to stand trial and to stop
his appeals.

Ingle said in his last statement that
he was asking to be executed “‘so

oN

=

His Appeal, Is Executed

that the victims’ families can maybe
find some peace to put an end fo what
has happened.” °

Ingle’s wife, Sandy, and their two
daughters as well as his sister,
brother and other relatives visited
him until 11 p.m. None witnessed the
execution. They said they didn’t
oppose his desire to be executed.

“It was very difficult for him to
say good bye,’’ said the Rev. Jimmy
Creech of the North Carolina Coun-
cil of Churches. “‘It was very
emotional, very: tearful.’

During a service in light rain
outside the prison, Mrs. Ingle stood
with death penalty protesters who
held candles and prayed, then lis-
tened as other names of death row
inmates were called out.

Creech said Ingle saw his victims
as demons with red eyes, homs and
tails and killed them because. he
thought he was doing God’s work.
Creech said the slaying under those
circurnstances was clear evidence of
mental illness.

William and Margaret Davis were
beaten with an ax handle, and EZ.
and Sarah Willis, were bludgeoned
with a tire iron. Both sets of murders
occurred in 1991.

Ingle was the 42nd convict put to
death nationally this year.

~~

——


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Tuggle
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en se ees

RAR PT tt San ain tan

They searched for discarded female
clothes, a blouse, a pair of jeans, a
shoe or sock which might have
belonged to the missing woman. Killers
many times will scatter pieces of
clothing taken from their victims willy-
nilly along their route.

They also looked for items of men’s
clothing. Many killers will immediately
discard bloodied pants or shirts so as
not to attract attention should they be
stopped. .

But nothing was found. Hot, tired
and dirty from their hours-long foray,
the two men returned to the Sheriff’s
Department. There they entered
Tuggle, Tuggle’s vehicle, and Jessie
into the N.C.I.C. computer. To the
weary investigators, it seemed as

WHAT’S YOUR VERDICT

No one remembered how the discus-
sion started. It was just one of those
things. Someone happened to mention
that Officer Black, who was standing
at the bar, was a good pistol shot.
Immediately someone else spoke up and
said that Officer Egbert was a better
marksman.

Since both policemen were in the
saloon it seemed only natural to settle
the question immediately. Everyone
retired to a rear room and a few minutes
later a crude target hung on the back
wall that faced the alley.

Neither cop wanted an advantage, so
they both agreed to use the same gun.
They took turns blazing away at the
target until everyone agreed that the
contest was a draw. Then they went
back to the bar to celebrate the event.

A few minutes later the front doors
burst open and a young man rushed in,
shouting that there was a dead man in
the alley. The two officers investigated.
They found the man lying under a small

hole in the rear wall. There was -

absolutely no doubt that he had been
killed by a slug fired during the target
practice. Both policemen were arrested’
and charged with manslaughter.

When the case came to trial, it
created quite a stir. The State charged
both men with the crime on the grund
that one of them for certain had fired
the fatal shot. The defense admitted
that one of the men was guilty, but not
both. Therefore, if Officers Black and
Egbert were both punished, the State
would be guilty of punishing an
innocent man.

For a while it looked as though the
jury would need the wisdom of Solo-
mon to bring out a fair verdict. The
problem was clear, but the solution was
hard to find.

though all three had vanished from the
face of the earth. ;

While they waited for an answer,
Kenney and Blevins scanned the dance
hall list of guests from the night Jessie
Havens disappeared. They would have
to interview every single person on the
list, definitely a long process.

In between interviews, Kenney
secured search warrants for Tuggle’s
residence. This was a rented mobile
home located about five miles south of
Marion. It was to be a thankless job.
Neither the trailer nor the area
surrounding it revealed anything o

‘further the case of the missing Jessie

Havens..
Tuesday, the worst fears were
confirmed. Jessie Havens failed to turn

First, the jurors had to consider the
fact that a man had been killed, and
the guilty party had to be punished.
They knew for certain that one of the
two men on trial was the guilty party,
but which one was it? They had also to
consider what the defense attorney had
told them when he summed up the case.
If they brought out a verdict of not
guilty for both men, they were allowing

‘a crime to go unpunished, and they were

setting a guilty man free.

Place yourself in a jury seat and try
to figure out a fair verdict. Consider
all the angles and then decide if both
men should be found guilty, or if. the
verdict should be not guilty. These are
the only two verdicts that can be
considered, because to render a verdict
against just one of the officers might
be doing an even graver injustice; an
innocent man might be punished, and
a guilty man set free.

_ After you’ve made a decision, turn
to page 48 and see how it compares with
the verdict that was brought in by the
actual jury.

. Solution On Page 48

up at her job, and this, her employer
said, was totally out of character.

Detectives now learned Tuggle had
asked to check a gun at the door where
the dance was being held. Told he
could not, he was seen putting it in
the trunk of his car. Worse, Tuggle
was seen getting something out of the
trunk of his car just before he left the
parking lot.

Of course, lawmen reasoned Tuggle
didn’t need a gun to'kill. He hadn’t
used a gun on his first victim, merely
his own strong hands. But a gun
certainly made killing easier.

While the frantic search for the
missing woman continued, the suspect
in the case drove into Columbia, South
Carolina, where he quickly sold his
beat-up Oldsmobile to a soldier. Then
he went to the bus station where he
told a cab driver to take him to
Greensboro, North Carolina.

The cabby pulled out of the cab
stand thinking of the enormous fare
this night’s work would bring, but his
dreams were short-lived. Held up at
gunpoint and robbed, he was kicked
out of his own taxi, left stranded but
lucky to still be alive.

Tuggle, in possession of the cab,
drove back to Currin Valley near
Marion and there abandoned the
vehicle. Then he sneaked over to his
employer’s and stole his Volkswagen
pickup with some keys he had in his
pocket.

At 2:30 a.m., still driving the Volks
pickup, the desperate man at the wheel
held up the Riverside Exxon gas station
and demanded $81 at the point of a
gun. Afterwards the attendant im-
mediately called the police and an APB
went out on the driver and the truck.
The alert resulted in the Volkswagen
being stopped by the Virginia State
Police near Pulaski, but the arresting
trooper had gotten a bigger fish than
just an auto thief.

Bright and early on the morning of
June 2, Joe Kenney woke from a
sound sleep to the news he had been
waiting for: Lem David Tuggle was in
custody on a charge of armed robbery
at the Pulaski County jail.

With a whoop of delight, Kenney
hung up the phone, then dialed Blevins
and told him to meet him at the office.
There he and Blevins got warrants for
Tuggle by Chilhowie Police Officer
Kenny Fields and Deputy Danny
Wardle of their department. The

‘warrants charged Tuggle with the

armed robbery of the Chilhowie
station.

(continued on page 60)


sane

The Killer Who Stalks Campgrounds

(continued from page 58)

being readied in Idaho, the FBI was
requested to file a charge of unlawful
flight to avoid prosecution against
Robert Danielson.

On Thursday, April 6, FBI agents
arrested ‘Danielson in the West Texas
City of Odessa, where he was working
with a traveling carnival. The FBI said
the suspect offered no resistance, but

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60 ’

Sex Killer Who Always Struck Twice

(continued from page 9)

approached him with all the caution
generally reserved for parting a zoo
lion from a cut of meat. The trick
would be to get him to admit the
location of the body and his part in
the killing — all within guidelines laid
down by the law.

But if the lawmen had hopes for the
first, they struck out on the second.
Tuggle told them where Jessie Havens’
body could be found, but steadfastly
refused to admit guilt in her death.

When asked by Kenney what hap-
pened to her, Tuggle muttered, *‘l
don’t know, but she’s there.”’

Frustrated, the two Smyth County
investigators loaded Tuggle into their
vehicle and took him back to the
county jail. Kenney, Blevins, Sheriff
Archer, and other members of the
Smyth County department headed out
to the area on State Route 643 known
as Hubble Hill following Tuggle’s
directions.

There, not ten feet from where
Kenney and Allison had worked their
way through underbrush and brambles
lay the ravaged body of Jessie Havens.

The area was immediately cordoned
off and photographs taken of the body
from every angle. Photographs were
taken of the main access road leading
to the death site, and of the under-
growth that looked as though it had
been broken when the body hurtled
down the 10 foot bank to its final
resting place.

Mrs. Havens presented a grim sight.
Her body was lying on one side about
ten feet from the bank, her head
supported by the stump of a tree.
Bruises and abrasions marked her
body. Her face was scraped, and a
deep bite mark could be seen on her
right breast. Above her pulled down
jeans, insect bites peppered her
stomach. A large bruise purpled the
inner upper thigh, and a gunshot
wound could be seen in her upper mid-
chest area. Powder burns around the

(continued on page 62)

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Sex Killer Who Always Struck Twice

(continued from page 60)

wound indicated the -gun had been
fired from a scant distance of 18-24
inches — the gun aimed at the terrified
victim in an execution type murder by
a cold-blooded killer.

Dr. James Patterson, the medical
examiner for Smyth County, examined
the body and told officers she had

‘probably been raped, but the final

say-so would have to wait on the
autopsy report. He pronounced her
officially dead and the body was
removed to be sent by Patterson to
Dr. David Oxley, the State Medical
Examiner, for a pathology report.
Someone was sent to the Havens
family members to inform them, Jessie
thad been found, while Kenney secured
new warrants for Lem David Tuggle.
The warrants charged Tuggle with
capital murder (murder in the com-
mission of or subsequent to rape), use
of a firearm in the commission of a
felony (murder), and possession of a
firearm after being convicted of a
felony. For this grocery list of
misdeeds, Tuggle was held in lieu of a
$250,000 bond.
Sheriff Archer and Joe Kenney
62 ‘

made a hurried trip to Columbia,
South Carolina, where the 1964
Oldsmobile sold by Tuggle had been
recovered by S.C. police from the
military sergeant Tuggle had sold it to.
Back in Smyth County, the vehicle
was examined by Investigator Doug
Henderlite of the sheriff’s department
and the mobile crime lab from the
department of the State Police.
Although nothing was found other
than a box, it was the box that had
contained the weapon used both in the
murder of Jessie Havens and in the
robbery of the .Chilhowie gas station.
The gun had been checked by ballistics
and was a key piece of evidence.
With the autopsy reports in the
hands of Sheriff Archer’s department
and the Commonwealth Attorney’s
office, Kenney secured an additional
indictment when the grand jury was
called back on Nov. 1, 1983, ‘charging
Tuggle with forcible anal sodomy.
Probable cause had been found
sufficient to have Tuggle bound over
to the grand jury where it was decided
he would stand trial for the murder of
Jessie Havens and related charges in

January, 1984.
With a six-man, six-woman jury
selected to hear the evidence, the state

produced an impressive array of legal-

medical talent. Dr. Alvin Kagey, one
of only fifty-two experts in the United
States and Canada in the field of
Forensic Orthodontics, physically
linked the 31-year-old defendant to the
victim, Jessie Havens.

Kagey told the court, ‘‘In my
opinion the person being bitten was
moving, indicating the person was
alive when Bitten.

‘“Peeth make a unique mark and
each person has a unique bite just like
fingerprints.”

Pointing to the model of Lem David
Tuggle’s teeth on exibit, he finished,
““With all my medical certainty, |
would say that Mr. Tuggle placed the
bite on the body.”’

This was an impressive piece of
evidence and testimony. Equally im-
pressive was the testimony which
showed the .25-caliber automatic
recovered from Tuggle by Officer
Freeman to be the gun which fired the
fatal shot into the victim’s body.

One of the female friends of the
dead woman identified the defendant
as the man who left the hall that night

(continued on next page)

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with Jessie Havens.

Trooper Smith gave testimony that
he had stopped the Tuggle vehicle the
night the Havens woman disappeared,
and that the passenger in the vehicle
resembled the dead woman. He also
said the vehicle was traveling in the
direction where the body was later
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Freeman took the stand and explain-
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arrested him for robbery.

With testimony at an end, the
closing arguments were given and
Judge J. Aubrey Matthews instructed
the jury. He told them they could bring
back one of four verdicts: guilty of
capital murder, guilty of first-degree
murder, guilty of second-degree
murder, or not guilty.

As the jury filed out, the words of
the prosecutor may have left ‘a
resounding knell — ‘‘Tuggle is a cold,
calm killer. That’s a man who has no
remorse about what he did, no
feelings, and no conscience,’’ a scant
hour later the jury returned with one
verdict.

Sent back and told they must return
with all three verdicts, thirty-two
minutes saw them file back into the

courtroom with their decision — guilty
on all charges.

Tuggle was sentenced to 20 years for
forcible sodomy and an additional two
years for using a firearm in a felony.
But the real issue was would his
sentence be death or life for the killing
of Jessie Havens?

Lem David Tuggle swallowed
nervously as additional testimony was
given that said it was likely he would
kill again if paroled. It was the second
time around for the defendant: he had
killed a young girl in 1972 in much the
same manner and in almost the same
place where Jessie had been found.

Judge Matthews explained the death
penalty could be given only if it was
probable Tuggle ‘‘...would constitute

a continuing threat to society,’’ or that
the murder was, ‘‘outrageously or
wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman...’’

January 20, 1984, saw the first death
penalty delivered in Smyth County
since the end of the Civil War. But it
likely will be some time before it is
carried out.

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63


© 1990 by E. Ra: oyd
ghts reserved. This bow: parts thereof,
_ ve reproduced in any form without permi«sion.
Published by August House, Inc.,
P.O. Box 3223, Little Rock, Arkansas, 7220
501-372-5450.

Printed : e United States of America
10987654321
‘RARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DAILA

More Great Southern Mysteries / (collected by} E. Randall Floyd—
| Ist ed.
| p. cm.

1: _.ades bibliographical references (p. }
ISBN 0-87483-160-1 (HB : acid-free) : $1:
4. OUULUCL LL OtatCS—HlisiOry, LOCai. 2. Curiosities auiu wou.
Southern States. 3. Legends—Southern States.
I. Floy E. Randall.
F209.5M6" 290
975—dc2( 90-119 °
|
|

First Ec On, .

Executive: Liz Par’ -irst
Project editor: Jud. — “aust
Design director: Ted  -khurst
Cover illustration: F . Taylor
Typography: Lettergra: Little Rock

This book is printed on archival-quality paper which meets the
guidelines for performance and durability of the Co. itteeon
Production’ —delines for Book Longevity of the
C il on Library Resources.

AUGU >T HOUSE, INC. PUBLISHERS L ~ ROCK

‘

RR rE

&
i
4

This book is
dedicated to
Anne

Zen ‘UINeOAT


“: More Great Southern Mysteries %

Almost a mo. : later, The Prophet was seen hiding in
some bushes and apprehe ided by a team of marshals. On
November 5 he was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to be
hanged six days later on November 11. Throughout the
ordeal—capture, trial and gallows—Turner remained calm
and collect:d, seemingly unfazed by the angry demands for
his life th. swirled across the jailhouse lawn. Some say the
divine mystic and rebel leader actually looked forward to his
date with the hangman.

A few ‘ays before his scheduled execution, Turner set
forth his t. oughts and feelings abot the grisly deed he had
done. What emerged from his “‘couiessions” was a rambling,
sometimes incoherent outpouring of love for his fellow man.
Nowhere, however, did there appear to be any signs of

5 fxn tha teraic Ince of life he had caused.

Yet Turner’s CONLESSIONS, SiALOUUCY iit Lily sticiouss ari bos
gious symbolism, revealed the inner workings of a brilliant
but deeply troubled young mind, consumed with burning
visions and other Old Testament revelations about his
divinely inspired : ission—that of rising up against the
whites and smiting them dead for having caused his people
so much misery and suffering.

Commenting on his vision in the cornfield, Turner wrote,
“T heard a loud noise in the Heavens, and the spirit instantly
appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened...and that
I should...fight against the Serpent, for the time was fast
approaching when the first would be last and the last should
be first...”

Moments before the noose was placed over his neck,

ymeone asked Turner whether he regretted what he had
done. In a soft voice that crackled, the Prophet replied, ‘“Was
not Christ crucified?”’

Baca
4 a i sage ches
* =e iy
ig of iad i
5

“ Notorious Deeds and '’»natural Acts *

Virginia’s “Starving Time’’

Their small village wasn’t much—a handful of crude huts and
cabins surrounded by a hastily erected palisade to keep out
wild animals and even wilder savages—but to the few’ 1-
dred brave souls clustered along the lonely shore of Vireo 2.

In spite of the hardships and loneliness and unending
peril that lurked just beyond the protective wall, these James-
town colonists were determined to make a stand. No one
thought about going back home to England. They were here.
and here they would stay to build a new way of life—far
removed from the dark, troubled ways of old Europe.

This was not the first time, of course, that a small band of
English colonists had tried to make a go of it in the harsh
western wilderness. Only a few years before, in 1587, more
than a hundred men, women, and children had apparently
been wiped out by Indians in an ill-fated attempt to colonize a
small island named Roanoke off the Virginia coast. Then. just
three years past, another group of settlers had set up camp at
the mouth of the Sagadahoc River in Maine. Although not

quite as disastrous as the Roanoke Colony, the Maine effort
had also “iled.

é ih The inost recent attempt at colonization had come less
‘an two years earlier when seventy-five men and boys had
| tried to set up the Jamestown settlement for future waves of

Colonists. Instead of worrying about finding food, those first
Englishmen in Jamestown had been more concerned about
finding cold and an illusive passageway to China. Their fool-


& More Great Soutwern My:

enstalks? And on the leaves of bushes, h:. « not seen the
carks of Satan—strange numbers and bh slyphs and a
»lasphemous parade of stick-like men reveiing in gruesome
doses?
With his face uplifted toward Heaven, young Nat Turner
knew he had seen and heard all those things and more. He
also knew it was only a matter of time before God’s mighty
sword slashed down, smiting the Serpent and all the enemies
of His Chosen People.

Three years later, on a warm, summer evening in 1831,
Nat Turnet’s mystical vision would come to pass. It would
come only a few months after darkness engulfed the sun ina
solar eclipse—the final sign the prophet needed before
springing into action.

Cross Keys, Virginia, was a quiet hamlet nestled in the
corner of the state. In those days, Cross Keys was populated
primarily by white farmers and merchants of modest means.
One of the community’s most prosperous residents was a
kind, gentle farmer named Joseph Travis, who happened to
own several slaves.

One of those slaves was Nat Turner.

Travis was fond of his young slave, admiring him not only
for his intelligence and enthusiasm for work, but also for his
honesty, courage, and religious piety. He had even attended a
few of Turner’s sermons and, according to some records,
encouraged the preacher to continue developing his oratori-
cal talents.

What Travis didn’t know—nor did any other white per-
son living in Southampton County that unusually warm,
muggy summer in 1831—was that the black preacher he had

come so to admire was secretly plotting one of the bloodiest
slave insurrections in America: story. By the time it ended,
less than a month later, at least sixty white people would be
dead along with more than a hundred blacks.

It is no secret that Turner, who openly called himself
“The Prophet,’ ' ‘ a mystical, almost mesmerizing influ-
ence Over mat lei -carea, white as well as black. He

"= Noto; » Deeds and Unnatural Acts &

was convinced of his own superiority, divinely granted by
long hours of prayer «ad fasting in the name of Jehovah, the
god of the Old Testament.

Therefore, when the time came to act, Turner had little
trouble convincing a few fellow slaves that they, too, were
part of his divine mission to rid the valley of whites. He told
them all about his visions, about how God had spoken to him
on numerous occasions, about the lights flashing over the
hilltops, and the blood-stained cornstalks, all in preparation
for him to lead the glorious task that lay ahead.

In his own chilling words, Turner later wrote: “I now
began to prepare them too for my purpose by telling them
something was about to happen that would terminate in
fulfilling the great promise that had been made to me.”

That “great promise’ was death. It came quickly and

of southampton County who lay sieeping in their beds when
The Prophet and his axe-wielding band of “‘angels”’ struck.

The first white people to die were Turner’s own master,
Joseph Travis. and his entire family—hacked to death w'th
axes. From the Travis farm a group of about thirty blacks
armed with old muskets, knives, picks, and axes, surged
across the countryside, stopping off at every house and cabin
along the way to stab, beat, and shoot their white occupants
to death.

The bloodiest carnage occurred at dawn the next morn-
ing when Turner’s gang of killers broke into the home of a
widow getting her ten children off to school. The mother
and nine of her children were slaughtered on the spot; the
tenth child escaped by crawling inside a chimney where she
hid until the murderers went away.

By eight o'clock, the enraged black rebels had hacked and
bludgeoned their way halfway across the county toward the
tiny town of Jerusalem. When the alarm finally sounded—
sometime around nine—hundreds of white men came charg-
ing after the renegade slaves, rifles and pistols blazing. Several
blacks were killed outright; others, including Nat Turner,
escaped into the Great Dismal Swamp.


<=" Notorious Deeds and Unnatural Acts

.we Prophet's Bloody Revenge

On the norning of May 12, 1828, a young black si..c¢ and
self-appointed preacher named Nat Turner was picking corn
in his master’s garden when a voice “‘like the sound of many
winds” floated down to him from Heaven.

(Wii y eyes, wasn t airaid. Nor was he really surprised as the
voice whispered his name over and over, reminding him of
his special purpose in life.

In fact, the so’t-spoken slave had been expecting a mira

uch as this for some time. Convinced sin. childhood

€ was a prophet sent to e) th ona divine mission, young

cr’s eyes flashc. with ; Jud fire as he pondered the
implications of that mystical vision.

There had been signs, even before Gud’s voice came to
him in the field that morning—disturbing signs that only
Turner, the Almighty’s Chosen One on earth, could interpret.
Had he not seen in his own mind rivers of blo: d pouring
throughout the land? Had he not heard thunder rolling
through the heavens while others slept, warning of the
ing clash between good and evil? Had he himself not wit
nessed an army of black and white :agels waging spiritual
warfare in the storm-scented ciouds?

What were the strange lights in th e had wa: hed
flickering over the hilltops on several occ.usions if not the
Saviour’s own redeeming glow?

That morning, standing alone in the sweeping field of
corn, had n> the prophet seen drops of blood staining the


17 Years Later, Victim’s Relatives Watch Killer Die

TURNER, From Al

Just like that, the ordeal ended, all
the up-and-down court battles, the
prison escapes, the constant remind-
ers. The finality didn’t hit Smith un-
til he was in a van heading away
from the Death House in Jarratt.

The sheriff asked whether it was °

what he had expected;.Smith said he
didn’t know what he had expected.

“Billy.” the sheriff said, taking his
hand, “it’s over.”

: And finally it was.

“It’s almost like reading a novel
and getting to the ending and that
last page is torn out,” Smith, 35, said
several days later, sitting at the en-
graving machine in the back of the
jewelry shop that he now runs. “I felt
like a two-ton weight had been lifted
off my shoulders. I ended a long
chapter of my life.”

There was a time, he said, that he
would have liked to have released
the deadly chemicals himself, to
have stood in front of Tuer and

made sure the face of his victim's ©

son was the last thing he saw in his
violent life. “If you’d have asked me
in ‘86, | would've thrown the switch
in a second,” he said. “But I’m not a
killer.”

The long wait mellowed ‘Smith,

taking the hard edges off a bitter-
ness that once consumed him. His
thirst for vengeance ultimately
evolved into a yearning for closure.

For all of the anticipation, what
struck him about Turner’s death by
lethal injection was how unemotional
it was, how antiseptic, even medici-
nal.

“It’s really anticlimactic,” he said.
“Electrocution probably would've
been more . . . dramatic, maybe. The
buildup of it was a hell of a lot worse
for me than the actual execution. Be-
cause the actual execution was noth-
ing. I could’ve taken a little kid in
there, and he wouldn’t have known.”

It was not lost on him how peace-
fully Turner died. “My dad died a
hell of a lot harder than he did,”

SaaS a 2
~ BY JAMES A. PARCELL—THE WASHINGTON POST

Willie Lloyd Turner was put to death last month after 17 years of appeals. ~

Smith said. “At times, you may feel
like it’s not right, but in retrospect,
in looking at everything and realizing
that whether or not they took him
out and hung him on the street cor-
ner or released him to a pack of lions
or put him before the firing squad.
he’s still as dead.... What differ-
ence does it make?” ;

Smith’s journey begins and ends
in Franklin, only several miles from
the North Carolina border, in a mod-
est brick building with a blue aw-
ning. The evening air is ripe with the
pungent odor of the local paper mill,
and some peanut farmers have drift-

. ed into town for dinner.

Smith Jewelers (“Gifts of Distinc-
tion,” according to the sign) has been
completely remodeled since July 12,

1978, but William Jackson Smith Jr. -

still watches over his business from
a framed portrait on the left wall. On
the opposite wall, a bullet hole re-
mains in the birch wood panel above
the counter.

Turner showed up that morning
with a sawed-off shotgun stuffed in a
pillowcase, just six months out of
prison after a criminal career of as-
saults, malicious woundings and
even a murder.

Jack Smith, 54, began stuffing
money and jewelry into a bag even
as he tripped a silent alarm. A police
officer. arrived, but Turner pointed
the shotgun and disarmed him. After
Smith filled more bags, Turner
walked up to him and wordlessly
fired the officer's handgun at the
owner’s head. Smith slumped to the
floor, and Turner leaned over the
counter and fired two more shots in-
to his body.

William Jackson “Billy” Smith Ill
was 18 at the time and had just fin-
ished high school. He was working
that summer as a groundskeeper at
the local hospital, where his mother,
Betty, was chief nurse. And he was
there when an ambulance raced up
and a body was rolled out with a
sheet pulled over the face. Later, he
realized that was his father.

The next 17 years were a numb-
ing odyssey through a legal system
that, to a young man, seemed to
bend over backward for a killer.
Turner was captured at the scene by
the officer who had wandered in, but
he managed to put off his ultimate
punishment with appeal after appeal,
surviving on death row longer than
any other Virginia inmate.

His final petition may have been
the most galling to Smith. Turner
claimed that his long wait on death
row itself constituted cruel and-un-
usual punishment.

..“Every man deserves the right to
appeal,” Smith said. “But to bring
these things over again and over
again, no matter how strange, it bor-
ders on the ridiculous. And as a vic-
tim, to sit back and have your father’s
life reduced to a technicality ts heard,

man. It's really hard. . . . You become
very cynical about the entire system.”

Even in death, Willie Turner con-
tinues to haunt him. The discovery
of a loaded handgun in a typewriter
the inmate used on death row has
kept Turner in the news more than a
week after the execution, as state
authorities investigate whether he
had the last laugh.

With a wife and two children,
Smith is trying his best to move on.
These days he spends his evenings
engraving silver wristbands for the
town’s graduating high school se-
niors. With his soft features and
sandy hair, he clearly resembles the
man in. the painting, and his sober,
thoughtful manner evokes the con-
sensus description of his father.

Attending the execution was not a
universally approved decision within
the Smith family. Some thought it
was morbid and disturbing. His sis-
ter tried to talk him out of it.

- “That could affect you the rest of
your life,” she warned him.

And he answered, “It already has
affected the rest of my life.”

pag hye! Wtiee 02 Boe PBS

cme s ess Snes ede ee dectied yeeataa tees F PP aa Ae
y ROBE TIE MN Se iit Past oneate {sy0 %

Supreme Court Halts -
_|Execution in Virginia,

RICHMOND, Va., May 2 (UPI) —
The Supreme Court today halted the
scheduled execution of Willie Lloyd
‘Turner less than six hours before he
was to die in Virginia’s electric chair
for killing a jewelry store owner.

Chief Justice Warren E. Burger,
without explanation, refused to lift a
stay of execution granted Monday by
the Unied States Court of Appeals for
the Fourth Circuit.

The appeals court ruled the execu-
tion should not take place unless it had
| been cleared by the Chief Justice. The
| state had asked Justice Burger to dis-
‘solve the stay.
| Mr. Turner, 39 years old, had been
| scheduled to be executed at the Vir-
| ginia State Penitentiary at 11 P.M. to-
| day.

On Tuesday the Virginia Supreme
| Court turned down 4 handwritten re-
quest by Mr. Turner for a stay of execu-
| tion and a new trial. The convict con-
tended a new trial would let him
present evidence showing he acciden-
-\taly shot the store owner, J ack Smith
-Jr., 54, in January 1978. Prosecutors
said the convict shot Mr. Smith in the

head, then shot him two more times. |

-_— - =a @4 .~.™ as


8 tees
eer ah Ja ay

_ SEXECUTION ALERTS «*

VIRGINIA THURSDAY, MAY 2 ELECTRIC CHAIR

@@ WILLIE LLOYD TURNER, a 39 year old black man, is scheduled to be executed on May 2.

He was convicted in 1979 and sentenced in February 1980 for a robbery-murder. The
victim was a 54 year old white man.

BACKGROUND

Although no mitigating circumstances were found at the penalty phase, Willie Lloyd
Turner's life history is one of poverty and trouble; in spite of this, he has
managed to acquire an education and begin to develop his amazing inventive potential.

Willie Lloyd Turner was an abused child from an alcoholic family. He attended
school only to the third grade. His first offense, at 16, was getting his 15 year
old girlfriend pregnant. For this he was sent to a Boys Home. After he was
released, he was charged with robbery and incarcerated again. It was while he was
in prison that he learned reading, writing, and barbering skills. Since he has
been on Oeath Row, he has invented a special set of barber shears designed to cut
Black hair, and has been granted a patent for this. He has several other patent
applications pending.

LEGAL STATUS

He has been through the federal courts. His attorney is filing Cert, but there is
mot much hope for a favorable decision.

VIRGINIA WEDNESDAY, May 15 ELECTRIC CHAIR

@M MICHAEL SMITH, a 39 year old black man was sentenced in 1977 for the rape and

murder of a white woman named Audrey Jean Weiler. He is scheduled to be executed May 15.

LEGAL ISSUE

One of the major legal issues in Michael Smith's case involved his Fifth Amendment
rights. When he talked to a psychiatrist before having a competency hearing, Smith
was very open with him and among other things, told him that when he had been a
school bus driver, he had attempted to asseult a schoolgirl. This was presented

by the psychiatrist in court. However, because the trial attorney did not 'preserve'
that issue, Smith has been unable to have it raised.

VIRGINIA TUESDAY, June 2S ELECTRIC CHAIR

@@ MORRIS MASON, a 32 year old mentally retarded black man, has had a new execution
date set for June 25. He was convicted in 1978 of raping and murdering a 71 year
old white woman, and has had several execution dates, which have all been stayed.

Morris Mason pled guilty and his attorney did not present any mitigating circumstances
at the penalty phase, nor was there an indipendent psychiatric exam. There was some
hope that the AKE decision might positively affect Mason's case. (The recent AKE
decision from the U.S. Supreme Court stated that in case in which the defendant's
sanity was a major issue and the defendant was indiegent, the state was required

to provide the defense with access to expert psychiatric witnesses. )

Morris Mason had previously been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and also
had a serious alcohol problem. A week after having been aproled from prison on
another charge, he had asked his parole. officer to help him get into a half-way
house program because he was having rrouble keeping his alcohol problem uncer

control. He mace this request again a few days before the murder occurred, but still
received no help.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ALL CASES: Marie Deans 804-353-0093 (until April 30)
or the National Execution Alert Network 402-474-6575
AFTER April 30, instead of contacting Marie Oeans, you can contact the attorney.

ATTORNEY IN ALL THREE CASES: Lloyd Snook 804-296-2161
Box 2737
Charlottesville, VA 22902

SUGGESTED ACTION FOR ALL THREE CASES:

Contact the Governor and ark him to commute the sentence from death to life.

Gov. Cnarles Robb

State Capitol
Richmond, VA 23219
804-786-2211

(Copies of the letters should
go to Lloyd Snook)

.


At Virginia : s Death House, an Lye for a

‘A long
chapter’:
Billy Smith
stands in
front of a
portrait of his
father, Jack, at
Smith -
Jewelers, in
Franklin, Va.,
where Willie
Lloyd Turner
shot him to
death 17 years
ago.

BY MARTIN SMITH-| RODDEN FOR THE WASHINGTON PosT

n hye,

b-3-48

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer

FRANKLIN, Va.—Billy Smith
had waited for this day half his
life. He walked into the room
and saw the seats but was too
nervous to sit. He heard a door
open and the clanking of leg
shackles. Then, staring through
the one-way glass, Smith saw
the man who murdered his fa-
ther enter the adjoining execu-
tion chamber.

Seventeen years ago, Willie
Lloyd Turner pumped three bul-
lets into Jack Smith during a jew-
elry store holdup in the tiny
Tidewater town of Franklin.
Seventeen years later, it was
Turner’s turn to die. And Billy
Smith was there to watch.

Last week, he and a relative

Face to Face

who does not want to be identi-

fied became the first members of

a murder victim’s family permit-_
ted to witness the killer’s execu-.
tion in modern-day Virginia, pos-

sibly the first of many families in

a state that puts more prisoners

to death than nearly any other.

Gov. George Allen (R) lifted the

ban on relatives’ being in the

death chamber last year, saying

they had a right to be present.

It took just minutes but
seemed even quicker. Six guards
picked Turner up and put him on
a gumey. A curtain was drawn

_ while tubes were inserted into
his arm, and then it was re-
opened. Turner had no last
words. A few moments later, his
eyes closed, and the curtain was
pulled shut one last time.

See TURNER, A12, Col. 1

| fest, fhe Oo

W995

64

A REPORTER AT LARGE

TURNER, Willie L., bl, LI VASP - Southampton - May 25, 1995

THE GENIUS OF DEATH ROW

Why would a murderer awaiting execution bother to obtain a
loaded revolver and then decide not to use it? That was the last mystery of Wille Turner,
a jailhouse Houdini who had one of the most baffling prison careers in America.

N the evening of May 25th, at
() about half past nine, a lawyer
named Walter Walvick stepped
into the hot, buggy night outside a Vir-
ginia prison and thought, I need a drink.
Walvick had just watched the execution
of his client—a forty-nine-year-old black
prisoner named Willie Lloyd Turner,
whose case he had been arguing in one
court or another for seven years. Even that
morning, he'd been arguing still, desper-
ately seeking a reprieve from the United
States Supreme Court. Now, in his mo-
tel room, a few miles away, a bottle of Jack
Daniel’s awaited him, but first there were
reporters and cameras to face, and Tur-
ner’s possessions to be collected. This last
chore was easy enough; Turner’s worldly
assets consisted of a typewriter—a Smith
Corona—and personal items so few that
they didn’t fill a packing box.

As Walvick drove away from the
prison, he considered the typewriter. It
had been Turner’s prize, the instrument
of prolific jailhouse lawyering and also of
a lengthy manuscript about his life. In his
last days and hours, Turner had cryptically
hinted to visitors, and even to prison
officials, that he had some surprise in
store. “I’m letting them do this to me,”
Turner had kept saying, and he’d told
Walvick to be sure to inspect the type-
writer after the execution.

After Walvick arrived at his motel, where
he and his wife were joined by two news-
paper reporters, he fetched a screwdriver
and opened the casing of the instrument.
Inside he found, snugly tucked in a cut-
out hiding slot, a blue steel .32-calibre
Smith & Wesson revolver. “Son of a bitch,”
Walvick said, and he telephoned the local
police. The gun, it turned out, was loaded,
and the typewriter also concealed a plas-
tic bag filled with bullets. “My goodness,
that’s unique,” the policeman dispatched
to the scene remarked. “I’m in awe.”

Yhe Ye

BY PETER J. BOYER

Turner, a death-row memoirist and
writer of some ability, had devised an in-
spired ending for his own rather remark-
able story. He had been a prison legend,
not just because he cheated the execu-
tioner for fifteen years, surviving on Vir-
ginia’s death row longer than any other
condemned killer in the state’s recent
history; he was a man of extraordinary,
if illicit, gifts, whose artful guile had
embarrassed and frustrated prison offi-
cials throughout Virginia. In 1984, he
had helped to plan the largest successful
death-row breakout in the history of
American penology, then had decided not
to escape himself—because, he later as-
serted, he deemed the plan imperfect and
likely to result in bloodshed. Within
months, he had plotted another escape
(this one involving a helicopter getaway),
which was foiled only at the last minute,
and earned Turner ever-closer scrutiny.
He was moved frequently from prison to
prison, yet he managed to breach security
wherever he was sent, fashioning hand-
made keys and weapons with astonishing
skill and ease, and stashing them under
the noses of the hapless officers charged
with his confinement. Turner seemed
possessed of a near-magical power to ma-
nipulate his strictly confined environ-
ment. He also had the charm and per-
sonal magnetism to manipulate many of
the people within it. Among those fight-
ing for Turner’s life in his final months
was a prison psychologist who had fallen
in love with him and been forced to quit
her job.

During his many years on death row,
Turner, a small man (five-nine, a hundred
and fifty pounds) with a small voice that
suggested benignity, received numerous
execution dates, heard his death warrant
read three times, and once came within
five hours of execution in the electric chair;
that time, he had chosen his last meal

orc Or_

JA-4--1 99S

when the United States Supreme Court
granted him a reprieve. By this year, when
he lost his last court battle, Virginia had
adopted lethal injection as an execution
option. On the night it was applied to
Turner, the silence in the witness room
was interrupted when a prison official
said, “Damn bastard escaped the electric
chair!”—as if Turner had stolen from the
event its due spectacle.

And now, along with the gun and the
bullets, Turner had left a handwritten
note inside the typewriter. It said, simply,
“Smile.”

The discovery of the gun was humili-
ating to Virginia’s Department of Correc-
tions, and also to Governor George Al-
len, a conservative, law-and-order Re-
publican, who ordered a full investiga-
tion into the matter by the state police.
Twenty-one special agents worked on the
case for ten weeks this summer, inter-
viewing more than a hundred people, in-
cluding inmates, visitors, and prison
guards. The gun itself was test-fired (it
worked) and checked for fingerprints (there
were none), but it could not be traced
beyond a 1954 transaction in Galax, Vir-
ginia, when it—or, at any rate, one like ¥
it—was sold to a North Carolinian now 2
dead.

More revealing was the typewriter it- 2
self, which was dismantled and examined 3
piece by piece, exposing what amounted =
to a monument to Turner’s stealthy craft.
The investigators discovered that the ma- 3
chine contained not only the gun and the 3
bullets and the note but also two saw g
blades—an escape artist’s staple. In the P

a.

seven years that Turner owned the type- ©
writer, he had rebuilt it into a carrying 2
case for his weapon and his saws. He had &
cut out a two-by-seven-inch piece of the §
plastic paper support and then heated it, #
perhaps with matches, so that he could $
mold it into a cover for his secret com- &

AN OC. PRESS

N SHEALEY Il, BILL TI


66

partment, which he had enlarged from a
space originally designed for storing the
power cord. He somehow made it a per-
fect fit, exactly matching the curves and
dimensions of the storage area. Inside this
stash space Turner had cut two one-and-
a-half-inch holes, one for the gun barrel,
the other for the butt, thereby allowing
the cover to fit tightly. Investigators were
amazed by the handiwork: Turner had
been watched closely, and, in any case,
death row was not a place where one
could simply ask to borrow a screwdriver.
So Turner made do with the materials at
hand. The saw blades were found glued
to the inside of the typewriter, held by
chewing gum and a paste made of non-
dairy creamer and water. It was a remark-
able feat of engineering as well as of de-
ception, for the typewriter still worked.
Turner had produced a four-hundred-
and-seventy-three-page manuscript on it.

The investigation published a report in
August without determining conclusively
how the gun got into the typewriter. The

inquiry didn’t even try to solve the more’

compelling mystery Turner left behind.
An expert breakout artist, he had once
again elected not to escape, although he
apparently had a plan and, with his death
date nearing, certainly had a motive. Wil-
lie Turner had a loaded gun; why didn’t

he use it?

OY Laer ‘TURNER could have been
anything he wanted to be, with
the intellect he had,” Billy Smith, who
knows something about the
subject, has said. Smith, a
thirty-five-year-old jeweller
from Franklin, Virginia, has
spent much of his adult life
studying Turner—poring over
his records, attending many of
his important court dates, and,
in the end, witnessing his ex-
ecution. Smith’s obsession be-
gan on a July day in 1978, the summer
before he went away to college, when he
was working as a groundskeeper at the lo-
cal hospital and saw an ambulance bring-
ing in his father’s body. His father, Jack
Smith, owned a local jewelry store and
had been murdered there during a rob-
bery. The killer, who had been captured
in the store, was Turner.

For the next seventeen years, Willie Tur-
ner dominated Billy Smith’s psychic land-
scape. Once, when he was home from col-
lege, the phone rang late at night, and

Billy’s mother answered. The local sher-
iff was calling to tell the Smiths that Tur-
ner had escaped from jail—just miles from
the Smiths’ home—and was still at large.
He’s coming to my house, Billy thought.
“I slept in front of my mom’s bedroom,
on a couch, with a shotgun in my hand,”
he recalls. “They called at four, five o’clock
in the morning, saying he had been cap-
tured. But you don’t realize the terror.”

After graduation, Smith felt obliged to
return to Franklin to run the jewelry store,
abandoning plans to see something of the
world. He married and started a family,
but he dreamed of standing over Turner
when he was strapped into the electric
chair and looking him in the eye as the
switch was pulled. “I wanted my face to
be the last face he saw,” Smith said. Tur-
ner had been sentenced to death for kill-
ing Smith’s father, but there were appeals,
and every execution date was stayed. Af-
ter one of Turner’s trials, Smith heard
that a juror had said he voted for the
death penalty because he couldn’t other-
wise return from the jury room and face
the victim’s family. Thereafter, Smith at-
tended every court session he could get to,
sitting in the front row. As the process
dragged on, he occasionally went tothe
attic and hauled out a huge box filled with

documents about the case. “Every time I

thought that I might be softening up, I'd
sit down and pull it out and read it,” he
says. “My wife would say, ‘Billy, when is
this going to end?’ And I'd tell her, Tve
got to read this. I’ve got to do it.’ Because,
sure, it brings everything back,
but it reminds you of what the
man did, and what he was.”
He harbors no doubt about
Turner’s essential nature—
“He is a vicious killer’—yet,
over the years, he has at times
admitted to a grudging respect
for him. “T’'ll be the first one
to say the man was brilliant,”
Smith said recently. “A genius.” He can-
not understand how a man could make
such a waste of his talent and of his life.
“T waAs born into a world of sho ‘nuff
hard times back in December 9,
1945,” the opening line of Turner’s
manuscript reads, and in all its many
pages these are his truest words. But they
do not convey the despair of Turner’s
hard times, which are reflected in court
records documenting his criminal history.
Turner’s father, Elbert, was a one-eyed

THE NEW YORKER, DECEMBER 4, 1995

drunk of such low standing that his
neighbors around Franklin had only con-
tempt for him. He was considered unre-
liable and shiftless, and also mean. He did
day work on some of the farms around
Franklin, staying on the job long enough
to pay for whiskey; no time of day was too
early for him to start drinking. He put his
sons in the fields and then spent their pay
on liquor. His wife, Gussie, was sickly,
and passed most of her time in bed. She
drank, too, and her children—four boys
and their sister—were mostly left to take
care of themselves. There was much vio-
lence in the household. Elbert had an
outsized temper, and Gussie, too, could
dole out cruelty. Willie’s sister, Esmon,
later recalled a time when Willie had
snitched to their father about one of
Gussie’s liaisons with another man:
Gussie choked the boy until he passed
out. (The old man, for his part, promised
him a beating whenever Willie kept any-
thing from him.)

The Turners lived in a succession of
tin-roofed tarpaper shacks, one-room
affairs with blankets strung across them to
create bedrooms. The boys slept together
in one iron bed, but not well; their bed-
ding crawled with vermin. Sometimes
they burned sulfur to chase the bugs—a
remedy that burned the lungs and
achieved uneven success. The children
rarely had shoes, which meant they al-
most always had worms, especially in the
summer. “We knew we had them because
we would have stomach cramps, nausea,
and diarrhea,” Willie’s brother James said
in an affidavit for one of Willie’s trials.
“We got them from going barefoot and
eating pork parts that made us sick. I

don’t remember how we treated them. I °

think turpentine and sugar was the com-
mon remedy.” For food, there were beans
and, occasionally, vegetables from a gar-
den, but there was never enough. Willie
later remembered special times, such as
Christmas, as an occasion for Campbell’s
chicken-noodle soup, and on one of his
execution dates when the hour came for
him to request his last meal that is what
he asked for.

The children were enrolled in school,
but they attended only occasionally, be-
ing kept out for long stretches each year
to work in the fields. Willie was fifteen
and was still in the fourth grade when he
dropped out, unable to read or write.

Later in his life, Willie’s sympathizers
would point to this wretched background

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A CHILD'S HARD TIMES

as a case study in root-cause
sociology. How could such a
background produce anything
but an anti-social personality?
But even the cruellest child-
hood doesn’t always dictate a
life of crime. Willie’s three
brothers all spent time in
prison as well, and one died,
but the two surviving brothers
ultimately salvaged their lives,
finding work and raising
families. Esmon, the sister,
became a psychiatric nurse
near Norfolk. Among the
children, Willie had been the
cleverest, but he had also been
the one most deeply affected
by his beginnings. Esmon
later recalled that as a boy

sort, and would just drift from
contact; he himself once told
a state-appointed psychiatrist
of experiencing mysterious
spells during which, he said,
“qt seems like I get evil.”
By the time Willie reached
his teens, it was plain that his
ruling characteristics were
personal charm and an irre-
sistible criminal impulse,
which when he turned seven-
teen provided a glimpse of his destiny: a
life behind bars. His good looks and slick
talk—he had a gift for seeming sincere—
won favor with the girls, but his allure was
complex; he commanded an intense de-
votion from his girlfriends, sometimes
much younger than he. His sister later
tried to describe their feeling for him to a
psychiatrist studying Willie’s case. In one
instance, she recalled, he had his girlfriend
“believing that he was God and she was
believing that he could do anything he
wanted to and could make anything hap-
pen.” The reality was that Willie, being
illiterate, black, and poor, could not make
much of anything happen. He got a job
washing dishes at a local restaurant, but
his record shows that he broke into the
place one night and robbed it. That and
a charge of contributing to the delin-
quency of a minor, resulting from the
pregnancy of a fourteen-year-old girl,
landed him in jail at the age of seventeen.
The experience terrified him, and al-
ways would. Throughout Turner’s crimi-
nal life, his arrival at every new jail, every
new prison, stirred some version of the re-

67

‘I'm rather fortunate. I have no parents, so Medicare 1s no problem,
and I have no children, so the environment is no problem.”

sponse he felt on his first day at the Nan-
semond County Jail, in 1963. “I was locked
in a cell with about seventeen other pris-
oners,” he wrote in his memoir. “They were
all great big mean looking adults. Some
were waiting to be tried for rape, murder
and robbery. And some had already been
sentenced from fifty years to life for this
and that. I was the smallest and youngest
prisoner in there, and I didn’t know any-
body. It was the most horrifying situation
that I have ever been in.” And Turner’s
reaction to that fear would always be the
same: violence and escape. When one of
his “mean looking” cellmates approached
him that first day, Willie jumped him and
beat him with a wooden hairbrush he had
wrapped in a towel. “He fell to the floor,”
he recalled in his memoirs. “I couldn’t
stop hitting and kicking him. He was call-
ing for some of his buddies to come get
me off of him, but they did nothing. They
stood around laughing until the jailer
came and I was stopped.”

Willie was transferred to a reform school
(brimful of “super tough looking” boys);
on the third day, he ran away. He'd learned

to pick a lock, a skill that enabled him to
snatch his street clothes and stuff them into
plastic bags, which he used for flotation
as he crossed the swampy Pamunkey River
outside the grounds of the school. ‘Turner
spent his first night in the woods, sleeping
in a tree. He was caught and returned to
reform school, but his course was set. His
rap sheet for the next few years was a ros-
ter of small-time crimes—public drunk-
enness and disorderly conduct, petit lar-
ceny, vagrancy—that led inevitably to the
big-league stuff. Willie’s own version of
this period of his life is a con artist’s dodge,
in which Fortune is the only culprit:

By the time I was in my early twenties, I
had experienced so much bad luck I

couldn’t help but think that good luck had

to be right around the corner for me,
though it was not. My luck continued to be
so bad that all one had to do to find the
same would be to simply step in my shoes
for only a fraction of a second: Still, I kept
on hoping and trying for the better. 3
seems bic. whether you are in the right or
wrong, once you start falling you just can’t
stop without an awful lot of help.

In fact, court records show that Willie
made his own luck. In 1966, when he was

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78

hour. “My phone bill was thousands of
dollars,” she says, “but do you see a wor-
ried look in my eye?” She ascribed to
Turner almost supernatural powers and
Solomonic wisdom, and requested
“Teach me, Willie.”

Willie presented Caroline with a
handmade “marriage certificate,” and
they established a strange, doom-struck
parody of a conventional marriage. She
got him to stop using blasphemous pro-
fanity, they exercised “together” (that
is, they scheduled their routines for the
same time of day), and Caroline began
to look after Willie’s personal business.
They even imagined what their lives
together in the free world might be
(Caroline would do all the driving), but
the limits on the reality of such lives were
always present. On one occasion, they
managed to engage in a sort of flash sex,
exposing themselves to each other from
either side of a table. Prison officials tried
to halt the affair, and Caroline’s superi-
ors gave her the choice of ending her
romance with Willie or leaving her job.
She quit, and joined Turner’s legal team
as a paralegal.

Caroline and Willie spent much of
their last months together working on
Willie’s manuscript, which he had begun
at Powhatan and put aside in 1990 with
the words “Gotta go now,” and never re-
sumed. It is a long, rambling memoir of
questionable factual accuracy, as might be
expected of a master con’s effort to explain
away a life of violence and crime; his ver-
sions of his crimes have a decided my-
dog-ate-my-homework quality. But Tur-
ner possessed the storyteller’s
gift, and his manuscript con-
tains patches of narrative that
bring his prison world vividly
to life. The New Yorker ac-
quired rights to the manuscript, and al-
though the magazine ultimately chose not
to serialize it, Caroline still hopes for a
book sale. That may bring complications:
Virginia has a “Son-of-Sam law,” man-
dating that under certain circumstances
profits from the recounting of a crime be
made available to victims and their fami-
lies, and Billy Smith means to see the law
applied to Turner’s book. Caroline, for
her part, maintains that money is second-
ary to her interest in having Willie’s story
told.

Some of Caroline’s friends and family
have sharply questioned her decision to
abandon her career for a doomed killer,
but such romances are apparently not al-

together uncommon. Jan Elvin, formerly
of the A.C.L.U., who knew Willie dur-
ing most of his time on death row, says
that she was not surprised by the relation-
ship. “People fall in love with prisoners—
probably more than most people would
like to think.”

When I asked Caroline for a detached
psychological assessment of a woman who
falls in love with a condemned man, she

said, “I would have said, ‘Oh, here’s an--

other inmate who managed to con a girl
into thinking that he likes her so that he
can have somebody,’ or “Here’s a weak em-
ployee who finds readily accessible men in
an institute that is all male.’ Pick one—a

-very weak person, or a desperate person.”

But her case, she says, is different. “I’ve
looked for the man of my life all my life.”

One evening when I was interviewing
Caroline Schloss at her home in Virginia,
she removed a loaded .45 from her purse.
She carried it for protection, she said. I
asked her a question that I knew was also
on the minds of the Virginia State Police
investigators: “Did you get Willie that
gun he had on death row?”

No, she said. It would have been im-
possible to get it past security, with the
metal detectors and the body searches,
even if she had wanted to. “Besides,” she
added, “if I had wanted to take Willie a
gun, it would not have been just a pea-
shootin’, cap-poppin’ little gun, I can tell
you that right now.”

IGHT years ago, Walter Walvick, a
litigator specializing in telecommu-
nications at the Washington firm of
Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin,

had never given much thought to

the issue of capital punishment,

but in 1988 his firm, responding

to a plea from the American Bar
Association that major law firms donate
time to death-row cases, decided to take

on Willie Turner as a client. Walvick, a

‘big man with rumpled clothes and a

kindly nature, agreed to help out.

By death-row standards, Turner’s case
was ancient by the time Walvick became
involved in it, and the very fact that Tur-
ner was still alive was due to a twist in his
case that had piqued the interest of the
Supreme Court. In Turner's 1979 trial, for
the murder of Jack Smith, the trial judge
refused to allow prospective jurors to be
questioned on the issue of racial prejudice.
That is difficult to imagine today, especially
in the light of the O. J. Simpson trial, but
sixteen years ago it was still an undecided

THE NEW YORKER, DECEMBER 4, 1995

issue. There was plenty of evidence to
suggest that racial attitudes might play a
role in deciding capital cases, including
the fact that black-against-white murders
were several times as likely to yield a death
sentence as were intraracial killings. The
Supreme Court decided to consider Tur-
ner’s case, thereby saving him from the
electric chair in 1985, and the next year
the Court overturned his death sentence.
Turner still stood convicted of murder,
but a new trial was ordered, strictly to
consider whether he should live or die.

In early May of 1986, Turner was re-
leased from death row and allowed into
the general prison population for the
first time since 1975. He began to think
of a future, and, of course, got married,
but the jury in the second trial, after de-
liberating for several hours, also recom-
mended the death sentence, and Turner
began his long stay in Powhatan’s isola-
tion and segregation units.

In reading the record of the second
trial, Walvick quickly discovered some-
thing that startled him: in trying to per-
suade the jury not to sentence their client
to death, Turner’s court-appointed law-
yers had failed to present mitigating evi-
dence showing that Turner had become
a changed man since the killing of Jack
Smith. “For members of that jury,” Wal-
vick says, “it just gets down to the whole
question: ‘Is there some reason to spare
Willie? Tell me something good about
him. Why should I not kill him? ” Then
he answers those questions the way he be-
lieves ‘Turner’s lawyers in the second trial
should have: “Well, he got a patent, that
was pretty good. He learned to read and
write, that’s pretty good—it shows that he
grows. And he came from this really shit-
awful environment. Maybe it’s not a rea-
son to spare his life, but it helps you to
understand why he did what he did. And
look at all this good stuff he did at Meck-
lenburg.” In Walvick’s view, Turner’s be-
havior during the Mecklenburg breakout,
standing between the hostages and the
bad intentions of the Briley brothers, should
have been a decisive factor. “What hap-
pened during the breakout itself, where
many, many people said he contributed to
law and order, the safety of the hostages—
I mean, he was really a hero,” Walvick says.

Even if Walvick was right, it was too
late to fight the second death sentence di-
rectly, since it had already gone through
the appeals process. But there was an
opening. Because mitigating evidence
about Turner had not been presented at


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tesidents of
G.S.T.

THE MAN OF HER DREAMS

the resentencing trial, Walvick
thought that he could make the case
that Turner had been inadequately
represented by his court-appointed
lawyers. Walvick believed that with
Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin now be-
hind him Turner had every chance
of winning. “We are good lawyers,”
Walvick says. “We're winners. You
take these cases and you sit down,
you learn about the law in the par-
ticular area, you learn about the facts,
you get into this stuff, and you say,
‘Shit, man, this is pretty hot stuff
here. We've got a couple of pretty
good issues.’ I mean, I couldn’t
imagine that we were going to lose
when we started. Just couldn’t imag-
ine it.” Numerous appeals and hear-
ings ensued, but none were success-
ful; last March the Supreme Court
denied Turner’s request that it re-
view his case, sealing his fate.

79

‘And then I met some computer people who could make it look as if I were talking.”

| echoes the subject of escape
came up between Caroline
Schloss and Willie. Caroline knew
that Willie had a plan to break out of
Greensville (“He could have escaped from
there, I am sure”), but she says he refused
to discuss it with her. She also says she
told him at one point that, much as she
loved him, she would be compelled to
turn him in ifhe tried to break out. Then,
as the execution date neared, Caroline
worried that she might be the reason he
was staying in, and she even tried to end
the relationship. “I tried that, and it didn’t
work,” she says. “He would not let.me
sever those ties. And he told me he knew
what I was doing. He said, ‘No, it won’t
work, I’m not going to let you do that,
you're not going to do that.’...I felt as
if I might have been holding him in
there.”

Caroline says that Willie jokingly be-
gan “practicing to die”—lying on the floor
of his cell and apparently imagining the
end. He also began to talk of Jack Smith
and his family. In a letter written to Walt
Walvick and the rest of the defense team
on March 17th Turner said, “I chiefly
blame my poor sense of judgment in my
earlier days for my being in this ugly situ-
ation. Please know also that our concerns
and efforts to stay alive are in no way with
disregards to Mr. Smith and his family
and friends. For we are real concerned for
them, too.”

The execution was scheduled for
9 P.M. on May 25th. The countdown

to death was a familiar experience for
Turner, who had been given numerous
execution dates, and as the moment
neared he began hinting to Caroline that
something was up. Back at the state pen,
when he had come within hours of execu-
tion, he had planned to try to kill as many
guards as he could before they killed him.
This time, he had a loaded gun in the type-
writer just outside his cell. But he left it
there, along with his note saying “Smile.”

Turner declined the invitation to make
an official last statement, but as the lines
were being inserted in his arm he asked,
“When is it going to start? Will I feel it?”
Witnesses reported that his lips trembled
as he spoke.

Billy Smith and one of his sisters were
viewing the event from an observation
room, and Billy was too nervous to sit. He
watched the poisons do their work, and
he saw Willie Turner quietly die. “It was
just like he went to sleep,” Billy says.

But the story of Willie Turner wasn’t
yet over. He had left a mystery behind:
How had he got the gun, and why hadn’t he
used it? The investigation by the state po-
lice didn’t say so expressly, but the evidence
suggests the possibility that Turner had
obtained the gun with the help of a dirty
guard. As to why he hadn't used it in the
end, everyone offered a guess. Billy Smith
thought that Turner knew he would get
killed if he tried a breakout, and preferred

the quieter death of lethal injection.
Willie’s uncle James said that Willie had
just had enough of trouble, and had told
him so in a phone call a few weeks before
the execution: “He told me two weeks be-
fore, ‘I’m not gonna put yall through
nothing else. I have put y'all through
enough.’ But he said, ‘But I’m gonna let
you know they couldn’t do this to me if
didn’t let em.’ That’s what he told me.”

“I think he wanted to show them that
he was smarter than they were,” Jan Elvin,
the former A.C.L.U. paralegal, says. “I
think part of it was just plain ‘Gotcha!
and I think the other part was that he
didn’t really want to go out that way. He
wanted to go out in a way that didn’t
harm anyone, and didn’t bring anybody
else down with him. That, to him, would
sort of fit in with his self-respect, his de-
manding idea of himself.”

Busting out would have meant leaving
prison, and prison was the only place in the
world where Willie Turner had ever fitted
in. He had earned the reputation of a prison
Houdini, which suggested the final paradox
of his life: Turner’s greatest talent was for
escape, but on the outside there was no
possibility of escape; he was lost. “There
wasn’t nowhere for him,” his uncle James
says. “They couldn’t keep him in the peni-
tentiary, and he couldn't deal with society.
Where else could he be? Where else was
there for him? Had for them to kill him.”

WALKABOUT, John @/ias Sorace /U/SAMOLE

A man named John Walkabout was hanged at Accomack C. He,
Vasey around 1870. There were no further executions in
this County until that of John Holden in 1900.

PENINSULA ENC@ERPRISE, Accomack C. Hey Vaey 12-22-1900
Wery refused on I2 4/ 70. fer Exee. Journal

OW ocuted 3/6/10.

Details unablecrable because ot gay order in Cffect te this tay. Case
lécord at Va. Stale Archives but classified under - perpetipa! confidentiality fock


justice in America. Indeed, for

VALLER, Odell, bl, ©5, elec VASP (Pittsylvania), 7/2/1942

Le) eQleauw) $ Merny an, (792, 60,47
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197-33:

2 Sap Saca oF OpeLt WALLER

By Ricuarb B. SHERMAN

ifty years ago this summer, on July 2, 1942, a young black man was put to death in
Virginia’s electric chair at the state penitentiary in Richmond. His name, Odell
Waller, is not likely to be recalled by manv people today. In the early 1940s. however,
A the case of Odell Waller was a matter of intense concern, not only in Virginia, but
across the nation, for it raised se-
rious questions about the relation-
ship of economic status, political

power and race to the quality of

many people at the time, but es-

pecially for African Americans,

Waller became a symbo! of many
Odell Waller was born in 1917 near
Gretna in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and
raised by his adoptive parents, Annie and
Willis Waller. Like many of the people in
it is largely forgotten today, the the area, black and white, the Wallers
struggled to make a living from the land by
farming. In 1940 about 53 percent of the
Waller case is worth remember-_ white farmers and 74 percent of the black — Odell Waller, who was executed for
farmers in the county were tenants. Worse the murder of his landlord Oscar
; Eo ne ny ‘ yet, 48 percent of the black farmers were Davis in a controversial capital
Ing, for it involved significant IS- lowly sharecroppers, people who owned punishment case in Virginia in
nothing and who were totally dependent 1942, is buried in a graveyard near
upon their landlords. Within this context Gretna, Va., where he was born in
the Waller family was relatively well off, at 1917. The case is the subject of a
least until 1938, for they owned a small plot — new book by Richard B. Sherman,
to be relevant. of some 25 acres. But after the death of professor of history at William and
Willis in that year, Annie and Odell lost this Mary.

of our county’s failings. Although

sues that, unfortunately, continue

Puoro oF Overt. WALLER COURTESY OF VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; OTHER PHO LOS BY RICHARD B, SHERMAN,

William and Mary Magazine SUMMER 1992

29

Se (Wow { ler |

—

ODELL WALLER (Virginia )

"A 25-year-old Negro sharecropper laboriously wrote his last
testament:

"“tHave you thought about some people are allowed a chance over
and over again, then there are others ailowed little chance, some no
chance at all,' wrote Odell Wallere ‘I accident(ally) fell and some
good people tried to help mee Others did everything they could
against me so the governor and the coats dont ko the true factse In
my case I worked hard from sunup to sundown trying to make a living
for my family and it ended in death for mee You take big people as the
President, Governors, judges, their children dont never have to suffere
They has plenty of moneyee-eThe penitentiary all over the United States
are fulp of people who was pore tried to work and have something,» cou ldnt
so that maid them rob and steel,!

“A few minutes later Odell Waller died in the electric chair in
the Virginia State Penitentiary for killing his white landlord over
50 sacks of wheat that Waller caaimed were’his,® —

TIME MAGAZINE, Jyly 13, 1942 Page lb.

TYAS TRA CTWawer, se {mati Rawmmi a '

[Wadler

ODELL WALLER (Virginia)

"In the state Penitentiary at Richmond, Va., young Odell Waller
awaited death this week by electrocutione A Negro sharecropper,
guilty of murdering a white man, Waller would have died long since if
his case had not become a cause celepre.

"Liberals, writers, college presidents, labor leaders, Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt, Mrs. Calvin Coblidge, had asked the President to investi-
gate. Fortnight ago, 18,000 Negroes massing at Madison Square Garden
to orateabouts racial disorial nation, had added their petition. Worried
over the Negro's role in Democracy, the New York a times declared: *The
Waller case transcends sectional issued.!

"The case had a humble beginning. Waller sharecropped a wheat &
tobacco farm in Pittsylvania Countyin Souther Virginiae His landlord
was Oscar Davis, a white tenant farmer who, no matter how hard he
worked and sang hymns in the Methodist Church, never got out of debt.
Black and white, Waller and Davis were two poor, desperate men at the
bottom of the South's economic heap. When the Government curtailed
Davis' tobacco allotment, Davis cut Waller's acreage and denied the
poverty-stricken Negro his due3 oneequarter share of the threshed
wheat. The Waller family =- his aunt, Arnie, Millie, his wife -faced
a winter of starvation. Waller put a pistol in his pocket, went to
Davis to demand his 50 sacks of wheat. According to Waller, 'Mre Davis
siad I waan't gonna get that damned wheat away from here,' and reached
into his pockete ‘He normally carried a gune I opened by pbstol am
commenfed to shoot at hime! Davis, shot four times, diede

"Waller was arrested for murdere A young Virginia lawyer defemed
hime A jury of ten farmers (all employers of sharecroppers), one
businessman and a cerpenter listeted to the case for two days, took 52
minutes to find him guiltye

"Liberals rushed to his defenses Among them was John F, ri nect
prominent corporation lawyer and civil libertarian. Suage, graying,
publicity-shy Mr. Finerty had fought in other lost causes: notably for
Sacco & Vanzsetti, Tom Mooneye

"Finerty maintained that Waller had not been tried by a jury of
his peers, argued that destitute ‘second-class sitizens! like Waller
had been barred from serving on Virginia juries, because they could not
afford to pay Virginia's $1.50 @ year (cumulative) poll tak. Juties
were generally picked from poll-taxpayers! lists, But though he had
made the point, Waller's young trial lawyer had not introduced proof
of it into the record, Because of that oversight, Finerty's appeals
for a new trial were denied by one court after another. The Us. Se
Supreme Court refused the case twice. Protests grew louder and Loudsr.

"Virginians were vexed over ‘outsiders sticking their noses into
Virginia's affairse! But some were also deeply disturbed over Virginia
justice. Finerty was joined before the Circuit Court of Appeals by
Edmund Preston, Richmond attorney, member of the Statess leading law
firme Governor Colgate WwW. Darden, Jr., granted stay after stay. The
Richmond Times-Dispatch declared: ‘Add the fact that we are in a war
for survival in which we are depending heavily for victory on the
colored races, and the significance of the Waller case becomes clearer,'

"Said Chief Justice Stone, durning Finerty down tesccethe petition
presents no question cognizable in a habbasecorpus proceeding ina
Federal Courte! To humanitagian Finerty it appeared that ' a man must
die because of an error of his M&MXAX counsel,'

TIME MAGAZINE, July 6, 1942,


ecution a delegation of African-Americans,
led by Pauli Murray and A. Philip Randolph,
went to Washington in a desperate attempt
to induce President Roosevelt to intervene
with the governor. Eleanor Roosevelt also
continued to do what she could to influ-
ence her husband. These efforts were all
futile.

Meanwhile Odell waited for the inevi-
table end of his ordeal. By then he had
spent 630 days in his death row cell, longer
than any prisoner in Virginia history up to
that time. On the afternoon of July 1, he
gave Preston a 10-page “Dying Statement”
that he had painstakingly written early in
the day. It is a remarkable document that
explains his difficulties in simple, but at
times eloquent words. Waller admitted that
he had made mistakes, but he still main-
tained that he had not intended to kill Davis.
Others had lied, he said, so the governor
and the courts did not know the true facts.

“Some people are alowed a chance over
& over again[.] then there are others are
alowed little chance[.] some no chance at
all[.] .. . First I will say dont work for a man
two poor to pay you[.] he will steel and take
from you[.] in my case I worked hard from
sun up until sun down trying to make a
living for my family an it ended up to mean
death for me[.]”

Shortly after 8:30 on the morning of July
2, 1942, Waller was escorted to the execu-
tion chamber and strapped into the electric
chair. Ten minutes later he was pronounced
dead.

The agony of Odell Waller had finally
ended, but the pain continued for his de-
fenders. As they saw it, American justice
had been tested, and it was found wanting.
The contrast between America’s professed
democratic ideals, repeatedly proclaimed
in the war then being fought against the
Axis, and the realities as exemplified by the
Waller case were indeed stark and painful.
As Pauli Murray concluded, “If the colored
man is not given his full rights now, then
the battle for democracy is lost.”

Still, Waller’s defenders continued to
hope that their efforts had not been in vain.
For some, like Pauli Murray and Morris
Milgram, Clendenin’s successor as head of
the WDL, the case had a lasting impact on
their lives. Hoping to make the WDL into
an agency committed to the ending of all
forms of racial discrimination, Milgram re-
mained its national secretary until 1947. Sub-
sequently he went into the business of build-
ing integrated, multiracial housing, operat-
ing on the premise that such projects were
not only morally right but practical and
potentially profitable, and he continues to
serve as president of the Fund for an Open

Society, a non-profit mortgage fund to end
housing segregation.

Pauli Murray was perhaps the one most
deeply affected by the Waller case. Her ex-
perience convinced her of the need to study
law, which she began in the fall of 1941 at
Howard University in Washington. After her
graduation in 1944 she practiced and taught
law until the 1970s, championing the rights
of women as well as blacks. In 1966 she
became one of the cofounders of the Na-
tional Organization for Women. Later she
began several years of theological study
which culminated in her being ordained in
1977 as the first black female Episcopal
priest. In the meantime she had published

On the afternoon of
July 1, he gave Preston a
10-page “Dying State-
ment” that he had pains-
takingly written early in
the day. It is a remark-
able document that ex-
plains his difficulties in
simple, but at times elo-
quent words.

Pittsylvania County.

A sharecropper for Oscar Davis, Waller and his family formerly lived in this house near Gretna in

a number of works, including an epic poem
about blacks in America called “Dark Testa-
ment” that, in its initial versions, drew heavily
on the tragedy of Odell Waller.

For most Americans, however, the Waller
case was soon overwhelmed by the events of
World War II and simply forgotten. But as
recent events have shown, it still has a rel-
evance. To be sure, we have made some
progress in improving the conditions that
had warped the lives of both the Davis and
the Waller families. Thus the poll tax was
finally abolished in federal elections, as a
result of the ratification of the 24th Amend-
ment in January 1964, although Virginia
obstinately clung to it as a requirement for
voting in state and local elections until the
United States Supreme Court declared it
unconstitutional in March 1966. Similarly,
the voting power of blacks in Virginia has
been substantially increased thanks to the
1965 Voting Rights Act, while the civil rights
movement brought an end to the oppres-
sive segregation laws. Still, poverty has not
been abolished, and the quality of justice in
America is still very much related to one’s
economic position, while race surely remains
a factor in many aspects of the criminal
justice system, especially when it comes to
the death penalty. Thus the Waller case can
be seen as a measure of the progress we
have made in the past 50 years, and a re-
minder of how far we still have to go to
create a truly just society.

Richard B. Sherman, Chancellor Professor of
History at Wiliam and Mary, is the author of The
Case of Odell Waller and Virginia Justice,
1940-1942, which was published by the Univer-
sity of Tennessee Press in the spring of 1992.

Yas

William and Mary Magazine SUMMER 1992 33


that the WDL arranged to have Annie
Waller, accompanied by Pauli Murray, go
on an extended fund-raising tour of the
Midwest for most of January 1941. Speak-
ing to audiences arranged by the NAACP,
the WDL, churches and other groups, they
raised a modest amount of money to help
defray the mounting costs of the defense.
From mid-April to May 1941 Annie Waller
and Murray undertook an even longer cross-
country tour. The effort was emotionally
and physically exhausting for the two
women, but it was significant in helping to
spread the word about the case of Odell
Waller.

The hearing before the Virginia Su-
preme Court of Appeals finally was held in
September 1941. The defense listed several
trial errors as a basis for Waller’s appeal.
These included Judge Clement’s refusal to
grant a change in venue and his refusal to
disqualify himself because of his allegedly
prejudicial remarks. But the most impor-
tant one was that Waller had been deprived
of a trial by a jury of his peers as a result of
the alleged exclusion of non-poll taxpayers
from both the grand and petit juries. Un-
fortunately for Waller, the court rejected
every point. On the crucial question of the
jury, it denied the defense contention that
Virginia law required jurors to have been
poll taxpayers, and, more importantly, it
held that since Waller’s lawyers had failed
to show at the trial that he had not paid
that tax, “he was in no position to complain
of such discrimination, had it existed.” Thus
the judgment of the trial court was affirmed.

From then until the late spring of 1942
Waller’s lawyers pursued one legal approach
after another. Governors Price and, from
January 1942, Colgate W. Darden Jr.
granted four more reprieves to allow time

Mae While his case made

ee it through the ap-
BF peals court, Waller’s
/ return address was
500 Spring Street in
Richmond, the main
entrance to the
Virginia State Peni-
tentiary.

for a series of appeals. First came an applica-
tion to the Virginia Supreme Court of Ap-
peals for a writ of habeas corpus. This was
denied on Jan. 22, 1942. On April 2 Finerty
filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of the
United States asking it to review Virginia’s
court’s denial of Jan. 22. For this appeal
Thurgood Marshall prepared an amicus cu-
riae brief on behalf of the American Civil
Liberties Union. In their briefs the defense
developed, among other points, the innova-
tive argument that the equal protection of
the laws demanded that a particular eco-
nomic class, such as the one to which Waller
belonged, not be excluded from jury ser-
vice. On May 4 the Supreme Court rejected
the petition without explanation. It was a
crushing disappointment to Waller and his
defenders.

On June 1 Finerty’s application to the
Supreme Court for a rehearing was similarly
rejected. Finerty then proceeded to argue
his case, without success, before the United
States District Court in Richmond and the
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in sitting in
Asheville, N.C. In a desperate late move,
only 48 hours before Waller’s scheduled ex-
ecution on June 19, Finerty asked Chief Jus-
tice Harlan Fiske Stone for permission to
appeal to the United States Court of Ap-
peals, or, failing that, for a stay of execution.
He failed on both counts. As Finerty sum-
marized it afterward, Stone’s position was
that “the Federal Courts are held powerless,
because of the error of Waller’s trial coun-
sel, to prevent Waller’s execution even if his
constitutional rights have in fact been vio-
lated.” Understandably, Finerty believed that
this was “a barbarous doctrine.”

At this stage Odell’s only hope was inter-
vention by Governor Darden. At the last
moment, on June 18, the governor granted

Waller one more reprieve, this time until
July 2. Darden was obviously troubled by
some of the questions that had been raised.
To resolve these doubts, he announced that
he would hold a special commutation hear-
ing on June 29.

While the lawyers were battling in the
courts, an unprecedented number of let-
ters, telegrams and petitions urging com-
mutation of the sentence, or even a par-
don, poured into the governor’s office from
all over the country. In addition to Eleanor
Roosevelt, many other well-known people,
including Pearl S. Buck, the Nobel Prize-
winning novelist, John Dewey, the eminent
philosopher, Harry Emerson Fosdick, the
renowned pastor of Riverside Church in
New York City, Frank P. Graham, the presi-
dent of the University of North Carolina,
and William Allen White, the celebrated
newspaper editor, wrote or spoke out on
Waller’s behalf. Another encouraging sign
for the defense came on June 14, 1942,
when Virginius Dabney, in a reversal of his
previous position, published an editorial
entitled “To Vindicate Virginia Justice” in
which he argued that justice demanded a
new trial for Waller or, at the least, commu-
tation of his sentence. On June 27 Dabney
also joined a list of 19 prominent Virgin-
ians, including President John Stewart Bryan
of William and Mary, who submitted a clem-
ency petition to Darden.

During all this Darden remained care-
fully noncommittal. The commutation hear-
ing on June 29 provided Finerty, who was
assisted by Edmund M. Preston of Rich-
mond, with an opportunity to present the
defense’s argument in considerably greater
depth than had been possible at the trial. In
addition to asserting the constitutional ques-
tions regarding the jury, they showed, at
least to the satisfaction of many observers,
that the prosecution’s case rested on con-
tradictory, and in some instances quite pos-
sibly coached, testimony. It appeared to
many that there was more than a reason-
able doubt that Waller was guilty of willful,
premeditated murder. Darden concluded
differently, however, and in the end resolved
all disputed points in favor of the prosecu-
tion. On the evening of June 30 he issued a
statement against commutation. Members
of the WDL and Waller’s numerous other
supporters were appalled. As Thomas
Sancton, managing editor of the New Repub-
licand a southerner from Louisiana, wrote:
“It was in Governor Darden’s hands to win
a truly great victory for Virginia, indeed, for
the whole South. Instead, he chose to inter-
pret this case in the strict, unheroic spirit of
a crossroads magistrate.”

The day before Waller’s scheduled ex-

32 William and Mary Magazine SUMMER 1992


WARD, James, black, hanged at Richmond, Virginia, on January 18, 1907.

"James Ward, the negro murderer of Carrie Meekins, a negro woman, was hanged in the city
jail yesterday morning. The trap was sprung at 3 minutes after 8 o'clock, and 11 minutes
afterwards, Dr. Blackwell pronounced the man dead, His neck was broken by the fall. Ward
arose about 6:30 o'clock and partook of a hearty MM breakfast. Holy mass was conducted

by Father Hannigan, assisted by the Rev. MMR John Gensheimer and the Rev. Henry Eyerse

A song service was conducted by Sister H Barbara , Mother Zinne, and the choir of St.
Joseph's Catholic Church, colored, Ward made no statement on the gallows, further than

to say goodbye to everyone and to exclaim that he knew he was saved." WMH TIMES-DISPATCH,
R,chmond, Virginia, January 19, 1907 (6<l.)

"Between 7 and 8 o'clock this morning, James Ward, a negro, will be hanged by the neck
until he is dead. The execution will be in the City jail and will be witnessed by only

the officials, the jurymen and a few selected spectators, On the 23rd of las May, Ward
shot Carrie Meekins, a negro woman, and 13 B days afterwards he was arrested in Peters-
burg. Brought back to Richmond, he wes at once given a trial and found guilty. The

court appointed an attorney to defend him, but the evidence was entirely for the Common-
wealth, An attempt was made after the verdict of death had been rendered to have the
Supreme Court set it aside or grant a new trial, This was of no avail, Theny when all
hope except that of the Governor's issuing an order commuting the sentence to life im-
HERERHEM prisonment, had deserted him, Ward became fully conscious of his condition, and
afte r he had heard that the Governor had ordered a respite of 30 days, he wrote the
Executive praying that the order be revoked, and that he be hanged at once, It was a most
singular request, and it at once attracted attention. However, the request, singular as

it may appear, has been in keeping throughout with the attitude of the condemned mane

He has been a model prisoner, and what is remarkable about him is that he has never shown
the least dread of going to the gallows, He sits in his HMMM cell and talks with all who
come to see him, and often gives those whom he RBH knows a souvevir to take with them
home. He says he is ready to die and it is claimed in the jail that his influence has
resulted in the conversion of a female prisoner occupying a cell near him, Ward says
today that he shot Carrie Meekins, but he declares positively that the shooting was aH
accidental, 'But I don't want to go over all of the details and make anything sensational,’
Weclared the negro. He would not budge from this statement and declined positively to vive
any other information regarding the killing of the woman, It was in the same jail that
Ward is to be hanged in that he met Carrie Meekins, the woman for whose death he is to

pay the extreme penalty." R@WRBRRMRRRBEHGER TIMES-DISPATCH, Rychmond, Va.y Jan. 18, 1907
(8-6.)


Va. Assembly
_ Adds Option
For Execution

i State to Become 26th
, With Lethal Injection
i. By Peter Baker

“sand Charles Babington

Washington Post Staff Writers

TRE OE et ee”

“ RICHMOND, Feb. 25—The Vir-

;  ginia electric chair, where 22 men
f . have died in the last 18 years, soon
; could be turned off forever because
of a General Assembly decision to-
day to offer condemned killers the
option of death by lethal injection. «~

' Virginia, which executes more
prisoners than all but two other

states, Texas and Florida, will join 25

states that already use intravenous

chemicals on the theory that they

. provide a more humane way to die.

_’ Maryland may be next in line. A
_ proposal by Gov. William Donald

Schaefer to offer lethal injection as

an alternative to the state’s long-

dormant gas chamber passed the
‘Senate this month and awaits action
by the House of Delegates.

“It’s becoming the wave, really,”
said Robert Johnson, chairman of
the Department of Justice, Law and
Society at American University and
the author of two books on the
death penalty. “It’s the tamest vi-
olence you can imagine, because
there’s no bruising, there’s no
force, there’s no physical restric-
tion of the airways.”

In states where it is an option, in-
mates almost always choose lethal
injection, according to officials. But
because the new law would not. go
into effect until July 1, the Virginia
legislature’s action apparently comes
too late for Johnny Watkins Jr., 32, a
‘double murderer scheduled to be
‘ electrocuted Thursday.

‘In a telephone interview from
death row, Watkins did not seem
particularly concerned about how
he dies. “It’s basically the same

- thing whichever way you do it,” he
- said. “Killing is going to be killing.”
If his execution was postponed

and he was offered the choice, Wat-

’ See EXECUTION, A8, Col. 1


A8& Saturpay, FeBRuary 26, 1994

THE WASHINGTON Post

Va. Votes
For Lethal

Injection

. EXECUTION, From Al

kins said, he probably would choose
lethal injection. “I would most likely
;think if you have to die, you'd like to
*go out the easiest way possible,” he
«said. “Lethal injection sounds like it
:would be more peaceful than the
‘electric chair.”

: Although both Maryland and Vir-
‘ginia are moving toward using in-
‘travenous drugs, the contexts could
‘not be more different.

. In Maryland, the question seems
,;almost academic because no one
‘has died in the gas chamber in more
‘than three decades. In Virginia,
‘however, the pending change has
:very real ramifications because the
:State regularly uses its electric
‘chair. ,

* Del. Phillip A. Hamilton (R-New-
*port News) began pushing to intro-
«duce lethal injection in Virginia four
«years ago, after hearing that an in-
‘mate strapped to the electric chair
‘was seen bleeding after the power
:was turned on. ;

: “I’m not condoning the vile behav-
rior of the criminals,” he said. “I just
don’t think we have to carry out the
‘mandate with the same level of ven-
‘geance and violence and brutality.”

«. Hamilton’s bill passed the House
:of Delegates, 57 to 36, earlier this
:month and easily cleared the Senate
‘today, 27 to 11. The Senate added
fan amendment requiring the con-
‘demned killer to make a choice 15
‘days before the scheduled execu-
:tion, a change to which Hamilton
:agreed. Gov. George Allen said he
«will sign the measure.

+: But the state chapter of the
‘American Civil Liberties Union con-
‘demned the Virginia lawmakers’
‘move, saying it would disguise the
‘horror of capital punishment.

2” “It’s more palatable [to the public]
ifor people to die by lethal injection,”

‘said Kent Willis, ACLU state direc- °

itor. “It’s like putting a dog to sleep. It
‘creates a euphemistic way of state
Killing, and we don’t want the‘ dia-
dlogue tobe diminished on the issue.”
.- Polls consistently have shown sup-
‘port for lethal injection. A Mason-
‘Dixon Political/Media Research poll
‘mm January 1992 found that 49 per-
-cent of Virginians favored switching
ito lethal injection; 21 percent op-
‘posed it, and the rest didn’t know.

:. Lethal injection was developed in

‘,
2

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN THE U.S.

EXECUTION METHODS USED BY THE STATES

EB Lethal injection only
- EJ electrocution only

WZ, Gas chamber only

Lethal injection as an option
(_] No death penalty

1977, a year after the U.S. Supreme
Court reinstated capital punishment,
as a more humane way of putting in-
mates :to death, much as the gas
chamber was introduced as an im-
provement on the electric chair,
which largely replaced the gallows.

The first prisoner executed by le-
thal injection was Charles Brooks,
in Texas' in December 1982. It has
since surpassed electrocution as the
method of choice; as of this month,
there had been 109 uses of lethal
injection nationwide.

Nineteen states use lethal injec-
tion exchisively, and six offer it as a
choice. : Virginia has been one of 10
states using only the electric chair.
Maryland is the only state where
the gas'chamber is the sole option.
The. Disttict and 14 states do not
have a death penalty.

With lethal injection, an inmate is
strapped to a gumey, and a techni-
cian sticks a catheter needle into the
inmate’s: arm. Three drugs are then
pumped through the tube, first a bar-
biturate that renders the inmate un-
conscious,; then a paralytic agent that
halts breathing and finally potassium
chloride, which stops the heart.

' “We haven’t had any major prob-
lem that I know,” said Charles
Brown, a spokesman for the agency
that handles executions in Texas,
where more executions are per-
formed than in any other state, all
by injection. “It’s not an issue here.
. » - No one talks about it anymore.”

In Virginia, which executed five
people last year alone, inmates will
have a choice between electrocu-
tion and lethal injection.

In Maryland, which is poised this
year to carry out its first execution
since 1961, the Senate voted, 38 to
7, this month to change its method

THE WASHINGTON POST

as part of a Schaefer initiative to
speed up appeals in death penalty
cases. The 14 inmates now on
death row would have a choice be-
tween gas or injection, but lethal in-
jection would be the means of ex-
ecution in new capital cases.

Death row inmate Donald Thomas
is challenging the constitutionality of
Maryland’s gas chamber, saying it
amounts to cruel and unusual punish-
ment. That’s the sort of time-con-
suming challenge that Schaefer hopes
to eliminate.

The Maryland House Judiciary
Committee, which blocked a similar
measure last year, will hear testi-
mony on the issue Thursday. Its
chairman, Del. Joseph F. Vallario
Jr. (D-Prince George's), said mem-
bers may be more receptive to this
year’s version.

As in Virginia, many of the objec-
tions come from foes of capital pun-

ishment who believe advocates of

lethal injection simply want to make
it easier to put criminals to death. “In
addition to trying to make the death
penalty more palatable to the public,
the proponents want to cover their
constitutional derrieres,” said Rich-
ard Dowling, director of the Mary-
land Catholic Conference.

Maryland’s first execution in near-
ly 33 years could occur as early as
this spring. John F. Thanos, who
killed three teenagers in 1990, has
said he wants no more appeals and is
ready to be executed.

Thomas, the death row inmate
who could be next in line, has won a
court order to have Thanos’s execu-
tion by lethal gas videotaped to pro-
vide evidence to buttress his argu-
ment. If Schaefer's bill passes before
Thanos is put to death, Thanos could
choose between gas and injection.


1a's Chair

Murderer May Be Last to Die in V

irginia

EXECUTION, From D1

represents a major change in a
state ‘hat has made regular use of
its electric chair. In the 18 years
since ‘he Supreme Court ruled the
death penalty to be legal, Virginia
has executed 22 men, more than
any state except Texas and Florida.
Moreover, the pace has quickened
substantially in recent years, with
five executions in the last year
alone.

The state’s oak electric chair was
installed in 1908 at the Virginia
State Penitentiary in Richmond,
and for each scheduled execution
competing crowds gathered out-
side, one to cheer on the death of a
heinous criminal and the other to
hold candles and mourn state-sanc-
tioned killing.

After the prison closed, the chair
was moved in 1991 to the new
Greensville Correctional Center, 55
miles to the south in rural Jarratt.

Over the years, Virginia’s use of
the electric chair has not always
gone smoothly. In 1990, witnesses
said that Wilbert Lee Evans lunged
forward after the voltage was
turned on and that blood flowed

profusely from under the leather |

face mask, drenching his shirt. An
outraged prison chaplain spoke out
publicly afterward. The next year,
corrections officials had to shock
Derick Lynn Peterson a second
time when a physician detected a
pulse after the first cycle.

Incidents such as those helped
motivate Hamilton to introduce his
lethal injection bill, which was
passed by both houses and is sched-
uled to be signed by Allen.

Hamilton, a capital punishment >

supporter, witnessed an execution
as part of his four-year effort to win
approval of lethal injection. While it
was carried out with precision, he
argues that the skull is the most
resilient part of the body and wor-
ries that the brain remains alive
while the rest of the body burns.
“Reading some of the autopsy
reports left some doubt in my mind

ears:

whether the jolt of electricity really
did cause death or brain death right
away,” he said last week.
Specialists have said that an in-
mate dies in the electric chair al-
most immediately. Virginia correc-
tions officials say they have had few

problems despite the Evans and |

Peterson incidents.

Under present policy, a con-
demned killer is strapped into the
chair and his face is covered with a
leather mask. Once the button is

pushed, the chair delivers an |
1,825-volt shock for 30 seconds, |

followed by a 250-volt surge for 60
seconds. It then resets itself over a
span of three to five seconds and
repeats the cycle.

That procedure has been altered

several times over the years to find |

the most effective formula. David
Bass, manager of corrections oper-

ations for the state’s eastern region,

said the Evans and Peterson inci-

dents both had simple explanations.
An investigation determined that

. Evans suffered a nosebleed because a

\
|
‘

notch in:the mask’s strap was not big
enough to accommodate his large
face, Bass said. In Peterson’s case,
Bass said, corrections officials decid-
ed to have the physician check after
one cycle of electricity instead of
two.
“It was always the procedure to
run as many cycles as necessary,”
he said. “The machine is designed
| to render the condemned brain
dead within moments.”
| Watkins may become the last in-
| mate to die in the chair, but his case
drew little attention compared with
‘ some of the death-row inmates who
_ have died or been spared in Virginia
, in recent years.

Watkins was convicted of fatally
shooting Betty Jean Barker during a
robbery on Nov. 14, 1983, and then
killing Carl Douglas Buchanan on
Nov. 22, 1983.

In their clemency petition to Al-
len, Watkins’s lawyers noted that
no white man has ever been sen-
tenced to death in Danville, a small
town near the North Carolina bor-
der where the Confederate flag still
is flown.

-___ THE WASHINGTON Post,

D6 Fripay, Marcu 4, 1994

I~

A Grim Distinction Awaits Condemned Killer

Double Murderer May Be the Last to Die in Virginia’s Electric Chair

JOHNNY WATKINS JR.
... killing by state “is wrong any way”

By Peter Baker

Washington Post Staff Writer

RICHMOND, March 3—Gov. George
Allen refused today to grant clemency to
double-murderer Johnny Watkins Jr.,
clearing the way for his execution to-
night in what could be the last use of
Virginia’s electric chair.

Watkins, 32, a black man convicted of
murdering two white convenience store
clerks during separate robberies in
1983, claimed that capital punishment is
meted out in a racist manner in his home
town of Danville, Va., where he was
judged by all-white juries.

It was the first death-penalty decision
for the state’s new Republican governor.
He issued a four-sentence statement
saying that he had “concluded that the
facts of the case do not warrant exercise
of the extraordinary remedy of executive
clemency.”

Watkins’s scheduled electrocution
could close out an era for Virginia, which
puts more murderers to death than all
but two states. After strapping 258 con-
demned men into an electric chair during
the last 86 years, Virginia plans to allow
death-row inmates to die by lethal injec-
tion beginning July 1. That option is al-
most always chosen by condemned kill-
ers in the states where it is offered.

“We need to carry out [the death pen-
alty] in a way that doesn’t cause the
state to stoop to the level of the crim-
inal,” said Del. Phillip A. Hamilton (R-
Newport News), who proposed the
change.

The change comes too late for Wat-
kins, but the method of execution is not
the important issue to him. “Killing is
wrong any way for the state,” he said in
an interview.

Switching to execution by injection

See EXECUTION, D6, Col. 1

+ Moo PRIA RP mamta mate

Fripay, Marcu 4, 1994

Cl

ee De OD y RAG OO aly
have given them priority on cur docket. Although the twa cases were briefed and
argued before us independently of each other, they raised many common issues.
Accordingly, we are using the format of one opinion in which to incoarperate our
Views on all issues. nil

me ee ee em MEO OEMOC eS me ee a ae

s
. . 4 . . ~ . .
ni Watkins’s convictions in each case of rebbery and use of a firearm in the

commission of a felony are not before us in these appeals,

ee ee ee ee End Footmoetes- - - - - — - — ee ee

Facts.
An Barker Murder.

On November 13, 1983, Betty Jean Barker reported for work as clerk at a Kwik
Stop convenience store about 11:00 pam. At 2:45 a.m. on November l4+, A customer
departed after paying her for gasoline. About 3:15 a.m. other customers found
the clerk, apparently dead, lying on the floor behind the cash register, the
drawer of which was open. The life Saving crew, when called to the scene,
confirmed that Barker was dead. An autopsy established that she had been

Alt-Z FOR HELF3 VT100 3 FDX 3 1200 N81 2 LOG CLOSED 3 PRINT OFF 3 ON-LINE

229 Va. 469, *473; 331 S.E.2d 422, **427

struck by three bullets, one in the right cheek, one in the C¥4+74] upper
right chest, and one in the upper left chest. The fatal shat, which per forated
the lungs and aorta, was the one in the upper right chest. A fourth bullet,
found in the victim's sweater, had not wounded her.

Quentin Nash was the principal witness for the Commonwealth. As an
accomplice of Watkins, he had been convicted of the crimes but had not been
sentenced. Nash testified that he and Watkins left a card game about 1:30 a.m.
on November 14 in Watkins’s car. Watkins said he was tired of being "broke" and
Was going to "rob a place," and then said he was going to the Kwik Stop market
tao "rab that place." Nash agreed to act asa lookout. They arrived at the Kwik
Stop about 2:40 a.m., purchased gas, but then drove across the street because
there were other customers in the store. At 3:00 a.m., when they saw the clerk
was alone, they returned; Watkins entered the store while Nash remained
C¥*¥428) in the car. Nash, reconsidering the proposed robbery, went in to
persuade Watkins not to commit the crime. Watkins, however, had purchased
cigarettes. When Barker opened the cash register, Watkins shot her twice,
causing her to fall to the floor. Watkins ordered Nash to take the cash
register. As Nash ran from the premises with the cash drawer, he saw Watkins
leaning over the counter with the firearm in his hand. When Watkins returned to
the car, the men left the scene of the crimes. Nash testified that he refused
ta accept from Watkins any of the money obtained in the robbery. It was

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FOC

“29 Va. 469, *474; 331 S.E.2d 422, **429
established that the amount of $ 89.89 had been taken by the robbers.

In their investigation of the Buchanan murder, the police found a .22-caliber
pistel in a jacket belonging to Watkins. Theré was uncontradicted expert
testimony that one of the bullets removed from Barker’s body had been fired from
this pistol.

BR. Buchanan Murder.

In the early morning hours of November 22, 1983, Carl Douglas Buchanan was
the sole employee working at Fast Fare, a convenience store. Tt was established


rie ee

n ernational 1984 i

7
United Press International

6 September 14, 1984, Friday, BC cycle

Persons Regional News
; DISTRIBUTION: Virginia

| LENGTH: 90 words

a

| HEADLINE: Jury recommends death sentence

me

DATELINE: DANVILLE, Va. <
BODY: . *,

A; Danville jury has recommended .that Johnny Watkins Jr. die in the electric e

j chair for the capital murder of a 4i-year-old convenience store clerk. t

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A Proprietary to the United Press International, September 14, 1984

; "Ifa Judge accepts the recommendation Sept. 28, it will be Watkins’ second
ideath sentence of the summer.

*Watkins, 23, was convicted of the robbery and murder of Carl Buchanan on Nov.
22, 1983. In June, he was convicted of capital murder in the robbery and murder
of Betty Barker, another convenience store clerk killed Nov. 14. He has received
thé death sentence for that murder.

LONGUAGE: ENGLISH

7
Q
&
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€ LEVEL 1 - 30 OF 37 STORIES
9 Proprietary to the United Press International 1984
¢ United Press International

July 13, 1984, Friday, BC cycle
secTION: Regional News

DISTRIBUTION: Virginia

LENGTH: 116 words

HEHDLINE: Danville man sentenced to death
DASELINE: DANVILLE, Va.

_ BODY: a
_ oA 22-year-old Danville man has been sentenced to death for the murder of'a
convenience store clerk during-a November robbery.

™ aw

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Or Proprietary to the United Press International, July 13, 1984
Se i

“4 Johnny Watkins Jr., charged in two such murders, drew the death sentence
“Fréday in connection with the fatal shooting death of Betty Jean Barker, 22, a
zsonvenience store operator at the Kwik Stop Four near the city limits.

enanville Circuit Court Judge John Ingram also sentenced Barker to life in
orison for the November robbery of Ms. Barker. He also drew two years for use of
a firearm. .
The other robbery and murder with which Watkins is charged occured eight days

tater in an almost identical fashion at a Fast Fare convenience store on West
fain Street.

-ANGUAGE: ENGLISH

(
0%

C}


WATKINS, Johnny, Jr. = Virginia.

LEVEL 1:- 1 OF 1 CASE

Jahnny Watkins, Jr. v. Commonwealth of Virginia

Watkins vi. Cemmonwealth
Record Nos. 841551, 841913
Supreme Court af Virginia

229 Va. 469; 331 S.E.2q 422"

June i4, 1985, Decided

RIOR HISTORY:
Pppeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court of the City of Danville. Han. James
- Ingram, judge presiding.

ISPOSITION: Affirmed — Recard Ne. 841551
Affirmed — Receard No. 841913
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229 Va. 469, *; 331 S.E.2d 422, «*

EADNOTES:

riminal law -- Criminal procedure -- Constitutional Law —— Murder --
nterragations -- Jury Selection —- Pretrial Publicity -- Evidence -~
ross-Examinatioan —-— Sentencing Fracedures

Ppellant was charged and convicted in separate trials for the murders of two
tore clerks committed in the course of two separate robberies in an eight-day
eBriod during Navember, 1983, in-Danville. In both cases the victim was tending
small store in the early marning hours; in the course of the robberies each
ictim was shot several times without Pprevecation using a .22 caliber pistel.
Opellant was arrested shartly after the secand murder; based on the statements
f his brother, an accomplice in one of the cases, appellant was charged with
apital murder. Several days later, after a waiver af rights, appellant
dmitted one af the shootings, claiming that it was done in self-defense. He
as convicted of both murders and in‘each case sentenced ta death. Other facts
re stated in the opinian.

The trial court’s finding concerning a defendant’s knowing and intelligent
&iver af the right ta refuse questicaning will not be disturbed unless plainly
rand.

Defendant’s admitted understanding of his rights, capacity te read, prior

dvice of rights and written waiver warranted the trial court’s conclusian af
“t
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229 Va. 469, *; 331 S.E.2d 422, «x

the canduct af defendant was cutragecusly ar wantonly vile,” horrible ay inhuman
is determined by whether the evidence suppearted a Jury finding of an aggravated
battery, defined as one qualitatively and quantitatively more culpable than the
minimum necessary ta accomplish the act of murder .

mm

wc. Evidence that defendant fired four shats at a victim, inflicting one facial

and two chest wounds, that death was nat instantaneous, and that the shots were

separated by a lapse af time, was sufficient te permit the trial court te give

an instruction for the jury to consider the Vileness of defendant’s conduct and
ee eee ays a ee er oe ree Tee Fone Fm ed me pedo de a i Oe ere a an


}
i
}

t

wie fk eee auie aig vergict tarm tallowing the language of the statute,
specifically listing the aggravating circumstances of future dangereusness and

i Vileness and generally requiring the Jury ta consider the evidence in mitigation

of the offense, is canstitutional.

25. The trial court’s imposition of the death sentence after receipt af the
post-sentence report and a hearing. at which defendant offered na additianal
evidence, was warranted since there was ne good cause ta set aside the death
sentence. Defendant’s age (22) didnot per se preclude imposition af the death
sentence given his criminal history. Ric .

“6. Defendant was not entitled to a jury containing members of his own race.
His unsupported assertion that the death sentence was racially motivated since
he is black and the victim and Jurors were white, unaccompanied by evidence af
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229 Va. 469, *; 331 S.E.2d 422, **
selection, evidentiary and other matters.

COUNSEL: Henry G. Crider (E. L. Matley, Jr., on brief) far appellant. (Recard
Ne. 841551.)

James E. Kulp, Senior Assistant Attorney General (Gerald L. Baliles, Attorney
General, on brief), for appellee. (Recard No. 841551.) ;

E. L. Motley, Jr. CHenry G. Crider, oan brief), for appellant. (Recard Ne.

Frank S. Ferguson, Assistant Attorney General (Gerald L. Baliles, Attorney
General, oan brief), for appellee. (Record No. 841913.)

JUDGES: Cochran, J., delivered the opinion of the Court.
OF INIONBY: COCHRAN

OF INION: Ce47 24 Cx¥#¥427 ] A jury feund Jahnny Watkins, Jr. CWatkins),
guilty of the capital murder of Betty Jean Barker on November 14, 1983, in the
cammissian of robbery while armed with a deadly weapon. The Jury alsa found
Watkins guilty of the robbery itself and use of a firearm in the commission af
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229 Va. 469, *472; 331 S,E.2qd 422, *##427

a felony and fixed his punishment for these twa offenses at confinement in the
Penitentiary for life and C*473)] for two years, respectively. In the
bifurcated proceeding mandated by Code @@ 19.2-264.3 and “264.4, the jury fixed
Watkins’s punishment fear capital murder at death, based upan findings of
ANatkins’s future dangercusness and the Vileness of the crime. After cansidering
the probation of ficer’s report filed pursuant ta @ 19.2-264.5, the trial court
3y final order entered July 13, 1984, sentenced Watkins in accordance with the
jury verdicts,

In a subsequent trial, another Jury found Watkins guilty of three affenses,

ihe capital murder ef Carl Douglas Buchanan an Nevember #2, 1983, in the
commission of robbery while armed with a deadly weapon, the robbery itself, and
ise af a firearm in the commissian of a felony. The Jury fixed his punishment
‘or robbery and use af a4 firearm at confinement in the Penitentiary for life and
‘or two years, respectively. Based upan findings of Watkins's future
langerousness and the vileness of the crime, the Jury fixed his punishment for
-4pital murder at death. After considering the probation officer's repart, the
‘rial court by final order entered September 28, 1984, sentenced Watkins in

iceardance with the Jury verdicts.

In each af the capital-murder cases, we have consalidated the automatic
eview af Ch sentence with Watkins’s appeal from his conviction and
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WATKINS v. COM. ° Va. 427
Cite as 331 S.E.2d 422 (Va. 1985)

E.L. Motley, Jr., Danville, (Henry G. Cri-

der, Danville, on brief), for appellant in No.
841913.

Frank S. Ferguson, Asst. Atty. Gen.
(Gerald L. Baliles, Atty. Gen., on brief), for
appellee in No. 841913.

Present: All the Justices.

COCHRAN, Justice.

A jury found Johnny Watkins, Jr. (Wat-
kins), guilty of the capital murder of Betty
Jean Barker on November 14, 1983, in the
commission of robbery while armed with a
deadly weapon. The jury also found Wat-
kins guilty of the robbery itself and use of
a firearm in the commission of a felony and
fixed his punishment for these two of-
fenses at confinement in the penitentiary
for life and for two years, respectively. In
the bifurcated proceeding mandated by
Code §§ 19.2-264.3 and ~264.4, the jury
fixed Watkins’s punishment for capital
murder at death, based upon findings of
Watkins’s future dangerousness and the
vileness of the crime. After considering
the probation officer’s report filed pursu-
ant to § 19.2-264.5, the trial court by final
order entered July 13, 1984, sentenced Wat-
kins in accordance with the jury verdicts.

In a subsequent trial, another jury found
Watkins guilty of three offenses, the capi-
tal murder of Carl Douglas Buchanan on
November 22, 1988, in the commission of
robbery while armed with a deadly weapon,
the robbery itself, and use of a firearm in
the commission of a felony. The jury fixed
his punishment for robbery and use of a
firearm at confinement in the penitentiary
for life and for two years, respectively.
Based upon findings of Watkins’s future
dangerousness and the vileness of the
crime, the jury fixed his punishment for
capital murder at death. After considering
the probation officer’s report, the trial
court by final order entered September 28,
1984, sentenced Watkins in accordance
with the jury verdicts.

1. Watkins's convictions in each case of robbery

and use of a firearm in the commission of a

In each of the capital murder cases, we
have consolidated the automatic review of
the death sentence with Watkins's appeal
from his conviction and have given them
priority on our docket. Although the two
cases were briefed and argued before us
independently of each other, they raised
many common issues. Accordingly, we are
using the format of one opinion in which to
incorporate our views on all issues.!

I. Facts.

A. Barker Murder.

On November 13, 1983, Betty Jean Bark-
er reported for work as clerk at a Kwik
Stop convenience store about 11:00 p.m.
At 2:45 a.m. on November 14, a customer
departed after paying her for gasoline.
About 3:15 a.m. other customers found the
clerk, apparently dead, lying on the floor
behind the cash register, the drawer of
which was open. The life saving crew,
when called to the scene, confirmed that
Barker was dead. An autopsy established
that she had been struck by three bullets,
one in the right cheek, one in the upper
right chest, and one in the upper left chest.
The fatal shot, which perforated the lungs
and aorta, was the one in the upper right
chest. A fourth bullet, found in the vic-
tim’s sweater, had not wounded her.

Quentin Nash was the principal witness
for the Commonwealth. As an accomplice
of Watkins, he had been convicted of the
crimes but had not been sentenced. Nash
testified that he and Watkins left a card
game about 1:30 a.m. on November 14 in
Watkins’s car. Watkins said he was tired

of being “broke” and was going to “rob..a.... 7
and then said he was going to the

?

place,
Kwik Stop market to “rob that place.”
Nash agreed to act as a lookout. They
arrived at the Kwik Stop about 2:40 a.m.,
purchased gas, but then drove across the
Street because there were other customers
in the store. At 3:00 a.m., when they saw
the clerk was alone, they returned; Wat-
kins entered the store while Nash remained

felony are not before us in these appeals.

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in the car. Nash, reconsidering the pro-
posed robbery, went in to persuade Wat-
kins not to commit the crime. Watkins,
however, had purchased cigarettes. When
Barker opened the cash register, Watkins
shot her twice, causing her to fall to the
floor. Watkins ordered Nash to take the
cash register. As Nash ran from the prem-
_ises with the cash drawer, he saw Watkins
leaning over the counter with the firearm
in his hand. When Watkins returned to the
car, the men left the scene of the crimes.
Nash testified that he refused to accept
from Watkins any of the money obtained in
the robbery. It was established that the
amount of $89.89 had been taken by the
robbers.

In their investigation of the Buchanan
murder, the police found a .22-caliber pistol
in a jacket belonging to Watkins. There
was uncontradicted expert testimony that
one of the bullets removed from Barker’s
body had been fired from this pistol.

B. Buchanan Murder.

In the early morning hours of November
22, 1983, Carl Douglas Buchanan was the
sole employee working at Fast Fare, a con-
venience store. It was established that he
was alive about 1:30 a.m. A customer who
entered the store between 1:45 and 1:50
a.m. observed the cash register open and
the money drawer missing. Looking be-
hind the counter, he found Buchanan’s
body. The police ascertained that there
was missing from the cash register the
sum of $34.73, including a $2.00 bill whose
serial number had been recorded. Local
merchants were notified of the existence of
this bill. Later on November 22, Darnell
Watkins (Darnell), Watkins’s brother, was
identified as the person who had tendered
the bill that day in paying a store account.

Obtaining a search warrant for Darnell’s
apartment, the police discovered that the
brothers shared a bedroom. The officers
found in a jacket in their bedroom credit
cards, a driver’s license, and other items
belonging to Carl Buchanan. . In another
jacket bearing Watkins’s employee identifi-
cation badge, they found eight empty car-
tridges and a .22-caliber pistol loaded with
six live bullets. .

331 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

Darnell was the principal witness for the
Commonwealth. He admitted his partic-
ipation in the crimes, for which he had been
convicted but not sentenced.

Darnell testified that about midnight on
November 21, his brother offered to drive
him to a store for cigarettes. On the way,
Watkins said, “I might rob some place.”
After finding one store closed, they pro-
ceeded to Fast Fare, which Watkins en-
tered while Darnell remained in the car.
No other customers were in the store.*
Darnell saw his brother point a weapon at
the clerk, saw the clerk fall backward, and
saw Watkins go to the other side of the
counter and take the cash drawer from the
cash register. Hearing two shots, Darnell
observed Watkins bending down behind the
counter. When Watkins returned to the
car with the cash drawer and a wallet, he
drove away with his brother. Darnell
asked Watkins if he had shot the clerk;
Watkins replied that he had shot him three
or four times in the head and chest. Wat-
kins told Darnell the wallet contained about
$40. From the proceeds of the robbery he
gave Darnell $42 in repayment of a loan.

Darnell also testified that his brother
later attempted to persuade him to accept
responsibility for the robbery while Wat-
kins accepted responsibility for the murder
under the belief that such separation of
guilty conduct would enable Watkins to
avoid execution. This testimony was cor-
roborated by a relative in whose apartment
the brothers lived.

An autopsy established that Carl Bu-

chanan had been struck by; four: bullets... .
one near the left temple, one in the left’ ~~

upper chest, one in the left mid-chest, and
one in the right lower back. Either of the
chest wounds would have been fatal. The
uncontradicted expert testimony was that
one of the bullets removed from Buchan-
an’s chest had been fired from the .22-cali-
ber pistol found in Watkins’s jacket.

II. Pretrial Proceedings.
A. Barker Murder. —
1. Motion to Suppress.

Watkins made a pretrial motion to sup-
press statements given by him to the po-


WATKINS v. COM. Va. 429
Cite as 331 S.E.2d 422 (Va. 1985)

lice. Testimony at the suppression hearing
revealed that both Darnell and Watkins
were taken to Danville Police headquarters
following the search of their apartment on
November 22. About 11:00 p.m. the same
day, police interrogated Watkins. He was

first advised of his constitutional rights as «:

required by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S.
436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966),
after which he signed a written waiver of
his rights. During questioning, when Wat-
kins stated he wanted to see a lawyer, the
interrogation terminated. An officer re-
duced to writing Watkins’s responses dur-
ing this interview, but Watkins refused to
sign the statement.

About 1:00 a.m., Watkins was informed
he was being charged with capital murder.
He asked why he was being charged. Be-
fore giving any explanation, an officer
again advised him of his constitutional
rights and Watkins executed a second writ-
ten waiver of his rights. He was then told
that Darnell had implicated him in the mur-
der and robbery of Carl Buchanan at the
Fast Fare market. When Watkins ex-
pressed disbelief, police played for him a
portion of Darnell’s recorded statement.
At Watkins’s request, he was allowed to
see his brother, and a police officer testi-
fied that Watkins asked Darnell, “Did you
really snitch on me?” According to the
officer, Darnell admitted that he had done
so. Watkins then declined to talk about
the shooting or take a polygraph test, say-
ing that he wanted “to think about it.”

On the morning of November 28, another
officer went to the jail to question Watkins
further. Watkins was advised of his Mi-
randa rights a third time and signed a
third waiver form. The officer testified
that Watkins said he wanted to talk about
the incident. The officer then reduced to
writing a statement in which Watkins ad-
mitted having shot Buchanan with a pistol
he had purchased in 1983 but claimed he
shot in self-defense. He signed each page
of this statement. The officer said Wat-
kins was cooperative and showed no hesi-

tation in making the statement. The offi- -

cer made no promises or representations to
Watkins to induce the statement, and Wat-

kins never indicated he wanted to stop the
questioning or consult with a lawyer. The
meeting lasted about 15 minutes.

Watkins testified that he did not simply
start telling what he knew at this third

interview. Instead, he said he asked for an .

attorney but the officer ignored his re-
quest. He also said the officer informed
him it would be better if he told the truth
because Darnell had already revealed to
the police what happened. Watkins con-
ceded he signed the waiver which contained
the statement, “I do not want a lawyer at
this time.” He said he continued to answer
the officer’s questions “to be polite” and
because the officer kept “nagging” him.

The trial court held that Watkins’s state-
ments were given freely, voluntarily, and
intelligently, without coercion, threat, or
promise, and after he was properly advised

of his rights. The November 28 statement

about the Buchanan killing was then of-
fered and admitted only in the penalty
phase of Watkins’s trial for the Barker
murder. Defendant argues that this state-
ment was not voluntary because he was
entitled to stop the questioning at any time
but the officer’s persistence resulted in his
being denied this right.

[1,2] Admissibility of a defendant’s
statements is an issue to be decided by the
court, which evaluates the credibility of the
witnesses, resolves any conflicts in the tes-
timony, and weighs the evidence as a
whole. Stockton v. Commonwealth, 227

Va. 124, 140, 314 S.E.2d 371, 381, certs:
denied, 469 U.S. —, 105 S.Ct. 229, 83°

L.Ed.2d 158 (1984); Witt v. Common-
wealth, 215 Va. 670, 674, 212 S.E.2d 298,
297 (1975). The court must decide whether
the defendant knowingly and intelligently
relinquished and abandoned his rights.
Wyrick v. Fields, 459 U.S. 42, 47, 108 S.Ct.
394, 396, 74 L.Ed.2d 214 (1982); Wash-
ington v. Commonwealth, 228 Va. 535,
547-48, 323 S.E.2d 577, 586 (1984), cert.
denied, 471 U.S. —, 105 S.Ct. 2347, 85
L.Ed.2d 863 (1985); Bunch v. Common-
wealth, 225 Va. 423, 432, 304 S.E.2d 271,
276, cert. denied, 464 U.S. 977, 104 S.Ct.

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430 Va.

414, 78 L.Ed.2d 352 (1983). The court’s
determination is a question of fact based on
the totality of the circumstances.
Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218,
226, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 2047, 36 L.Ed.2d 854
(1973); Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458,
464, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 1023, 82 L.Ed. 1461

(1988); Jones v. Commonwealth, 228 Va.

427, 441, 328 S.E.2d 554, 561 (1984); Wash-
ington, 228 Va. at 547-48, 323 S.E.2d at
586; Bunch, 225 Va. at 433, 304 S.E.2d at
976. This factual finding will not be dis-
turbed on appeal unless plainly wrong.
Jones, 228 Va. at 441, 323 S.E.2d at 561;
Stockton, 227 Va. at 140, 314 S.E.2d at 381.

[3] The trial court was in a position to
evaluate the credibility of the witnesses in
accepting the testimony of the officer and
rejecting the conflicting testimony of Wat-
kins on the waiver question. The waiver
signed by Watkins indicates he did not seek
counsel. Watkins himself testified that he
understood his rights, that he could read
well, and that he had previously been ad-
vised of his rights twice in unrelated mat-
ters and twice in the preceding week rela-
tive to the Barker and Buchanan murders.
He admitted he knew he did not have to
give a statement without a lawyer present
but voluntarily gave the statement when he
realized the officer would keep “nagging”
him. We hold that the evidence in the
record is sufficient to justify the factual
determination by the trial court that Wat-
kins’s statement was voluntarily given.
See Bunch, 225 Va. at 434, 304 S.E.2d at
277; Clark v. Commonwealth, 220 Va.
201, 208-09, 257 S.E.2d 784, 788-89 (1979),
cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1049, 100 S.Ct. 741,
62 L.Ed.2d 736 (1980).

2. Other Pretrial Motions.

[4] Watkins asked the court to appoint
an investigator to assist in the preparation
of his defense. The trial court denied the
motion. We affirm this ruling. We have
held that an indigent defendant has no
constitutional right under the Due Process
or Equal Protection clauses to appoint-
ment, at public expense, of a private inves-
tigator. See Stockton, 227 Va. at 140-41,

331 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

314 S.E.2d at 382; Quintana v. Common-
wealth, 224 Va. 127, 135, 295 S.E.2d 648,
646 (1982), cert. denied, 460 US. 1029, 103
S.Ct. 1280, 75 L.Ed.2d 501 (1983); Martin
v. Commonwealth, 221 Va. 4386, 446, 271
S.E.2d 128, 180 (1980).

[5] Watkins contends, however, that
failure to appoint an investigator to assist
in his defense violated his Sixth Amend-
ment rights. Citing no authority, he
equates the advantage of having the assist-
ance of an investigator to the right to
compulsory process for obtaining witnesses
and the right to assistance of counsel ex-
pressly guaranteed by the Sixth Amend-
ment. The Sixth Amendment does not
mandate appointment of an investigator,
however, and we will not infer such a re-
quirement from the clear language of the
Amendment which outlines the constitu-
tional prerequisites for criminal prosecu-
tions. As the Supreme Court has stated in
another context, “the fact that a particular
service might be of benefit to an indigent
defendant does not mean that the service is
constitutionally required.” oss v. Moffitt,
417 U.S. 600, 616, 94 S.Ct. 2487, 2447, 41
L.Ed.2d 341 (1974).

Watkins also moved for discovery of the
names and addresses of all potential wit-
nesses for the Commonwealth. The motion
was denied. Although Watkins conceded
in pretrial argument on the motion that
there is no existing authority requiring the
Commonwealth to provide this information,
he contends that failure to allow such dis-

ec 4

covery violates the Sixth Amendment: He".

based his pretrial argument on the right to.

assistance of counsel; on appeal, he argued
denial of the right to be confronted: with
the witnesses against him.

[6] There is no constitutional right to
discovery in a criminal case. Weatherford
v. Bursey, 429 U.S. 545, 559, 97 S.Ct. 837,
845, 51 L.Ed.2d 30 (1977). Nor does the
prohibition of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S.
83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1968),
against concealing exculpatory evidence
create a constitutional requirement that the
prosecution furnish the names of its wit-


440 Va.

er mitigating factors, racial bias, and im-
proper prosecutorial argument. A thor-
ough review of the record in each case
reveals nothing to suggest that either
death sentence was imposed under the in-
fluence of passion, prejudice, or other arbi-
trary factors.

[37] We are also required to determine
whether the death sentences in these cases
are excessive Or disproportionate to the
sentences imposed in similar cases. Com-
paring the cases with other capital murder
eases reviewed by this Court, we have giv-
en particular emphasis to cases in which
the death sentence was based on both the
defendant’s future dangerousness and the
vileness of the crime. We have also con
sidered the records of all capital cases re-
viewed by this Court under the present
statutes in which life sentences were im-
posed. It is clear from this review that the
sentences-of death for the Barker and Bu-
chanan murders are not excessive or dis-
proportionate to sentences generally im-
posed for similar crimes throughout the
Commonwealth.

Of particular interest in this comparison
is Turner, in which we upheld a death
sentence based on poth the future danger-
ousness of the defendant and the vileness
of the crime. 921 Va. at 530-31, 273 S.E.2d
at 47. The facts in Turner are substantial-
ly similar to those in the Barker and Bu-
chanan murders for purposes of this re-
view. We hold that the sentences imposed
in these two cases are not excessive or

2. Cases based on both predicates are compiled
in Tuggle, 228 Va. at 517, 323 S.E.2d at 554.
Cases relying on both future dangerousness and
vileness to support the death penalty, not in-
cluded in that list, are Tuggle v. Commonwealth,
228 Va. 493, 323 S.E.2d 539 (1984), vacated and
remanded, 471 US. —— 105. S.Ct. 2315, 85
L.Ed.2d 835 (1985), Edmonds v. Common-
wealth, 229 Va. —— 329 S.E.2d 807 (1985), and
Poyner v. Commonwealth, 229 Va. ——, 329
S.E.2d 815 (1985).

Cases in which vileness alone formed the ba-
sis for imposition of the death penalty are col-
lected in Jones, 228 Va. at 450-51 n. 3, 323

only on vileness are Jones Vv. Commonwealth,
228 Va. 427, 323 S.E.2d 554 (1984), Washington
v. Commonwealth, 228 Va. 535, 323 S.E.2d 577

(1984), cert. denied, 471 US. —— 105 S.Ct

331 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

disproportionate when compared with
Turner and other cases. Moreover, the
sentences are not excessive or dispropor-
tionate when compared with each other.
In these cases, which are factually indistin-
guishable, two distinct juries reviewed the
evidence and reached the same result, find-
ing that the aggravating circumstances of
future dangerousness and vileness war-
ranted imposition of the death penalty.

Finding no reversible error in the trial of
these cases and determining that the death
sentences are properly imposed, we will
affirm the judgments of the trial court in
both cases.

Record No. 41551—Affirmed.
Record No. 841913—Affirmed.

W
° E xty NUMBER SYSTEM
T

E. Blair BROWN, Executor, etc.
v.
EN. KOULIZAKIS, et al.
Record No. 820473.

Supreme Court of Virginia.
June 14, 1985.

Deceased patient’s executor filed
wrongful death action against orthopedic

9347, 85 L.Ed.2d 863,(1985): and. Boggs ¥-

Commonwealth, 229 Wa. ——+ 33t SE2d 407

(1985) (this day decided}...
Dangerousness was the basis for the death
sentence in the following cases: Evans. v..Cott-

monwealth, 228 Va. 468, 323 S.E.2d 114 (1984)

(affirming imposition of death penalty upon re
sentencing after prior sentence, which had been
upheld in 222 Va. 766, 284 S.E.2d 816 (1981),

‘L.Ed.2d 155 (1982), was vacated by trial court);
Peterson v. Commonwealth, 225 Va. 289, 302
S.E.2d 520, cert. denied, 464 U.S. 865, 104 S.Ct.
202, 78 L.Ed.2d 176 (1983); Bassett v. Common-
-wealth, 222 Va. 844, 284 S.E.2d 844 (1981), cert.
denied, 456 US. 938, 102 S.Ct. 1996, 72 L.Ed.2d
458 (1982); Giarratano v. Commonwealth, 220
Va. 1064, 266 S.E.2d 94 (1980). ied

rs
4


Vi CTIMS continued from Page 1A

Both had picked up shifts for
co-workers, their families said,
‘because they enjoyed working.

' The similarities between the
‘two don’t end there. Both had left
ischool early to begin working,
‘Buchanan in the Air Force and
‘Barker at a Mebane, N.C., fast
'food restaurant. Their survivors
‘described both as dedicated fami-
‘ly people with a deep love for chil-
‘dren.

' Barker was so fond of children
ithat one of her favorite ways to
‘spend time outside of work was
‘baby-sitting other people’s kids,
'daid her father, Robert Barker of
‘Yanceyville.

‘. “She loved children as much as
‘anything,” Mr. Barker said. “If
‘they came into the store, she
‘would give them a piece of candy
‘or money or anything they
‘wanted really.”

' According to family members,
‘both planned children for them-
‘selves, Buchanan _ possibly
‘sooner than Barker.

' Buchanan had been married
for only 18 months before he was
‘murdered. Buchanan's widow
‘kept in touch with the family for
iseveral years after the murder

‘but. has since remarried and |
‘doesn’t call as often, Mrs. Bu- |

ichanan said.

' ‘Until he had children of his
own, his brother and sister said,
Buchanan was perfectly content
to spoil theirs.

Marie Vaughn, Buchanan’s
sister, said he took immense
pride in her daughter, who was 6
years old when he died.

“He thought my little girl was
made of gold the way he made
over her,” Vaughn said. “He
would get right down there in the
floor with all the kids and just
play right along with them like
they were his own.”

‘ Other than their common in-
terest in children both shared a
strong interest in work.

' Barker left Eastern Alamance
High School in Mebane, N.C., to
work with her father at the Beef
Burger restaurant. Mr. Barker, a
manager there at the time, origi-
nally intended the job for an old-
er daughter but when she de-
clined, Betty Jean bugged her
father until he told her to come
down to the store.

' Barker stayed at Beef Burger
for several years, working her
way up to manager herself before
she quit unexpectedly. She even-
tually wound up in Danville and
began work at the Kwik Shop
near the Purdum Woods apart-

ment complex.

There were no problems be-
tween Barker and her employers
in Mebane, her father said. “She
was gone before I knew it,” Mr.
Barker said. “The people she
worked with at Mebane treated
her like a daughter.”

During a visit just a few days
before she was killed, Barker

told her father she was going to .

come home. We
“I couldn’t wait for her to move.
back to Mebane,” Mr. Barker
said. “She was going to move
back into the house and live with .
us.” ;
Barker was shot three times,
and a fourth bullet was found in
her sweater, during a robbery
that netted Watkins $88.88 be-
fore she could get back to Me-
bane. “tae
' Buchanan left school and
joined the Air Force, where his
older brother Judd was already
serving, in 1959 when he was on-
ly 17 yearsold. . «
“ He left the service after spend-
ing four years as a communica-
tions repairman in Korea and Ja-
an.
» Buchanan lived with his moth-

ér for a while after leaving the...

Service but then went to visit his’’

father who had moved to Georges

mS:
” ia Paheay al r

r aciaemeeemeemntntn

“The people she
worked with at
Mebane treated her
like a daughter.”

— Betty Jean
Barker's father

town, S.C. He moved back to
Danville and lived with his moth-
er and worked as a carpenter,
business machine repairman
and paint salesman.

After that, he returned to
South Carolina where he lived
with his brother Judd and Judd’s
wife while he worked a crab boat.

After two years working on the
water, he moved back to Danville
for good and lived with his moth-
er until he was married in 1981.

When he wasn’t working at a
variety of jobs, often two at one
time, he always found something
to do around the house. He kept
the yard up not only for his moth-
er but for neighbors as well.

He enjoyed working and help-
ing other people so much, his
mother recalled, that he once
spent his day off helping a wom-
an on their street put up wal-
lpaper.

Buchanan’s work ethic has
been a lasting legacy to his broth-

oe

er.

Buchanan’s widow gave his
tools to Judd, who still uses them
regularly despite the memories —
they bring. | reytye f

..“So many things remind you of
him,” Judd Buchanan said, “Ev-
ery time I pick up one of those:
tools, I can’t help but remember.
they were his and I think about
him and ask myself why that had
tohappentoCarl.”*) 08"

Carl. Buchanan’ was’ the:‘one’
who held the family together, his»
sister said. i eh PtP

.:“Carl,waseverybody’s securi- .
ty,” . Marie, Vaughn .said.. “He ..
knew when everybody's birthday _
was; he was the one everybody,
couldcounton.” § 00 3

Vaughn, Judd Buchanan and
Mrs. Buchanan all agreed that
their first reaction to the‘news

-was horror, which eventually

turned to a shock that lasted for
at least six months. ae
- The family has had the com-.
fort of knowing that Buchanan

- was a Christian, Mrs. Buchanan:
SP, Ae

hands.” |
The fi
_swer.to the nagging question of
| why Buchanan was murdered in

said. gt Sy

“That’s what gets you through
it, knowing that you are going to
see him again,” Mrs. Buchanan
said. “Even though the griefis al-
most unbearable it’s reassuring
to. know . that he’s.. in...God’s

ally has found the an-

the scripture as well.

“Our cousin felt the Holy Spir-
it telling her to look up Isaiah
57:1,” Vaughn said. “That has
helped us more than anything.”

Isaiah 57:1 reads, “The righ-
teous perishéth, and no man lay-
eth it to heart: and merciful men
are taken away, none consid-
ering that the righteous is taken
away from the evil to come.” »

Although all agreed that Wat-
kins’ execution would bring them
relief, Mrs. Buchanan ‘said she
hoped that Watkins’ had taken
care of his spiritual concerns be-
fore the execution.

4 “Everybody has to stand be-
fore God and answer for what
they have done in this body,” she
said. “He will, too. I hope that
someone has talked to him about
that and that he has made his
peace with God.”

_ Editor’s note: The reporter is
not related to the family in this
story.

D

anville Register, & Bee:

Thursday, March 3, 1994

oe LUN Vi iM Vr gihyo

TAY PML Re. wr ce

$4 100 at NBN Aa SAN 8 Nine Pp. Bi RRINE.AE

paras ers

WATKINS v. COM. . Va. 439

Cite as 331 S.E.2d 422 (Va. 1985)

assertion of racial motivation is insufficient
to establish systematic exclusion of blacks
from membership on juries. He did not
challenge the racial composition of the jury
at trial, and nothing in the record suggests
that his sentence resulted from racial prej-
udice.

Watkins also argues that the closing ar-
gument of the Commonwealth’s attorney
was improper because it appealed to the
jury’s passions. This objection was not
raised at trial, and we will not notice it for
the first time on appeal. Rule 5:21.

Before sentencing Watkins to death, the
judge said, “I have reflected upon the evi-
dence which was presented.... After con-
sidering all these matters, the Court is of
the opinion that the verdict of the jury is
both appropriate and just....” We hold
that the court did not abuse its discretion in
imposing the death sentence.

B. Buchanan Murder.

1. Sufficiency of Evidence of Vileness.

Watkins challenges the sufficiency of the
evidence to support an instruction and a
jury finding on the existence of vileness.
The evidence established that Watkins
fired four shots at Buchanan, resulting in
wounds to the head, chest, and back. He
fired two shots, after which Buchanan fell
backward. Watkins then went around the
counter, removed the cash drawer, disap-
peared from sight behind the counter, and
fired two additional shots. He returned to
the car with the cash drawer and Buchan-
an’s wallet. Medical evidence established
that the two chest injuries caused Buchan-
an’s death and that either of these wounds
independently would have been fatal.

As in the Barker killing, Watkins’s con-
duct exceeded that necessary to accomplish
the murder. Again, he allowed an appreci-
able lapse of time between shots, during
Which he removed the drawer and wallet.
Again, the victim’s death was not shown to
be instantaneous. As in the Barker case,
the court instructed the jury that it could
find vileness based on conduct which in-
volved an aggravated battery. For rea-
Sons stated in the appeal of the Barker

murder conviction, we hold the evidence
sufficient to support the court’s instruction
on vileness and the jury’s verdict.

2. Constitutionality of Sentencing Stat-
utes and Form Verdict.

Watkins restates the arguments raised in
the Barker appeal that Code §§ 19.2-264.2
and ~264.4 and the form verdict provided in
§ 19.2-264.4 are unconstitutional. For rea-
Sons stated in that appeal, we affirm the
constitutionality of these Statutory provi-
sions.

3. Propriety of Trial Court’s Sentence.

[36] Watkins contends, as he did in the
Barker appeal, that the trial court dis-
regarded the evidence of mitigating factors
and imposed the death sentence under the
influence of passion, prejudice, or other
arbitrary factors. He specifically notes, in
addition to his age and criminal record, his
limited education, low average intelligence,
and history of episodic substance abuse.
Each of these factors was shown by the
evidence during the sentencing phase or
was reflected by the post-sentence report.
Following a sentencing hearing, at which
Watkins offered no additional evidence, the
court imposed the death sentence in accord-
ance with the jury’s verdict, noting Wat-

kins’s earlier conviction for capital murder. |

There is no evidence that the court refused
to consider the mitigating circumstances,
and we hold that the court did not abuse its
discretion in imposing the death sentence.

Watkins also reiterates his charge that
the jury sentenced him to death as a result

of racial prejudice and that the Commons.»

wealth’s attorney used improper argument.
For reasons stated in the Barker appeal we
reject these contentiuns.

V. Sentence Review—Both Cases.

Pursuant to Code § 17-110.1, we are re-
quired to consider and determine whether
the death sentences in these cases were
imposed under the influence of passion,
prejudice, or other arbitrary factors. We
have rejected in each appeal Watkins’s con-

‘teritions.that there were failures to consid-

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Founded 1 848. ‘

Agony won't die ler victims’ fon lies...

By JEFF BUCHANAN
Staff Writer

As the time approaches for
Johnny Watkins Jr. to pay for his
crimes, the families of his victims
say they will continue paying the
rest of their lives.

Watkins, 32, is scheduled to
die in the electric chair tonight
for the 1983 murders of Betty
Jean Barker, then 22, and Carl
Douglas Buchanan, then 41, dur-
ing two separate convenience
store robberies.

The survivors of both Barker
and Buchanan said during re-
cent interviews that the pain has

BUCHANAN

BARKER

subsided some in the more than
10*years since they lost their
loved ones but the grief process
continues every day.

Louise Buchanan, Carl Bu-
chanan’s mother, described the
feeling of finding out about her
son’s murder as “... just horror,
absolute horror.”

“The pain has faded a little bit
but it’s still there,” Mrs. Buchan-
an said. “It’s something that you
can never get over, you just learn
to deal with it.”

Neither Barker nor Buchanan
was scheduled to be working on
the days they were killed, Nov.
14, 1983, and Nov. 22, 1983, re-

spectively.
See VICTIMS, Page 7A

.J‘m saien condemned man dedares.

By JEFF BUCHANAN
Staff Writer
Speaking on a
telephone down
a hallway from
the electric
chair where he
is scheduled to
be executed late
tonight, Johnny
Watkins Jr. said
that he wanted
people to know
that he’s
human.

WATKINS

Watkins, 32, was sentenced to
death for the 1983 murders of

two convenience store clerks, 22-
year-old Betty Jean Barker and

41-year-old Carl Buchanan, dur- °
ing two separate robberies only *

eight days apart.
In a telephone interview from
the Greensville Correctional

Center, Watkins said he hoped «
*-handle the thought of an execu-

people would realize “... I’m not
the terrible thing I'm ‘probably
portrayed as being.”

Watkins refused to discuss the
murders, other than to say that
he would not admit guilt, but
talked about capital punish-

ment, his childhood, lack of op- -
patent: in = black commu-

nity and his drug abuse.
Most people find it easy to

think of death row inmates, and

criminals in general, as some-
what less than human, Watkins -
theorized, because it makes exe-
cutions more palatable. a

“I think it’s easier for people to

tion if they just think of the per-
son as a criminal, not a person,”

. Watkins said. “I could only wish

that people knew me and the

‘humps and bumps that I have
et through.”

‘See ee TA


Pilot Online - NEWS

In 1987, he and another death row inmate were caught trying to cut through metal window
screens.

Tuggle says he will be cremated and his ashes flown to England. He says he has claustrophobia,
so he wants his ashes scattered in a ‘peaceful . .. wooded-type area."

He has already bought the $50 plane ticket and entrusted his remains to friends he met through
groups that oppose the death penalty.

‘Dying doesn't bother me," Tuggle said last week in a telephone call from Mecklenburg
Correctional Center in Boydton. ‘‘I have no fear of death. My religious beliefs are strong enough
where they remove my fear."

RETURN TO CURRENT NEWS OR PAST NEWS


Pilot Online - NEWS

Page 2

Havens' body was found four days later not far from where Brickey died. Havens had been shot
once in the chest.

A state medical examiner testified that an autopsy showed she had been raped and sodomized.
She also had a bite mark on her body, which a forensic dentist matched to Tuggle's teeth.

Havens apparently had no inkling she was in danger. A state trooper stopped the car near Seven
Mile Ford because it was traveling slowly and weaving but said Tuggle did not appear
intoxicated. The trooper recalled nodding at the woman and believed she nodded back.

Tuggle was charged with holding up a taxi driver in Danville and stealing the cab shortly after
Havens was missing but was not prosecuted for those crimes because he had been sentenced to
death. The day Havens' body was found, Tuggle held up a Chilhowie service station and was
later pulled over in Pulaski and asked about it.

~ Yes, I robbed it,” he told the trooper. ‘‘The money's in my pocket, and the gun's in the trunk."
Ballistics tests matched the gun with the .25-caliber bullet that killed Havens.

The rape charge elevated the case to capital murder. A Central State Hospital psychiatrist

testified that Tuggle alternated between passive and aggressive behavior, with a high probability
he would kill again.

A jury convicted Tuggle and recommended death.

His appeal argues that the state should have provided a psychiatrist for the indigent defendant. It
asks whether in the second case there was sufficient evidence of rape. It has gone twice to the
U.S. Supreme Court and has always ended up going back to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, which has consistently ruled against Tuggle.

Tuggle became the veritable poster boy for initiatives by Gov. George F. Allen and Attorney
General James S. Gilmore III to end parole. Gilmore said that if there had been no parole,
Tuggle could not have committed the second murder.

He left the state without permission the first time he was freed after being laid off from a job. He
was arrested in Baltimore on a fugitive warrant and went back to prison for five months for
violating parole.

He was on parole a second time when Havens was murdered.

In 1984, Tuggle escaped with five other death row inmates by posing as guards disposing of
what turned out to be a fake bomb. He was recaptured nine days later in Vermont.

I'm Lem, and I'm wanted in Virginia," he told police.

It was the largest death row escape in U.S. history. The other five prisoners, also recaptured,
have since been executed.

Tuggle, now 44, failed in two other escape attempts. In 1985, he and three others tried to bluff
their way out with a fake pistol and match-stick ‘‘ bomb."

Ae 5

a

Pilot Online - NEWS Page 2

time of year, because of the heinous crime that was inflicted on them," the governor said.

Tuggle said in a recent telephone interview that he hadn't thought much about his execution.

_ I've been on the row for 13 years. I've just gotten used to it. You face death every day and you
finally just get immune to it," he said.

In September 1995, Tuggle came within nine hours of execution before the Supreme Court
granted a stay.

On May 31, 1984, Tuggle and five other inmates staged the largest death row breakout in U.S.
history. Using stolen guard uniforms and homemade knives, they took 13 prison employees
hostage and bluffed their way out of death row at Mecklenburg Correctional Center in a prison
van. None of the employees was injured.

All of the inmates were caught within three weeks, and five have since been executed.
Tuggle was arrested in Vermont about a week after the breakout.

When he was caught, Tuggle was driving a pickup truck he stole in North Carolina. He lived

several days at a national forest campground in southern Vermont and was covered with bug
bites.

In 1991, Tuggle volunteered to fight on the front lines in the Persian Gulf War. but his request
was turned down.

In the interview, Tuggle said he had thought a lot about his life while on death row. ‘'I find

myself wishing I could go back and change things. I find myself thinking if only I knew then
what I know now."

RETURN TO CURRENT NEWS OR PAST NEWS


Pilot Online - NEWS

Page |

@p PILCT ONLINE

NEWS -Dec. 12,199

Condemned killer Tuggle faces fourth date
with death tonight

BY PAUL DELLINGER, Landmark News Service

Copyright 1996, Landmark Communications Inc.

MARION -- It has been 12 years since Lem Davis Tuggle Jr. was sentenced to be executed for
the 1983 murder of a Smyth County woman. On Thursday, it appears, he will keep that
appointment.

It is Tuggle's fourth date with death. Three times before, he has received a stay of execution
while his appeals were argued.

Relatives of Tuggle's victims -- Jessie Geneva Havens, 52, shot to death in 1983. and Shirley
Mullins Brickey, 17, choked to death in 1971 -- say the process has worn them out.

Tuggle was on parole from his sentence in the Brickey case when he killed Havens.
A family member said one of Havens’ sons might have something to say after the execution.

Although Tuggle's appeals seem to be exhausted, the family is still concerned about another
delay.

~ We've had 25 years to think about it," said Wanda Worley, a sister of the first victim. ° This has
been a real struggle for my family. We just want to put it to rest."

~ You can't be glad when anybody's killed, I guess," said Danny Lowe, a Smyth County lawyer
who prosecuted Tuggle for the Havens murder. ‘At the same time, it's the law and it's got to be
done. With him, I think justice will be served."

Robert Asbury, the commonwealth's attorney before Lowe, prosecuted Tuggle in the Brickey
murder. Asbury was prophetic in 1972 when he urged the jury to recommend life: °’ The penalty
you impose should be to protect society from Lem Davis Tuggle Jr. He cannot be trusted."

That jury sentenced Tuggle to 20 years for second-degree murder. Tuggle claimed in a statement
read during the trial that he blacked out after consuming alcohol and drugs after he took Brickey
to a deserted house near Seven Mile Ford. When he woke up, he said, she was dead.

Tuggle then stole a car and sold some of the items in it for money to buy a bus ticket to
Baltimore, where he was arrested.

Tuggle had taken Brickey to the house after an American Legion dance. Twelve years later, on
May 28, 1983, he met Havens at another of those dances and, according to testimony from a
woman at their table, offered to drive her home after the dance, about | a.m.

Subject: Another Va. execution
VIRGINIA EXECUTES KILLER LEM TUGGLE

JARRATT, Va. (Reuter) - Lem Davis Tuggle, a two-time killer and the last
surviving member of the largest death row escape in U.S. history, was
put to death by injection at 9:12 p.m. EST Thursday, officials said.
Tuggle, 44, was one of six condemned inmates who grabbed 13 hostages

and bluffed their way out of the Mecklenburg Correctional Center in
Boydton, Va., with a fake bomb May 31, 1984.

Tuggle's last statement was "Merry Christmas."

The escapees, who had committed more than a score of murders among
them, were all recaptured within three weeks. Tuggle was headed for
Canada when he was caught at a roadblock in Vermont June 8, 1984.

The other five have since been executed in Virginia's electric chair.
State law was changed Jan. 1, 1995, giving inmates the option of
electrocution or lethal injection.

Tuggle was sentenced to die for the 1983 rape and murder of Jessie
Havens, 52, in Smyth County, Va., after he met her at a dance at an
American Legion Hall. He had been paroled just four months earlier for
the 1971 strangulation of 17-year-old Shirly Brickey.

In turning down his clemancy petition, Virginia Gov. George Allen
said: "There is no question whatsoever as to Tuggle's guilt."

Copyright Reuter, Dec. 12, 1996

VIRGINIA MAN EXECUTED IN WOMAN'S SLAYING

JARRATT, Va. (AP) -- A man with a "Born to Die" tattoo on his arm

was executed by injection for raping, sodomizing and fatally shooting
a woman he met at at dance. Lem Tuggle, 44, was put to death Thursday
night for the 1983 murder of Jessie Geneva Havens. His last words
were "Merry Christmas," a prison official said.

Tuggle, a 5-foot-4, 350-pound man, was one of six death-row inmates
who broke out of Mecklenburg Correctional Center in May 1984. They

used homemade knives and stolen guard uniforms to take 13 prison
workers hostage and bluff their way out. All were caught within 3
weeks; the other 5 have since been executed.

Tuggle shot Ms. Havens, 52, in the chest four months after he was
paroled from a 20-year sentence for murdering a 17-year-old girl in
1971. He had served about half of the sentence. Earlier Thursday,
Governor George Allen rejected clemency, saying "there is no
question whatsoever as to Tuggle's guilt." Last week the U.S.
Supreme Court denied the last of many appeals Tuggle had filed.

(c) Associated Press, Dec. 13, 1996

Us. Supreme Court Reprieves
Virginia Death Row Fscapee

4-2-2748
By Peter Baker

Washington Post Staff Writer

RICHMOND, Sept. 21—Lem
Davis Tuggle Jr., the last survivor
of the biggest death row escape in
American history, escaped again
today when the U.S. Supreme
Court issued a temporary re-

prieve just hours before he was’

scheduled to die by lethal injec-
tion.

In a one-paragraph order, the

"¢ourt delayed the execution to
give itself more time to consider
whether Tuggle deserves to be
resentenced because he was not

‘allowed to present psychiatric tes-
timony to the jury that deter-
miined his fate 11 years ago.

The ruling put a quick halt to a

‘death chamber, where nine exe-
cutions had been scheduled in the
next three months, an unprece-
dented pace averaging one every
10 days.
_-’The next execution is slated for
Wednesday, and it’s uncertain
‘whether a backlog of death row
appeals at the high court could re-
sult in more last-minute postpone-
ments.

lis-The accelerated calendar in
Virginia stems in part from a new
state law intended to speed up ap-
peals, just as other states are do-
ing.

“But with so many more execu-

f ¢

ystepped-up timetable at Virginia’s .

tions scheduled nationwide—so
far, 41 condemned inmates have
been put to death in the United
States in 1995, more than in any
year since capital punishment was
restored in 1976—the justices
have even more final pleas to con-
sider.

Tuggle’s attorneys took heart
from today’s ruling. “You can’t
get your hopes up on this,” said
Timothy M. Kaine. “You've got to
expect the worst but hope for the
best. Getting a stay is certainly
better than not. ... It does indi-
cate that at least five of the justic-
es feel that the issues are signifi-
cant.”

Tuggle has never come so close ©

to execution, and Kaine said he
was relieved by the court’s inter-

vention. “It’s a weight lifted off his

‘shoulders, a pretty big weight,”

Kaine said.

Virginia Attorney General
James S. Gilmore III’s office had
no comment.

Tuggle, 43, a two-time rapist-

killer and easily the most infamous

‘among the 58 men awaiting death
‘in Virginia, was among six con-

demned murderers who overcame

-. their guards at Mecklenburg Cor-
~ rectional Center in 1984 and then

donned their uniforms. After he and
the other men bluffed their way

past the outer gates, Tuggle even-
tually fled north.

He was recaptured a week later

LEM DAVIS TUGGLE JR.
.. . psychiatric testimony barred

in Vermont, where he had held up a

gift shop.
Tuggle was sentenced to die for

‘the rape and murder of a woman he

met at a dance in 1983, just three
months after he had been paroled
from prison for raping and murder-
ing another woman in 1971.

Kaine has argued that Tuggle’s
death sentence was unconstitutional
because the court refused to allow
him to bring in his own psychiatrist
to rebut a prosecution witness who
testified that he would be a future’
threat to society, a necessary ele-
ment to impose capital punishment.

Kaine also said that the jury se-
lection was tainted and that the evi-
dence of rape was inconclusive.

AUS. district court agreed, but
the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-
peals overturned the decision, rul-
ing that the issues raised were not
enough to throw out the sentence. _


High Court
sends back
case against
Virginia killer

Justices say courts
misinterpreted rulings
used to uphold death
penalty for Tugele.

By Laura LaFay
STAFF WRITER

In a rare move Monday, the U.S.
Supreme Court sent back the case
of Virginia death row inmate Lem
Davis Tuggle, saying that both the
4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
and the state Supreme Court misin-
terpreted the ruling on which they
based their decisions to’ uphold
Tuggle’s death sentence.

my 62 tC“‘It’s’:«srare for

them to issue a
ruling like this on
the merits (of the
case) without any
argument,” said
Tuggle’s lawyer,
Timothy Kaine of

aa Richmond.
Lem Davis “Usually when
Tuggle will a case goes to the

Supreme Court,
one side says
there was a con-
: stitutional viola-
4th U.S. Circuit tion and one side
Court of says there isn’t.
Appeals. But here, it was

just clear from
| the record that
Court to take up there was a con-
crack cocaine _—Stitutional = viola-

. tion of due
sentencing/A2 process.”

remain on death
row pending a
decision in the

Court justices sent the case back to >
the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of '
Appeals. Tuggle will remain on 3
death row until the judges decide +
whether the error in his case is
cause for a new sentencing hear-
ing.

Tuggle, 43, got a stay of execu-
tion on Sept. 21, hours before he
was scheduled to die by lethal
injection. The high court’s decision
Monday could affect a number of
other Virginia death-penalty cases,
Richmond capital defense attorney
Gerald T. Zerkin said Monday.

“We've been litigating the day-
lights out of this issue (in Virginia),
and we’ve been losing case after

Please see Tuggle, Page A10

The Supreme '

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1995 M

THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT


Tuggle: High court sends back
case against a Va. rapist-killer

Continued from Page Al

case,” Zerkin said. “This may have
a substantial effect on a number of
cases.”

It is not yet clear which cases
may be affected, Zerkin said.

Monday’s decision marks the sec-
ond time the U.S. Supreme Court
has intervened on Tuggle’s behalf.
The first time, in 1985, the justices
vacated the Virginia Supreme
Court’s judgment to uphold Tug-
gle’s death sentence.

In that instance, the court inter-
vened because the Smyth County
judge who presided over Tuggle’s
case had allowed the jury to hear
testimony that Tuggle was a future
danger to society but did not let
Tuggle rebut the testimony with his
psychiatrist.

To impose a death sentence in
Virginia, a jury must find at least
one of two aggravating factors: that
the defendant is a future danger to
society or that the crime was espe-
cially vile. In Tuggle’s case, it found
both and sentenced him to death.

The Virginia Supreme Court up-
held that sentence. But because the
future dangerousness finding was
based on evidence presented in vio-
lation of the law, the Supreme
Court sent the case to state’s high
court.

The Virginia justices reaffirmed
Tuggle’s death sentence because,
they said, the jury had also found
his crime — the rape and murder of
a 52-year-old Marion woman — to
be vile. They based their decision
on Zant v. Georgia, a case in which
a death sentence was upheld under
similar circumstances. On Monday,
however, the Supreme Court. jus-
tices made clear that both courts
had misunderstood their ruling in
the Georgia case.

“Although our holding in Zant
supports the conclusion that the in-

The full text of the
Supreme Court's
ruling is available
through the News
page of Pilot Online at
http://www.infi.net/pilot/ See Page A2.

validation of one aggravator does
not necessarily require that a death
sentence be set aside, that holding
does not support the quite different
proposition that the existence of a
valid aggravator always excuses a
constitutional error,” the justices
wrote in a unanimous opinion.

Tuggle’s case has been in post-
conviction litigation for 10 years.
Stephen B. Bright, a death penalty
expert at the Southern Center for
Human Rights in Atlanta, blamed
the decade-long battle on the noto-
riously rigid Virginia Supreme
Court.

“This is what happens when a
state Supreme Court, by taking a
hard-line stance, fails to reverse a
case and have a new sentencing
when there has been a constitution-
al error,” Bright said.

“Tt results in a lot of unnecessary
delay. People so often say that these
cases are delayed because of legal
maneuvering by the condemned.
But in this case, the last 10 years is
completely attributable to the state
Supreme Court.”

Tuggle was sentenced to death in |
January 1984. On May 31, 1984, he |
became one of six death-row in-
mates who escaped from the Meck-
lenburg Correctional Center. All
were recaptured within a month.

During the Persian Gulf War in
1991, Tuggle wrote letters to then
Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and Presi-
dent George Bush volunteering to
lead the nation’s death-row inmates
into Iraq to fight Saddam Hussein.
The inmates “could be sent on risk
missions and, if killed, it would not
matter,” Tuggle said.

His offer was declined.

ee


by SAM MARTIN

Special Investigator for
OFFICIAL DETECTIVE STORIES

ENAL authorities call it the bigg-
Pe est death row escape in American

history. The breakout occurred
on May 31, 1984 at-the Mecklenberg
Correctional Center in Boydton, Virgi-
nia. Six dangerous killers, all awaiting
execution, pulled off an escape that was
six months in the planning.

The escapees were Lem Davis Tug-
gle, Derrick Lynn Peterson, Willie
Leroy Jones, Earl Clanton Jr., James
Dyral Briley and Linwood Earl Briley.
The last two named are brothers.

Apparently, the most difficult phase
of the breakout was waiting for the op-
portune moment. According to officials,
the moment came when six guards were
overpowered and stripped of their un-
iforms. The convicts donned the un-
iforms, then pretended to be removing a
bomb from the institution.

One of the escapees, Lem Tuggle,
said later: *‘It worked good. The prison
was supposed to be one the most secure
in the United States, but they opened. the
gates and let us out. | could probably
write a book 2n4 sell it.”’

Track dog ‘Timber’ has nose to the
ground as North Carolina police offi-
cers begin all-out hunt for fugitives

The killers drove away from the Cen-
ter with their ‘‘bomb,’’ which was
actually a television set.

Once outside the walls, the men split
up. Two of the fugitives, Peterson and
Clanton, were captured within 24 hours
in North Carolina. Willie Leroy Jones
and Lem Tuggle made it as far as the
Vermont-Canada border. They had an
eight-day taste of freedom before they
were taken. Through tipsters, police
learned that the two were in the area, but
did not know if they had crossed the
border into Canada. Tactical Squad
officers of the Quebec provincial police
(similar to our SWAT teams), conducted
a wide search for the men. Roadblocks
were set up and freight trains were sear-
ched

Lem Tuggle made his mistake when
he robbed a gift shop in Woodford, Ver-
mont. Police converged on the area and
caught him hours later. He told police

The Deat

h Row breakout took place In
Virginia, but two of the escapees were
captured in North Carolina, where these
armed lawmen are shown during manhunt

that his aim was to get to Canada, but he
needed money. *‘I was trying to get it
some other way, without robbing some-
one, hopefully by working.** He said he
robbed the gift shop out of desperation.

Willie Leroy Jones simply surren-
dered to police in Jay, Vermont. He said
it took him and Tuggle four days to go
from Virginia to Vermont. He was close-
mouthed about how he existed for eight
days on his own.

Although Tuggle was more talkative,
he did not reveal the name of the master-
mind behind the escape. He was also
mum on the subject of where the Briley
brothers were.

The manhunt for the Brileys included
four states and Canada. FBI agents
checked into their backgrounds for
clues. Linwood Briley was scheduled to

Waser

rick Peterson, Willie Jones, Linwood Briley, James Briley and Ear! Clanton Jr.
Four were soon captured, but the Briley brothers stayed at large for three weeks

When six convicts

crashed out of |
prison, two

countries were
placed on alert.
Here’s how they

were nabbed and
brought back to
their death cells

die on August 17, 1984 for the murder of
a disk jockey in September 1979. He also
received seven life sentences for 11
murders and robberies.

His brother James was given the death
sentence for the robbery and murder of
Judy Barton, 23, and her five-year-old
son, Harvey. At the time of the slayings,
Judy was pregnant

The FBI learned that the Brileys had
relatives in Philadelphia, so it was a good
bet that they had gone to the City of
Brotherly Love for help.

Three weeks after the big breakout, 20
agents staked out a house in Phi-
ladelphia. Their interest actually was a
vacan: automobile’ garage near the

house, for it was here that it was likely
the fugitives were being harbored by
a relative. The agents were right. The
Brileys were ordered to come out. They
did so. surrendering without incident
The relative was charged with harboring
fugitives from justice.

FBI spokesman John Hogan said later
that the brothers admitted their identt-
ies, and had the appropriate marks and
scars, so that there was no question about
who they were

On October 12, 1984, Linwood
Briley was put to death in Virginia's
electric chair. Briley, shaking but oth-
erwise calm, proclaimed his innocence
to the very end kk

Official Detective 43

4
j

.

)

1

j

sped away.
rning, May

yrning, the
Havens, a
ocal plant,
ome home
slept in —
sosl€.
ng. At 9:30
another
called €he
Jepartment
\issing.
rmed of the
the case to
nney and
Blevins.
if fling case

la for the

trailer on
a complete
i the area
that could

> in order.

ire, had not

ike certain,
spread, the
et. In one

le bed had

5s among
i that case,
to indicate

! later been
print on the
irdered girl

<a

woman’s clothes, and there was no
evidence of any kind of struggle inside
or outside of the neat trailer.

Both investigators knew it was not
unknown for a person to be done away
with by members of his own family
who then call them in missing. At this
point everyone was suspect.

Kenney and Blevins interviewed
members of the family watching for
tell-tale signs of guilt. Any change of
color, a shifting of the eyes in an
uneasy manner, any body language
that to experienced lawmen would
indicate guilty knowledge, was
watched for.

Kenney and Blevins took down the
pertinent information: Jessie’s full
name, her correct age, her general
description, the clothes she was
wearing when last seen, and where she
had intended to go and with whom.

SIUUDAVAVEVAVUVUEOEOEOEOUONOVONONOUOTOTOUOTOL

Lem Tuggle Jr., described as a
‘man who has no remorse, no
feelings, no conscience.’

Then they reassured the family they
would get back with them as soon as
they found out anything.

Jessie’s destination had been a dance
hall, officers Kenney and Blevins
found out. It was a local hall fre-
quented by area residents as a nice

Police cars stand at the spot
where woman was thrown into
the dense roadside brush.

place to go. It was a place much used
for this purpose, to see friends, to have
a drink or two and a break in the work
week. She had gone there with two
women friends. The investigators
decided to see if they could shed any
light on the mystery.

They took off in their vehicle
speeding down the roads lined with
mountain laurel. It was a typical day
in May. Although the two men said
nothing, each in his heart felt that this
was not just a simple case of a woman
spending the night at some friend’s
house.

Both of the women interviewed
agreed the three friends had gone to

(continued on next page)

UVNQUAUOQUQUAQUOUENNGUOGUQUOONONOUEQNOUEOOOUOQEGUOONOUOOEOUEONOLEE
Sleepy Smyth County hadn't delivered a
death penalty sentence since the Civil
War. Then along came Lem and all of a

TTT
STU

he missing | |
| sudden the whole county was clamoring
avi for someone to throw the switch.

SHUNTNNAUIUUQUOQNONUQUEONONONUOUNQUQUNQUOQUQUEQNQUONEOQUGUEQNOQEGUOGNOQUONODNOUOONOQEOUOONOUGGNEONOONOOOOUE

r
7


oo

Con tem.

Toced et

«

by BENISON MURRAY

he pale Oldsmobile

weaved across the

dividing line of the road,
then straightened as _ it
passed Virginia State Troo-
per G.N. “‘Snuffy’’ Smith.
The trooper, alerted to a
possible DWI, gunned his
vehicle forward and a second
later pulled the offending
driver to the side of the road.
If the man was drunk, Smith
had no intention of allowing
him to continue and maybe
kill himself and his female
passenger.

Once pulled over, however, the man
seemed coherent and answered
questions rationally. The woman next
to him seemed in no trouble. She
nodded in a friendly manner to Smith
as he questioned the driver.

With no obvious law broken there
was little the lawman could do but
allow the couple to continue their
journey on Route 643. He could not
have known he had just waved on a
two-time killer. . . soon to become
three.

As the trooper returned in his
vehicle to Highway 81 he passed the
Olds one mile down the road. It was
an area that had figured in the
infamous murder of a young girl in
1972, a murder in which the suspect
had been caught and convicted. The
house where the 17-year-old girl’s
mutilated body had been found was
torn down now, but the killing was still

~¢ VA /alf2 [1°F b

THE SEX KILLER
WHO ALWAYS
STRUCK TWICE

a living memory for many locals.

If the trooper had looked behind
him, he would have seen the car he
had just stopped swerve onto a dirt
road, a mile from the scene of the
earlier murder. There it bounced over
clay ruts until it came to rest by an
overgrown bank some ten to fifteen
feet high.

Here the woman was hauled from
the vehicle in a kind of macabre dance
with her assailant who forced her onto
the ground. If she screamed there was
no one to hear her. The isolated area
was wooded and free of houses. After
an interval punctuated by her cries and
the breathless sounds of struggle, there
came the sharp report of a gun. Then
all was still once again.

The killer took a moment to arrange
his clothes, then with some effort lifted
and tossed the inert body of his victim
over and down the bank. He crawled

CRIME SCENE INVESTIGAT
ma @ mux
EVIDENCE COLLECTION

back into his vehicle and sped away.
It was one a.m., Sunday morning, May
29, 1983.

At 9 a.m. that same morning, the
family of Jessie Geneva Havens, a
52-year-old employe of a local plant,
was worried. She had not come home
and her bed had not been slept in —
impossible behavior for Jessie.

Something had to be wrong. At 9:30
a.m. unable to endure another
moment waiting, a relative called the
Smyth County Sheriff’s Department
and reported the woman missing.

Sheriff J.L. Archer, informed of the
initial complaint, assigned the case to
Chief Investigator Joe Kenney and
Chief Deputy William F. Blevins.
These men would work a baffling case
from start to finish together.

First stop on the agenda for the
lawmen was Jessie Havens’ trailer on
Bear Creek Road. There, a complete
search of the trailer and the area
around it revealed nothing that could
be construed as suspicious.

The place seemed to be in order.
The woman’s bed, to be sure, had not
been slept in, but just,to make certain,
Kenney yanked back the spread, the
blanket and the top sheet. In one
infamous incident, a made bed had
produced some red faces among
lawmen in another state. In that case,
a made bed which seemed to indicate
everything was all right had later been
found to have a bloody imprint on the
bottom sheet where the murdered girl

_ was slain.

But this bed was immaculate. The
closet seemed to hold all the missing

Suspect eluded police dragnet
in this sedan, which he quick-
sold to soldier in Columbia.

woman’s clot

evidence of an
or outside of |
Both invest
unknown for a
with By mem!
who then call
point everyon
Kenney ai
members o! |
tell-tale signs
color, a shil
uneasy mani
that to expe:
indicate gu
watched for.
Kenney and
pertinent in!

SUC

SSUUANUUUUULOUEUEEULELEUUUULI

aS

the hall to pass a convivial evening.

They told the lawmen they had
secured a table in the hall.and were
having a good time. During the
evening a man who introduced himself
as David Tuggle had joined them. He
had been friendly, bought drinks for
everyone and had danced with each
of the women. This, they told Kenney
and Blevins, had gone on from 9:30
p.m. until about midnight.

‘*And what then?’’ asked the
officers.

“*Jessie had to go home,”’ they were
told, ‘‘because a relative of hers was
there all alone. David Tuggle offered
to take her there.’’

Had she seen her friend Jessie get
in the car with this David?

‘‘Well, no. We only saw Jessie
standing by the car in the parking lot
of the hall.’’

Both women gave a clear physical
description of the friendly David. He
was heavyset, wore thick side-burns,
had a skimpy moustache, and thinning
hair.

Elated, the two investigators
hurried back to the Sheriff’s Depart-
ment intent on putting together a
photo lineup.

Hopefully they searched the files.
If the guy had a past record they would
find it. But there was no David Tuggle.
There was, however, a Lem David
Tuggle — and he fit the description
given by the two women! Quickly,
Kenney and Blevins put together a
photo lineup and tore back out to their
female witnesses.

Both women identified the picture
8

of Lem David Tuggle as the man who
had offered their friend a ride. This
was gratifying to the two lawmen but
they knew a simple eyeballing was not
enough for their. purposes. There
would have to be hard evidence, they
would have to locate the suspect and
tie him into the evidence — and at this
point they didn’t even have a body.

Worse, they really didn’t know the
situation. Perhaps there was no body.
Maybe Jessie had gone with Tuggle,
even though she had not been seen in
the car with him. Perhaps her intention
had changed and in the parking lot she
had gone with someone else. Or maybe
she had gone with Tuggle and he had
let her out at her trailer only for the
woman, to fall prey to some other
person lurking there.

The thing that scared the hell out
of both cops was Tuggle’s past
record. The guy was a convicted
murderer — a real bad-ass.

Tuggle had served half of a twenty-
year sentence for the rape-murder of
a young girl from Marion. The
mutilated body of the 17-year-old had
been found strangled to death in an
abandoned house near Seven Mile
Ford. Tuggle’s conviction had come
after a hurried flight to Baltimore,
Maryland, with money from a tape
deck from a car he had stolen. Later
he ‘had escaped from the Old Smyth
County, Jail by holding a spoon in the
jailer’s back, telling him it was a gun.
Recaptured, he escaped’ again, using
a knife from the kitchen. The man had
been paroled, then disappeared,
thereby breaking parole. ‘Captured for

Authorities escort suspected

_ killer to courtroom for start of

murder trial. He’d been
through the routine before.

a third time, he had tasted freedom
only 104 days before the disappearance
of Jessie Havens.

Looking at this past record, neither
Kenney nor Blevins could believe Tuggle
was ever a happy bridegroom. Nine
out of ten chances they had a homicide
on their hands. The trick would be to
find the body and the suspect, along
with the evidence to convince the
Commonwealth Attorney’s Office to
prosecute.

All that day and into the night
Kenney and Blevins kept on the run
following leads, trying to find their
suspect. He was proving a hard man
to run down.

His unhappy relatives knew nothing.
They insisted that Tuggle had ‘‘been
raised in the church’’ and had always
had plenty to eat and wear. They
didn’t know why he did the things he
allegedly did. And now they didn’t
know where he was.

Tuggle’s employer was equally
mystified. Uneasily, he explained he
had hired and kept Tuggle because ‘‘he
was hard worker.’’ He knew he’d been
in some kind of trouble, but he didn’t
know the details. Tuggle had never
talked about his crimes or about
women.

‘‘T trusted him with everything I
had,’’ the baffled man said. ‘‘He was
dependable and had keys to things. I
even let him use my truck.”’

The two lawmen, feeling the pres-
sure, worked without letup all night,
getting a scant three hours sleep before
they went back to the department.

There, they found an incident report
by Trooper G.N. Smith. The report
stated Smith stopped the Tuggle
vehicle at 1 a.m. near Seven Mile Ford
and there had begn a woman passenger
inside.

Joe Kenney and Investigator R.L.
“‘Bunk’”’ Allison burned rubber getting
out to Seven Mile.Ford to make a
search of the area. What if Jessie
Havens had been taken to the remote
area and raped? There was a slim
chance she could still be alive. Many
people had been left for dead and lived
to confound their would-be killers.

Kenney and Allison concentrated on
the river area, covering all secondary
roads, even meandering dirt roads that
led past fifteen foot high banks of
vegetation impossible to see through,
and finally dead-ended in the middle
of nowhere.

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TURNER, Robert, black, hanged at Abingdon, Washington Co,, Vae, on March 2h, 1905.

"(Special to the TIMES-DISPATCH.) Abingdon, Va., March 2he = Robert Turner, colored,
was hanged here at 9:25 o'clock this morning, and twenty minutes later was pronounced
dead by Dr. Malcoitm Campbell, His neck was broken by the fall, which was five feet,
His death was accompanied by great struggles. The execution went through without any
hitch, the trap being sprung by Deputy Sheriff N. Fleenor, Turner, since his confine-~
ment in jail, had professed religion, and was baptized some days ago and given the
communion by Reve Re Ee Boykin of the Episcopal Church, who had, at the prisoner's
request, be his constant spiritual adviser. The negro displayed great courage, and
walked with steady step and unmoved features to the scaffold, and met death without

a tremor, saying that he was prepared to die, This is the first hanging that Washing~
ton County has had in over forty years, The crime for which Turner was executed today
was committed on the 3rd of last July, when, in a party intoxicated condition, he
went to the home of Emma Johnson, a colored woman, where Lou Jefferson, another
colored woman, was visiting, and seemingly without the slightest provocation shot

her in the abdomen, producing wounds from which she died the following day in terrible
agony e

TIMES-DISPATCH, Richmond, Virginia, March 25, 1905 (5/he)

(Special to the TIMES-DISPATCH.) Abingdon, Vae, Jane 26. = Robert Turner, colored,
who was convicted of the murder of the colored woman, Lou Jefferson, at the December
term of the Circuit Court, was sentenced by Judge Hutton yesterday to hang March lOth,
When the judge asked him just before sentence was passed if he had anything to say, he
replied yes, and made this brief statement: 'I did not know what I was doing, and

the witnesses against me swore falsely.' The judge replied that it was not his duty
to pass upon the guilt or innocence, but that it was his duty to pass the sentence

of death..." TIMES-DISPATCH, Rychmond, Vae, Manuary 27, 1905 (5=2.)

TURNER, James, hanged at Williamsburg, Va., on May 23, 1755

CLERKS OFFICE

2 Circuit Guurt of Sussex County
SUSSEX, VIRGINIA 23884
(804) 246-S5il

SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT

| LIGON L.JONES, Juod0GE GARY M.WILLIAMS, CLERK
‘

HOPEWELL, VIRGINIA 23860 CAROLYN P. MATTHEWS, Depury CierRK

ROBERT G. O'HARA, JR, JUDGE
EMPORIA, VIRGINIA 23847

November 16, 1981

Mr. Watt Espy

c/o Law Library

P. 0. Box 6205
University, Alabama 35486

Dear Watty:

Thank you for the additional information on John Turner. We
| knew from our records that he was examined by the County Court on
- March 10, 1755, for the murder of James Wallis of Sussex County,
and that his case was referred to the General Court in Williamsburg,
but we had no evidence, as has been the case with all white felons
before 1865, that he was in fact executed for his crime. Besides the
order pertaining to his "preliminary hearing" in the County Court
found in the Order Book for the Court of Oyer & Terminer for Sussex
‘ County, 1754-1801, we have only the mittimus for his arrest on March
4, 1755, signed by magistrate Howell Briggs, and the recognizance

bond for the King's witnesses: John Sammon, Mary Clanton, David

Clanton and Thomas Wallis. (The order from the session of March LO,
i 1755, indicates that John Sammon and David Clanton were to testify
again in Williamsburg at the General Court.) The facts of the case
i remain a mystery, although it appears that John Turner was no stranger
to the Wallis family and that he was even a godfather of Jesse Wallis,
son of Thomas and Sarah Wallis,in 1743. I presume that this John Turner
is the same John Turner who, with wife Rebecca, were parents of a son,
Elias Turner, born in 1752, and daughters, Winny and Sarah, born 1751
and 1754, respectively, according to the Albemarle Parish (Sussex Co.)
Register, 1739-1778. After John's hanging, these members of his family
disappear from our records. As for the victim's family, he was survived
by a wife, Mary, who subsequently married one George Anderton, and three
daughters: Sarah (who became Mrs. James Inman), Priscilla, and Rebeckah
(who became Mrs. William Cross). Unfortunately, these genealogical
‘notes are the best I can give you, as no depositions survive in the
case of The King vs. John Turner.

This gives me-an opportunity to commend you for your very outstand-
ing article in the October issue of Crime & Delinquency. I really appre-

ciate your sending me a copy, which I read with great interest. I have
learned a great deal dout our past here in Sussex County thanks to your
prompting. I know that the research you have undertaken is most worth-
while.

Sincerely, Ve
‘ f’


uggle kidnapped
nt and forced him
isboro, North Car-
from Danville.

gle robbed the cab

11m out of his own
drove the vehicle
ounty area, where
that, Tuggle stole
a former employ-
ick he’d been dri-
rhe truck owner
iuggle had been a

“IT trusted him
id.” he said. “He

Kenney tracked
smobile. The car
entiary value, ex-
iggle’s .25 had
and prosecutors
ther physical evi-
ientists matched
rom Havens with

1m Tuggle. And
“2 move, lab spe-

zgle’s teeth prints
n’s right breast.
1 a warrant to
om the defen-

rial in January,
sunty courthouse,
ructurégin down-
Lowe, then com-

icy for Smyth

vicuons of first-
irst-degree rape,

h penalty. “(Tug-

irs agO On mur-

{ him guilty of

ind now he’s back
ther horrible of-

circumstances,”

s closing argu-

ere in less time
(enced to ought

)u as to what
sn t get the death
ling that I want
(it be known so
‘rstanding as to
it L can only say
ve him any type
nits him to get
this again, and
sath 1s going to

sibility that he’
here are enough
hat go undetect-

. unconvicted

and can keep doing it until they final-
ly get caught. Sometimes they never
catch them at all. We caught one. We’ve
got one. We’ve got him in here to where
we can do something with him... Let’s
don’t miss an opportunity.”

Jurors sentenced Tuggle to death.

But the world hadn’t heard the last
from the hillbilly Houdini. On May 31,
1984, Tuggle and five other condemned
men escaped from Virginia’s Death
Row at Mecklenburg Correctional Cen-
ter in Boydton, Virginia, in the only
such mass breakout in U.S. history.
Using homemade knives, they seized
command of their ellblock from
guards, then donned ‘he guards’ uni-
forms. So dressed, te inmates told
gatekeepers that they were guards,
had to remove a bomb found in the
prison and needed a van..[hinking they
were dealing with fellow guards, the
gatekeepers ignored procedure, sup-
plied the van and raised the prison
gates. The condemned, armed men,
with nothing to lose, had a healthy head
start before the guards on Death Row
were able to tell the gatekeepers what
happened.

Mecklenburg had long been touted
as State-of-the-art and escape proof. The
breakout shook the state prison sys-
tem to its foundation. And neighbor-
hood residents from Virginia to New
England shivered as lawmen launched
a frantic manhunt. In Smyth County,
Investigator Kenney and his fellow
officers worked lengthy shifts, on guard
should Tuggle return home. As it turned
out, Tuggle headed up the Atlantic
Seaboard. He and fellow escapee Willie
Leroy Jones stole a pickup truck in
North Carolina and raced for Canada.

On June 8, 1984, state police got on
Tuggle’s tail after he robbed a tourist
gift shop in the Vermont mountains.
In the stolen pickup, Tuggle led troop-
ers on a chase. Four hours later, at the
other end of the state near the Cana-
dian border, Tuggle called state police
to say he was turning himself in. He
was arrested at a roadblock about 1
p-m. on June 8th. Jones was arrested
on foot shortly thereafter. Tuggle later
told reporters he and Jones had been
in Vermont several days, camping out
in the woods even though Jones was
afraid of the dark. Tuggle himself
was covered with bug bites from the
outdoor experience.

They had been bound for Canada,

Tuggle said, but ran out of money, forc-
ing him to rob the Vermont store in des-

peration. Lawmen returned Tuggle to
Death Row. The killer was dressed in
blue jeans, a blue jean vest and a
tight white T-shirt that made him look
even bigger. He had a ball cap pulled
over his longish hair, and sideburns
stretched across his grizzled face,
ending at either corner of his grim
mouth line. If he was frustrated to be
caught, Tuggle had good company to
vent with back on Death Row. Within
three weeks of the breakout, all six
escapees were recaptured and returned
to Mecklenburg.

Tuggle’s dreams of freedom weren’t
over. In November, 1985, he and three
other inmates tried to bluff their way
off Death Row using a cardboard pis-
tol and an exploding match stick bomb.
They cracked a Plexiglas window of
a control booth before they were sub-
dued. A little more than two years later,
in November, 1987, Tuggle was again
caught trying to escape from Meck-
lenburg. Guards found security screens
had apparently been cut with a hack-
saw.

In May, 1989, on Death Row, Tug-
gle let a photographer from the Rich-

mond Times-Dispatch take his photo.
The killer still had his beard, but his
hair was thinning. He still favored a
blue jean vest, and wore a necklace
with a cross medallion.

During the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
Tuggle wrote letters to then-President
Bush and Doug Wilder, then governor
of Virginia. In the letters, Tuggle vol-
unteered to lead the nation’s Death Row
inmates into battle against the Iraquis.
“I have experience with C4 and other
plastic explosives and drive any size or
make of car or truck,” he said.

By September, 1995, Tuggle was set-
tled into life on Death Row. Dennis
Stockton, a fellow Death Row inmate
who also wrote, interviewed Tuggle
that month in a story published in the
Virginian-Pilot newspaper. Tuggle said
in the interview that “America’s Fun-
niest Home Videos” was his favorite
show, and car racing was his favorite
sport. He liked building churches
from matches, he said, and enjoyed
reading Clan of the Cave Bear books
and the Bible. He believed in God
and the second coming of Christ, he
said. He had difficulty handling the no-

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45

toriety the 1984 breakout had brought
him, Tuggle said. If freed, he and his
girlfriend would go as far away from
Virginia as he could, to a place where
they could “live out the rest of their
lives in peace.” Stockton was execut-
ed shortly after his interview with Tug-
gle was published.

Meanwhile, Havens’ family was anx-
ious. Tuggle should have been executed
long ago, they said. “The idea of him
taking two lives and getting to live
that long-that’s the worst,” one relative
told a reporter.

By the fall of 1996, Tuggle finally
began to realize he’d never leave
Death Row alive. By then, all five of
his fellow escapees from the 1984
breakout had been executed. The 300-
pound prisoner nicknamed “Tug”
and with “Born to die” tattooed on one
arm was no softie, but he cried in
December, 1996, after he watched a
fellow Death Row inmate take his
final shower, get dressed and be led
to the death chamber. Tuggle’s own
death date was days away, but a friend
said Tuggle was crying because he
wanted to die before his fellow inmate.
Tuggle, 44, faced death by lethal in-

jection on Thursday, December 12,
1996.

Virginia’s first executions were pub-
lic hangings. In 1908, the state began
using the electric chair. In 1995, pris-
oners were given the choice between
the chair and lethal injection. To a man,
they had chosen lethal injection.

The state has executed prisoners rang-
ing in age from 16 to 68. Only one
woman has been executed in Virginia,
a 17-year-old girl.

Guards moved Tuggle to the
Greensville Correctional Center at Jar-
ratt, Virginia, for his date with the
Grim Reaper. Finally, the execution
date, December 12, 1996, arrived.
Governor George Allen denied
clemency. “There is no question what-
soever as to Tuggle’s guilt,” the gov-
ernor said. “The loved ones of Jessie
Geneva Havens and Tuggle’s earlier
victim, Shirley Brickey-a teenager at
the time she was murdered-will not be
with them this holiday season or any
other time of the year because of the
heinous crime that was inflicted on
them.”

On his last afternoon, Tuggle spent
two hours with his girlfriend. As the

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46

VEALED

Vee

La

execution hour neared, a half-dozen
death penalty opponents gathered at the
gate of the rural prison. Inside, six
media members and six citizens wait-
ed to witness the execution. It took
seven corrections officers to hoist the
gigantic man onto the gurney where
the lethal drugs would be adminis-
tered and strap him down. His attor-
ney and his priest bent down to whis-
per to him.

Finally, Tuggle lay alone, tightly
strapped to the gurney, the intravenous
tubes that would carry the lethal mix
attached to his outstretched arms. The
killer showed no sign of nervousness,
fear or regret. There was no quiver in
his voice as he said his last words:
“Merry Christmas.”

The clear liquid drugs began flow-
ing through the tubes in small but lethal
streams. One drug renders uncon-
sciousness, a second stops the respi-
ratory system and a third stops the
circulatory system. The witnesses sat
silent and still. Tuggle’s feet faced the
witness room. He lay quiet and mo-
tionless, his face hidden by his large
stomach, which rose quickly and fell
heavily, over and over again.

Within minutes, his heavy breathing
became irregular and short. His body
remained motionless, with the excep-
tion of his stomach. It began to quiver,
then stopped. Tuggle, the last of Vir-
ginia’s Death Row escapees, was pro-
nounced dead at 9:12 p.m. He was
the seventh inmate to be executed in
1996, the third that December. With
Tuggle’s death, Virginia had killed
more than any other state that year.

The only female witness, excited,
said she plaimed to use the experi-
ence to dissuade troubled youth from
ending up like Tuggle. “I can tell
them I’ve seen it. It’s real. You don’t
want to wind up on that table,” she said.

Tuggle died far from his mountain
home. The Greensville Correctional
Center is in Virginia’s Southside, a land
of rolling tobacco farms and dense
woods of tall pine. Investigator Ken-
ney did not make the execution. He
retired on disability after a 1990 heart
attack, and the 54-year-old felt the drive
would have been too much for him. He
stayed in Marion and followed news
reports of the execution. Kenney was
glad that Tuggle, a menace to his adopt-
ed homeland, was dead. *

rd
by BARRY |

harlie

years

workeag 1!'
week as a mac!
industrial park
haven Drive ir
Heights, a sm<
Bucks County, P«
just north of Phil:
learned his trade
where he served
attained the ra
petty officer, anc
the Allied invas
mandy on Ju!
D-Day.

He was a smaJ] 1
spry and lively an
story brick bungal
of Station Avenu
tance of work. And ‘
keys, so much s
three pet monkeys
still had one of the
him when he went
monkey was a pers
stopped at Frankie

Mm

The m
the pr

s+


Gun Found In Turner Typewriter
AP 26 May 95 4:48 EDT V0577
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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

JARRATT, Va. (AP) -- An hour after the execution of a killer who
took part in three escape attempts, a loaded pistol was found hidden in
his typewriter.

Willie Lloyd Turner was executed by injection Thursday night for the
1978 murder of a jewelry store owner. He made no final statement.

Turner had given his typewriter to his lawyer, Walter Walvick. The
attorney said that about 30 minutes before the execution, Turner told
him to look in the back of the typewriter when he returned to his motel
room.

Walvick said a .32-caliber revolver wrapped in tissue was tucked in
a secret compartment behind the typewriter ribbon. He said there were
six bullets in the wooden-handled gun and 12 extra bullets in a plastic
bag beneath the weapon. |

Under the bullets, Turner had written the word "Smile."

The typewriter had been outside Turner’s cell in the death house,
but he could reach it through the bars, Walvick said.

Walvick said Turner told a prison official shortly before the
execution, “I'm letting you do this to me."

“I realize now what he meant," the attorney said.

He said he had no idea how Turner got the gun. Two reporters were
with Walvick when he found it.

"In a way it was almost a kind of vindication to see that there. It
confirms my judgment" that Turner was a changed person, Walvick said.

"If he was this really awful person that everybody said, he could
have blown somebody away.“

‘Turner, 49, was convicted of murdering W. Jack Smith Jr. during a
botched robbery of his Franklin jewelry store. A police officer saw
Turner shoot Smith three times.

He took part in three escape attempts, including a 1984 breakout of
six death-row inmates. Turner did not flee with the other six inmates,
but prison officials said he helped plan the escape,

He was executed six hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his
claim that spending more than 15 years on death row -- longer than any
of Virginia’s 46 condemned inmates -- amounted to cruel and unusual
punishment. Justice John Paul Stevens dissented.

Assistant Attorney General Robert Anderson III had likened Turner’s
argument to that of a man who kills his parents and then “pleads for
mercy because he is now an orphan."

But a gimilar argument in April resulted in a Supreme Court stay for
Texas inmate Clarence Lackey, who has spent 17 years on death row.

Turner said he had too much pride to ask Gov. George Allen for
clemency. }

Two members of Smith’s family witnessed the execution in a room
separate from the official witnesses, corrections officials said. Their
names were withheld at their request.

In a statement issued after the execution, Smith’s family said,
"Tonight, we can move on with our lives knowing that -- despite the
many delays and frustrations -- justice has been determined and carried
out. "

Executed Man Had Loaded Gun
AP 26 May 95 11:29 EDT v0667
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The information contained in this news report may not be published,
broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority |
of the Associated Press,

JARRATT, Va. (AP) ~— An hour after a killer with a history of escape
attempts was executed, his lawyer found a loaded gun hidden among his
personal effects. The state Corrections Department promised an
investigation.

Willie Lloyd Turner, the longest-serving inmate on Virginia’s death
row, was executed Thursday night for the 1978 murder of a jewelry store
owner. ,

Attorney Walter Walvick, who was given Turner’s personal effects
after his death, said the -32-caliber revolver wrapped in tissue was
tucked in a secret compartment behind the ribbon on Turner's
typewriter. | ;

“If he was this really awful person that everybody said, he could
have blown somebody away," Walvice said.

Turner had told a prison official shortly before the execution, "I'm
letting you do this to me." With the discovery of the gun, the attorney
said: “I realize now what he meant."

Jim Jones, spokesman for the state Corrections Department, said
there would be no comment on the incident until an investigation was
conducted. Walvice said he had no idea how his client got the gun.

Turner took part in three escape attempts, including the May 31,
1984, breakout of six death-row inmates from Mecklenburg Correctional
Center, the largest death-row escape in U.S. history. Although Turner
did not get out of prison in the 1984 escape, officials said he helped
plan it. |

Walvice said Turner had told him, about a half-hour before the
execution, to look in the back of the typewriter when he returned to
his motel room. Six bullets were in the gun and 12 extra bullets in a

According to Walvick, Turner said: "I didn’t do it because of you,"
meaning he hadn‘t used the weapon. He said he thought Turner had

Turner, 49, was executed for the murder of jewelry store owner w.
Jack Smith Jr., who was shot in a botched robbery attempt.
Turner’s last appeal, to the U.S. Supreme Court, was denied on an

the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also rejected his appeals.
Although Turner made no final statement, he did say some words after
the death chambér microphone was turned off.
"He asked ‘When is it going to start?’ and things like that. He was
really just trying to prepare himself to die," said Corrections

Turner was executed on his fourth trip to death chamber. Reprieves
had spared him three times before, once with only four hours to go.

In a personal account of his life on death row, Turner wrote that in
1985, he saw and smelled the singed, bloodied clothing of an inmate
killed a day earlier in the electric chair. He wrote that he could hear

Six years after Turner’s 1980 conviction and death sentence, the
U.S. Supreme Court ordered him resentenced because of possible racial
bias by the jury. Turner is black; Smith was white. In 1987, a new jury
again sentenced him to death.

Turner was the 26th inmate executed in Virginia and the 282nd
nationally since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in

1976. Only Texas and Florida have executed more inmates than Virginia,
which resumed executions in 1982.


the chair pop and hum as it was being tested for his execution.—
In a statement issued after the execution, Smith’s family said,

"Tonight, we can move on with our lives knowing that -- despite the
many delays and frustrations -- justice has been determined and carried
ont." .

Six years after Turner’s 1980 conviction and death sentence, the
U.S. Supreme Court ordered him resentenced because of possible racial
bias by the jury. Turner is black; Smith was. white. In 1987, a new jury
again sentenced him to death...

Turner was the 26th inmate executed in Virginia and the 282nd
nationally since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in
1976. Only Texas and Florida have executed more inmates than Virginia
during that period.

Executed Man Left Gun Behind, Lawyer Says

; eae - By The New York Times

: .RICHMOND,’ May. 26 — Willie
‘Lloyd Turner’made no final state-'
‘ment before his execution on Thurs-'
‘day night, but today his lawyer said.
the condemned man left a haunting
souvenir: a loaded pistol hidden in
the typewriter that Mr. Turner had
taken to his final cell.

The lawyer, Walter J. Walvick of:
Washington, said he found the gun an:
‘hour after the execution, when he.
returned to his hotel room and fol-,
lowed Mr. Turner’s last instruction:
“Look in the typewriter.”

State officials were skeptical ana
suggested the discovery might be 2
hoax.

Mr. Walvick said that, using a
screwdriver to pry open the Smith
Corona typewriter, he discovered a
compartment behind the ribbon that:
contained a_ .32-caliber | revolver, ,
wrapped in white tissue paper. He;
called the ‘police, who found that all:
six chambers were loaded. A dozen
‘extra bullets were stashed in a bag:
underneath. °

The lawyer said Mr. Turner, an
escape artist and two-time killer,
had enclosed a slip of paper that
read, ‘‘Smile.”’

“He told me: ‘You're smart.
You’ll find it. I didn’t use it because
of you,’ ’’ said Mr. Walvick, who rep-,
resented Mr. Turner for seven years.
“All night, he had been telling me:
‘I’m letting them do this to me. I
could have gotten out of here.’

“I thought it was so many words.”

Jan E. Elvin of the National Pris-
on Project of the American ‘Civil
Liberties Union talked to Mr. Turner
‘by phone four hours before his death.
She said that although Mr. Parner

z e . _. Associated Press

Willie Lloyd Turner

never mentioned a gun to her, he had

said in conversations with several -
people, ‘‘This could turn out differ- :
ently, but I’m choosing not to hurt.

people.”
Ms. Elvin said he epparehily in-

~ tended the gun to be a final slap at
his captors.

‘“‘He was saying, “You could lock

‘me up and treat me like an animal,

but in the end, I had the power,’ ”’ she

‘said. ‘‘He was trying to make the

point that he’s a different ‘person

‘than the man who killed. For several

weeks, he had been telling people,
‘This could come out differently.’ ”’

Mr. Turner, 49, was executed by
- lethal injection for pean a jew-

A haunting souvenir |
of a condemned is
man’s final hours, 0 or.
a hoax?

_ elry store owner, W. Jack Smith J r.,|
- during a robbery in 1978 in Franklin. '

Mr. Turner had used the typewrit-.
er to compose an unpublished mem-'
oir of life on death row, and he could

reach the machine through the bars.

of his final cell, next to the death

chamber at Greensville Correctional

Center, 50 miles south of here.
Mr. Walvick, the lawyer, said the
gun could have been used for suicide

_or an escape attempt. He acknowl-
. edged that Mr. Turner’s history
pointed to the latter: he was convict-, .

ed of murdering a man in prison, had:

. been convicted of escape three times.

and once was caught with a saw.

blade, handmade keys. and two

knives in his cell...

Visitors tothe cinder-block build

ing where condemned prisoners

spend their last two: weeks are

frisked and pass through two metal.
detectors. Inmates’ possessions are
X-rayed, state officials said. .

Goy. George F. Allen, a Republi-

can, suggested that the discovery
might be a hoax. ‘‘It’s an allegation,”

Mr. Allen said this morning on his
monthly call-in radio program.

Shortly after the execution, report-.

ers saw a guard hand the typewriter
to Mr. Walvick, who loaded it into the.

_ trunk of his Mercedes-Benz, which,

was parked in front of the prison...

te \

"Associated Press

A Rolie officer i in Eniporia, Va., removed a gun from the typewriter

used by Willie Lloyd Turner while he was on death row.,

An article today in The Virginian-
Pilot of Norfolk said. Mr. Walvick

opened the typewriter in the pres- «.

ence of two reporters for the paper

who had accompanied him to his

motel in nearby Emporia. » -

' ’ 1

Mr. Turner’s case’ drew national, ,

_attention because of his éffort to -

convince courts that his 15 years on
death row, the most of any Virginia.,,

‘prisoner, amounted to cruel and un- -

usual punishment.

: New VakT; Tones ey 75 pye

i Ws} oN =

Gun At Death Cell May Be Hoax

AP 27 May 95 19:36 EDT V0307
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The information contained in this news report may not be published,
broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority
of the Associated Press,

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) —~ The state’s prison chief said Saturday there
was no evidence that an inmate concealed a .32-caliber revolver ina
typewriter within easy reach of his death-house cell.

Willie Lloyd Turner’s lawyer said he found the gun in a compartment
behind the typewriter ribbon about an hour after Turner’s execution
Thursday night. |

"We feel that the allegations are unfounded and raise the questions
about the possibility of an elaborate hoax," Ron Angelone, the
Corrections Department director, said in a statement read by a
department official at a news conference.

According to Angelone, neither the gun, the shells nor the plastic
bag the lawyer reported finding had Turner’s fingerprints on them and
an investigation found no evidence that the weapon was ever inside the
prison. |

Angelone didn’t attend the news conference and the official wouldn't
answer questions. ;

The statement said the typewriter had been X-rayed before it was
given to Turner and no weapon was present. A check of the log showed
the only visitors Turner had during his stay in the death house were
his lawyer and the lawyer’s paralegals.

Turner, wha had been Virginia's longest-held death row inmate at 15
years, told his lawyer, Walter J. Walvick, to look in the typewriter
after his execution. , | |

Walvick said he found the fully-loaded pistol, 12 bullets in a
plastic bag, and a piece of paper with “Smile” written in Turner's
handwriting taped to the bottom, : :

In his final hours, Turner repeatedly told prison officers, “I want
you to know I’m letting you do this to me," Walvick said. With the
discovery of the gun, he added, “I realize now what he meant."

Walvick said the department is accusing him of planting the weapon.

“I will deal with those allegations when the time comes," he said. |

After Turner’s execution, prison employees placed his belongings,
including the typewriter, in Walvick’s car. Walvick said prison
officials sealed the typewriter case with packing tape and it remained
sealed until he opened it in his hotel room in the presence of two
reporters. :

Death-Row Gun Incident Probed
AP 30 May 95 16:19 EDT vo403
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Gov. George Allen ordered a new investigation
Tuesday into the reported discovery of a loaded revolver inside a
typewriter that a death-row inmate kept in his cell.

Attorney Walter J. Walvick claimed he found the gun as he went
through his client’s belongings after Willie Lloyd Turner was executed
Thursday. Walvick also said he found extra bullets and a handwritten
note that said "Smile."

Allen ordered state police to investigate further after a one-day
Corrections Department review concluded it all may have been a hoax.

"I am concerned that we do not yet know how it did get into the
typewriter, when it was put there and by whom," the governor said.

The initial probe had just begun Friday when Allen suggested Walvick
may have planted the gun himself. On Saturday, Corrections Director
Ronald J. Angelone said no fingerprints were on the gun and there was
no evidence it was inside the prison or the building containing
Virginia’s execution chamber.

J. Lloyd Snook III, Turner’s former lawyer, called Angelone’s report
"a rather obvious attempt to cover up a political embarrassment."
Turner was an escape artist and a master at hiding weapons, Snook said.

The typewriter was in Turner’s cell for about 10 years. When he was
moved to another cell next to the execution chamber, the typewriter was
placed on the floor just outside the bars, within Turner’s reach.

Walvick has denied planting the weapon.

Te blelaeces, Kt, DEMOCRAT

6A/Saturday, May 27, 1995

NATION

VIRG

INIA

Death-row inmate saves final surprise

After Willie Turner’s
death, his lawyer found a
loaded gun in the

killer’s typewriter.

By June Arney
and Laura Lafay
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
JARRATT, Va.

An hour after Willie Turner
was executed by lethal injection
Thursday night, his lawyer opened
Turner’s typewriter with a screw-
driver and found a loaded gun
inside.

The wooden-handled, .32-cali-
ber revolver was hidden in a secret
compartment behind the typewrit-
er ribbon.

Beneath the gun was a plastic
bag containing 12 extra bullets.

Under the bullets, Turner had
written the word “Smile.”

Though the typewriter had
been outside Turner’s cell in the
death house, he could reach it
through the bars.

Turner, a clever escape artist
who also gained notoriety for his
knack for making weapons and jail
keys during his 15 years on death
row, apparently saved his most
Startling gambit for the end.

‘T didn’t use it
because of you’

About 30 minutes before the exe-
cution, Turner told his attorney, Wal-
ter Walvick: “Look in the back of the
typewriter when you get home. I
didn’t use it because of you.”

After the 9 p.m. execution, Wal-
vick drove to his room at the Hamp-
ton Inn in Emporia and, in the pres-
ence of his wife and two reporters,
pried the typewriter open. The gun
was there, wrapped in tissue.

Walvick called police.

“My goodness, that’s unique,”
said the Emporia police officer who
arrived to investigate. “I’m in awe.”

A stunned Walvick said, “I think
it’s like Willie said: ‘They killed the
person that murdered Jack Smith a
long time ago.’ I just wish society
had the machinery to recognize
that.”

Turner, 49, spent more time on
Virginia’s death row than any other

°
Willie Turner was known as a
clever escape artist.

inmate in modern times. He was ex-
ecuted for the 1978 murder of Wil-
liam “Jack” Smith Jr., a Franklin
jewelry store owner. Smith was 54
when Turner entered his shop and
shot him in the head during an at-
tempted robbery. Two unidentified
members of Smith’s family were

one death-row inmate and _inter-
views with others.

In February 1994, a search of his
cell at Powhatan Correctional Cen-
ter uncovered a stash that included
two fake guns made of wood or plas-
tic; a metal saw blade; at least two
jailhouse knives, called shanks; and
some “home-made, key-type de
vices,” said Fred Finkbeiner, chief
deputy to the state public-safety
secretary.

After the discovery of the stash,
Turner was moved from Powhatan
to Greensville — where he ultimate
ly would be executed.

Victim’s relatives
view execution

Shortly after the execution
Thursday night, Corrections Direc-
tor Ronald Angelone said the mem-
bers of Smith’s family were there “to
put an end to a chapter in their

among the 14 witnesses to the
execution. |

Turner was declared dead at 9:07
p.m., the second Virginia inmate to
be executed by lethal injection since
it became an alternative to electro-
Cution in the past year.

When former corrections chief
Edward Murray visited Turner in his
cell in the hours before the execu-
tion, Turner told Murray: “I want
you to know I’m letting you do this to
me.”

Walvick heard Turner but didn’t
know what he meant; Walvick didn’t
know about the gun. Walvick said
Turner could have used the gun to
try one last escape, or to take his
own life.

Turner’s career behind bars was
full of surprises.

In 1980, he sawed his way to free-
dom from the Southampton County
Jail with a homemade hacksaw.

He also was one of nine inmates
who planned the only successful es-
cape from death row in U.S. history,
in 1984’at Mecklenburg Correctional
Center. Although Turner and two
other inmates decided not to take
part, Turner had fashioned weapons
and hidden them in his cell before
the escape, according to the diary of

lives.”

Smith’s relatives were the first
victims’ relatives allowed to watch
an execution. Gov. George Allen is-

sued an executive order allowing |

victims’ relatives to serve as witness-
es after a bill failed to pass the Gen-
eral Assembly.

The victim’s family said in a |
statement late Thursday: “Turner's |

act was heinous and cruel, and he |

never showed any remorse or regret
for his criminal behavior. For 17

years, he has exhausted every possi- |
ble legal avenue to avoid the execu- |

tion of his sentence. His claims of

being treated cruelly, by merely be |

ing incarcerated, pale in comparison
to the pain and cruelty inflicted on

our family by his cold-blood actions. |

... Tonight we can move on with our
lives knowing that — despite the
many delays and frustrations — jus-
tice has been determined and car-
ried out.”


76

apparently hoping for leniency, directed
them to his hiding places. By his account,
he showed them handmade keys hidden
in the fake bottoms of a peanut-butter
jar and a watch box; he also showed them
a hole in the concrete ceiling, made by
a bar that Turner had removed from
his cell and used as a digging tool. They
were shown Turner’s own key to the wall
gate, which he told them he kept only
in case of an emergency—he feared be-
ing caught helpless in a fire. In the isola-
tion unit, Turner showed them the holes
in his toilet, created when he made keys,
and a vent duct in front of his old cell
which held two fake .44s, a three-foot
samurai sword, a long knife, and a listen-
ing device.

Shortly thereafter, Turner was trans-
ferred to the death house in Greensville.

Gace MEDICAL SERVICES,
a private contractor that provides
psychological counselling to the Greens-
ville prison, has a steadfast rule against
fraternization with inmates. A thirty-
four-year-old psychologist named Caro-
line Schloss broke it on her third day
on the job, in early June of 1994. She
had been making rounds with her super-
visor, who detoured briefly on an errand
into the segregation /protective custody
building where Willie was now being
housed. As Schloss stood waiting, she
felt something—“You know that feeling
that someone’s watching you?” she says—
and when she turned she met the stare
of a small, well-built man who was stand-
ing shirtless, with his arms folded across
his chest. Schloss knew all about staring:
in her training, she had learned that star-
ing was a well-known game of the socio-
path. Schloss glared back, and felt the
gust of a force that she describes as almost
physical. “I mean, he was emanating,” she

says. “It was like he was radiating, you’

know? I mean, he was. He was almost
putting out this radiation, which I felt.
You know when you look through a lens
and see body heat? He was radiating
that.”

The prisoner finally spoke, saying
something coy about how he was trying
to look scary because there were so many
tough guys in that place, and Schloss
found herself flirting back. When she
was called away, the inmate said he would
like to telephone her, and she hoped he
would call.

Caroline Schloss didn’t know what to

think about the encounter, but she began
making excuses to visit the unit. She and
Turner had intense elliptical conversa-
tions. “I had never, ever met a man in my
life who gave me knots in my stomach,”
she says.

Schloss, a tiny woman, quite fit, with
dark eyes, long dark hair, and a barely
contained energy that suggests movement
even when she is sitting still, had had boy-
friends but never any really serious rela-
tionships. As a child she was a tomboy,
and as an adult she was drawn to work
traditionally performed by men. She has
driven a truck, delivering construction
pipe in an eighteen-wheeler, and she be-
came a psychologist only after trying her
hand at bridge building, dirtbike riding,
aerobics instruction, kickboxing, and
championship arm wrestling, among
other pursuits.

Caroline was clearly mesmerized by
Turner, with his ostensible otherworldly
wisdom and his casual calm about his
circumstances. (“You're in my house
now,” he used to tell her. “This is my
home.”) Turner gave Caroline his type-
written manuscript, and she made read-
ing it her homework; after reading a sec-
tion of it she would sit for hours out-
side his cell, “learning from him.” His
tales of prison life were sprinkled with
epigrams from his con’s philosophy.
(“Go beyond reason, but never go against
reason.”

Caroline claims that she was struck
one day by the realization that she had
somehow met Willie Turner before, and
then remembered an occasion in the sum-
mer of 1978 when she was just out of high
school and was seeing a friend in Frank-
lin. They had gone to the Dairy Queen,
and there Caroline met a very smooth-
talking young black man and gave him
her phone number. She was now certain
that it was Willie.

As Caroline read Willie’s typewritten
life story, she was moved by his talk of
a “relationship that happens once in a
century.” (For a man who had spent most
of his life behind bars, Willie knew a
lot about relationships; in the nineteen-
eighties he had arranged to marry a friend
of a friend, who occasionally sent him
money. They no longer communicated.)
Caroline’s visits, two dozen over last
fall and winter, sometimes lasted for
hours, and when she wasn’t with Wil-
lie in the prison they spoke by phone;
their calls never lasted less than an

PHOTO ALBUM

ERWITT’S EYE

LLIOTT ERWITT, whose photographs
E are now on view at a retrospec-
tive show at the Houk Friedman
gallery, makes brilliant cartoons. That
sounds easier than it is: really pulling off
a photographic cartoon requires wit,
originality, and an uncommon alertness.
These qualities are abundant in all of
Erwitt’s best work, along with empathy,
a willingness to be surprised (and some-
times outraged), and a highly attuned
sense of the journalistic moment. He is
wise enough to know that you don’t want
to be ponderous or didactic if you want
people to keep on looking.

The son of Russian émigrés, Erwitt was
born in Paris in 1928 and.spent his first
ten years in Milan. His family moved to the
States at the start of the Second World
War and soon settled in Los Angeles.
His experience as an outsider must have
sharpened his eye—an eye that Erwitt
put to use when he embarked on a career
in commercial photography. He moved
to New York in 1948. Five years later,
he joined Magnum Photos, and he has
been a member of the agency ever since.

Erwitt’s timing is uncanny: he picks up
the fleeting details and accidental relation-
ships that come and go in the speed and
flux of life. Sometimes the camera has a
mind of its own, and Erwitt exploits this
for all it’s worth. The retrospective includes
a chilling shot, from 1953, of a crowd in
Washington that has just received news of
the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosen-
berg: there is glee in some of the faces,
bafflement and horror in others. In a
different vein is a sly shot taken at an En-
glish nudist camp in 1968, featuring a man
with his back to the camera: he may be
bare-butt naked, but he’s still a British
gentleman. The photograph reproduced
here was taken at a bus station in Fer-
nandina, Florida, in 1950. It’s a classic Er-
witt: the camera makes a couple out of
what seem to be two strangers. The lady’s
head lolls toward the sailor’s, her lip-
sticked mouth relaxes—one wonders if
they missed the bus.—INGRID SISCHY

PHOTOGRAPH
BY ELLIOTT ERWITT

Fernandina, Florida, 1950.

DMAN

w
[=
ira

3

COURTESY OF H


them. Prison administrators know that it
is, strangely, a relatively well ordered
place, much less tumultuous and violent
than other areas of a prison. When Tur-
ner arrived, in February of 1980, there
were seven other prisoners on the row,
and ‘Turner not only fitted right in but al-
most immediately assumed a position of
leadership. Within that insular culture,
inmates respected by guards and their
fellow-prisoners were accorded a certain
authority and responsibility: they recom-
mended time schedules and, sub rosa,
they maintained discipline within their
group. Turner, according to people who
knew him there, resumed the disciplined
life he had achieved in prison before the
interruption of parole. Because death row
is the one place in prison where there is
no reason for rehabilitation, it offers no
classes or official jobs, but Turner set a
rigorous schedule for himself, which was
guided by a determined work ethic. He
exercised in his cell for two hours every
day (running in place holding quart Pepsi
bottles filled with water), and took part in
various projects, including a lawsuit filed
by the American Civil Liberties Union
seeking better conditions for the inmates.
“Willie had not been there very long, and
he was suggested by the other prisoners
as someone that we should talk to,”
says Jan Elvin, a paralegal who worked on
the A.C.L.U.’s case. “And this is one of
the things that I noticed about him the
most, at first: how self-disciplined he
was, and how well respected that self-
discipline made him among other prison-
ers and among the guards. He had this
amazing workout routine every day,
and, in terms of what he would eat, he
was very careful about taking care of him-
self. He just had his own personal set of
standards.”

Turner also set aside time each day to
work on an invention, a barbering device
he called De-Ending Shears, which he
claimed would facilitate the removal of
split ends. When he had perfected the
concept, he wrote to the United States
Patent and Trademark Office, and was
informed that the granting of a patent re-
quired detailed drawings and descriptions
of any new device. He read art books, so

that he could learn all about shading and.

perspective for his drawing, and under-
took the preparation of his application.
The prison did not allow inmates to have
rulers, but Turner made do with a hack-
saw blade, which he also used to fashion

a piece of plastic into a drawing compass.

Turner ultimately got his patent—
U.S. Patent No. 4,428,119—for the De-
Ending Shears. It was the first token of
legitimate respect he had ever received. “I
was some kinda proud of myself,” he
wrote, “for having finally realized my
dream to be an inventor despite the re-
peated discouraging words (such as: Boy,
you are crazy going around here talking
about being some kinda inventor. Boy,
ain’t no nigger gonna invent nothing)
from my parents and others as I grew
up picking cotton and doing other farm
labor work. That achievement alone
meant more to me than any amount of
potential personal financial gain from
it did.”

There was respect, too, for the other
work that Turner undertook, his true work,
which he called his “unauthorized proj-
ects” —making weapons, finding hiding
places, and conceiving a plan for escape.

Almost from the moment Turner ar-
rived at Mecklenburg, he began thinking
of a way out. There would have to be weap-
ons, of course, which meant there had to
be hiding places in which to stash them.
He carved openings into hollow places in
his cell—a table leg, the window frame,
the wall—and concealed his handiwork
with his mixture of homemade dyes and
pastes. He quickly had plenty of stash
space for knives, his tools, and other pris-
oners’ dope. Within days of his arrival, he
recalled in his memoir, he was presented
with an especially tricky challenge. One
of his new friends on the row, a former
cop named Frank Coppola, who had

been convicted of a brutal murder, called

73

Turner aside one day and showed him a
.45-calibre handgun and some bullets
he'd had smuggled in. A gun was the
most highly prized of all contraband, and
Turner quickly agreed to find a good hid-
ing place for it (thereby guaranteeing ac-
cess to the gun for himself). Using a
picklock he’d made, Turner opened a
plumbing closet between two cells and at-
tached the gun to a wire (taken from a
broom) that was attached to an air vent
in the cell above—Coppola’s cell. The
gun hung suspended in the air duct.
Knives, of the handcrafted variety, are
a common item in any prison, but Tur-
ner had high standards, and his main
knife was a heavy-duty instrument made
from a piece of his cell door (he camou-
flaged the missing door part with his
paste-and-ink mixture). Communications
and freedom of movement are essential to
any complex undertaking, and Turner de-
vised ways to talk to his fellow-inmates
through the ventilation system, through
the plumbing, and, in emergencies only,
through handwritten notes attached to the
end of a rope he kept hidden in his cell. He
also made keys; in fact, jailhouse locksmith-
ing was probably his greatest talent. At
Powhatan, for example, he removed strips
of stainless steel from the toilet in his cell
and carved them into keys: he used a men-
tal pattern, formed by memorizing the
shape of the key, its ridges and dips, which
he saw when guards locked and unlocked
the prison doors. The stainless steel from
the toilet was perfect for keys—soft enough
to shape but firm enough to turn the lock.
To enter and leave his own cell, Turner
claimed, he hot-wired the motor that op-


14

erated his door electronically from the
guards’ control booth.

Respect was everything to Turner, and
he took pride in his covert craftsmanship,
regarding himself, he wrote, “as a man of
principles and patience. And I am confi-
dent in my ability to get the job done safely.”
He came to be deemed the first citizen of
death row, and his status conveyed power:
he had the weapons and the dope. It also
put him in a position to help lead an un-
thinkable escape plot.

HE men on Mecklenburg’s death row
were, it turned out, something of a
literary group, and at least three of them,
including Turner, wrote an account of the
1984 breakout. Their variance in describ-
ing the roles of key players in the famous
escape proves that nonfiction is a relative
term in prison literature. Turner’s mem-
oir, written six years after the event, por-
trays himself as the mastermind of the es-
cape, and although the manuscript is
patently the self-serving work of a con
man, his record and reputation are genu-
ine enough, lending his account credence.
At least one current Mecklenburg official,
who regarded Turner as “a sorry son of a
bitch,” also allows that he was considered
“the mastermind.”
Willie figured that any successful es-
cape from Mecklenburg would require the

participation of several inmates, and they
would automatically add to the risk. There
were not only snitches to worry about but
men with loose tongues, whose brag-
ging—or “dry snitching,” as it’s called—
could also sink a plan. The death-row
population had grown to a dozen men—
a group too large to escape together, too
small to make it possible to completely
exclude a few without raising suspicion
and resentment. So Turner and Coppola,
who were directing the scheme, held
“dummy” meetings, in which other
death-row inmates were allowed to sit in
and believe they were helping to plan the
escape. Often they were deliberately fed
false information about the breakout.
“The only real stuff any of the outsiders
knew was exactly what we wanted them
to know,” Turner wrote, “so they could
run and feed it to the administrative au-
thorities.” Later, the core group would
meet to discuss the real plans. This group
of inmates included the infamous Briley
brothers—James and Linwood, a pair of
mad-dog killers who were the wild boys of
death row. They were dopers, sexual
predators, and troublemakers, but they
had connections with the guards, and
Turner felt he could control them, be-
cause he was in charge of the weapons.
Also, he had veto power over proposed
plans, and he exercised it when the Brileys

| THE MUSEUM OF GRANT-FREE ART

WHERE

T DON’T KNow

Fruit: Courtesy “of Mar
Corner Market
BOWL : Pettery Patio

TABLE: Miles ef Tables

THE NEW YORKER, DECEMBER 4, 1995

suggested that each inmate put glass in his
food, draw blood from his body with a sy-
ringe, swallow the blood, and then regur-
gitate it, claiming injury from the ingested
glass; they would all be rushed to the hos-
pital, and confederates there would break
them free. Willie vetoed that idea, invok-
ing another of his steadfast rules: “I ob-
jected to it because of my principle to
never fake illness as a means of an escape.”

The plan finally agreed upon was an
elaborately detailed, minutely choreo-
graphed scheme, requiring that each of the
conspirators, who numbered eight, execute
his role perfectly. The strategy was simple.
On the way back from evening recreation,
one of the inmates would duck into the
guards’ rest room and wait there until,
hearing a signal from one of the others,
he would overpower the guard at the con-
trol booth. He would then release the
seven others, who, armed with the knives
Turner had made, would take the remain-
ing officers on duty hostage, one by one.
The inmates would change clothes with
the guards, and force one guard to call the
main office and say that a bomb had been
found on death row and that a van was
needed to take it away from the institution.
The inmates, wearing guards’ uniforms
and carrying the “bomb”’—a TV set cov-
ered with some blankets—would run to
the van and drive away from the prison.

It was a good plan, and to make
it better Turner secretly prepared
contingency support, which in-
cluded planting two real pipe
bombs in the television set, in
case he and the others needed to
blow their way out. On the eve of
May 31st, the would-be escapees
held one last meeting. Turner
wrote later that he had told them
that “the whole thing could go
wrong and turn into a blood bath
in which we are sure to die,” but
had added that “if it worked, then
it would be the biggest and most
brilliantly planned escape opera-
tion in the nation.” Alone in his
cell, he made one last check, test-
ing the gun’s firing pin, checking
his stash, and hot-wiring his cell
door.

On the morning of the break-

out, Turner later wrote, “the sun was

shining brightly, the feeling was
right and it felt like this was go-
ing to be my last day there.” By
6 P.M., recreation time, the plan

THE STENCH OF ANGER

was still a go, and on the way back in from
the yard one of the inmates slipped into
the rest room, as planned. He overtook
the guard, released the others, and the es-
cape was on. Willie had insisted that the
operation be conducted with discipline—
“a show of pure pride, principles, and dig-
nity,” he’d said—but it quickly became
clear that dignity would be tested. Turner
had to stop Linwood Briley and another
inmate from raping one of the hostages,
a nurse, and he subsequently came upon
James Briley just as he was about to splash
two bottles of pure alcohol over the hos-
tages and set fire to them. When Turner
interrupted him, Briley said, “Come on,
Turner... I just want to leave my mark
on ’em.” According to one inmate’s
affidavit, Turner replied, “If you're going
to kill somebody, you will have to kill me
first,” and Briley backed off.

Turner became convinced that Briley’s
freelancing would produce the bloodbath
he had feared, and for that reason, he later
wrote, he decided not to escape along
with the others. When they were gone, he
freed the hostages, burned the written
script for the plan, and re-stashed his
knives, ropes, and other gear. Before re-
turning to his cell, though, he pressed the
key to the control booth against a bar of
soap, making an impression that he could
duplicate for future use.

The escape, as Turner had predicted,
was a spectacular show of daring and
planning, which drew national news cov-
erage. [he inmates who broke out of
Mecklenburg—six in all, since a second
prisoner had also refused to leave—
ditched the prison van about thirty miles
away from the prison and split up. Driv-
ing a stolen pickup, the Brileys made it to
Philadelphia before being caught, and
two of the others made their way to Ver-
mont and were captured there. ‘The fact
that all the prisoners were eventually cap-
tured reflects more on the stupidity of the
escapees (two were found drinking wine
in a laundromat) than on the escape it-
self, which easily ranks among the most
extraordinary episodes in the great body
of prison-escape literature.

“( NH, there’s no question about it, he

was very clever about concealment
and the way he came on to other people,
including employees. He was certainly
a sharp talker—a ‘slicker,’ as we call
them in the institution.” J. D. Netherland,
the current warden at Mecklenburg, is

showing me Willie Turner’s cell, C-Pod
No. 68, which is empty. It is a tiny space,
six feet by ten, and has a spareness about
it that gives it the illusion of innocence.
Netherland shows me the table whose leg
became a weapons bin; the wall with its
invisible incision; and the louvred win-
dow, whose metal frame Willie claimed
to have cut so that the bars could
be removed at will. For all I
know, some of Willie’s stuff
may be in there still. “Willie
Turner was very ingenious at
hiding things,” the warden says.

Netherland, who is known as
a tough security expert, first
came to Mecklenburg as assis-
tant warden in 1984, during a
shakeup at the prison following
the breakout. Turner was not punished
for it, perhaps because of his intervention
on behalf of the hostages, but there was
no particular need for punishment any-

way, because within a year he was trans- -

ferred to the state penitentiary in Rich-
mond to be executed.

The Briley brothers had been caught
in Philadelphia, where they were barbe-
cuing chicken outside a garage, and Lin-
wood went to the electric chair before the
year was out. Of the group, James was
next on the execution list, followed by
Willie. Turner arrived at the pen in April
of 1985, and was put in the death house
just after James Briley’s execution. There,
he wrote, he had a last intimation of
James:

As I walked in I could hear and see hun-
dreds of fat green flies fi hting over some-
thing stinking in a ba bat sitting on the
inside by the door. The stuff in the box
consisted of a white death row prisoner
jump suit which was spotted with blood,
burnt marks, human feces, vomit, and some
white and other awful looking stuff. And
the entire area had a strong smell of burnt
flesh combined with the even stronger
offensive smell coming from the stuff in the
box. Though I had never in my life smelt
anything like it, I knew it was a smell of
death.

In the final days before his scheduled
execution, Turner watched the prison
death team do its chores, such as hang-
ing blankets over the windows of the ex-
ecution room. On the morning of May 2,
1985, Turner was awakened by the
crackle and hum of the electric chair as it
was being tested. The execution was
scheduled for 11 P.M., and at about six,
just as the execution team arrived to shave
Turner’s head for the electrodes, word

75

came that the United States Supreme
Court refused to lift a lower court’s stay
of his execution.

Turner had prepared himself to
die, and he now wondered whether he
would be ready the next time. “I was cer-
tain that there would be a next time
around,” he wrote. “It was just a mat-
ter of how long it would take.”

It took ten years. In that
time, his confinement took a
hellish turn. He was sent back to
the Powhatan prison, and was
ultimately kept in its isolation
and segregation units for more
than seven years. The isolation
unit, where Turner spent five
years, was a particularly inhospi-
table environment. In a declara-
tion written for a court proceeding this
year Turner described life in that unit:

Unhappy prisoners made such a practice
of throwing feces that the basement always
smelled like an outhouse and the walls of
the hall were often covered with feces. It
was a normal thing in Isolation for prison-
ers to keep containers of feces around, in
case an occasion for throwing it arose.
Some guys doctored their feces with urine,
eggs, aftershave, and other stuff, so it would
cover better or penetrate into more places.
Sometimes they'd keep it until it fer-
mented, which they said made it stink
more and stick better. They would ar-

ue for hours about who was the best
brewer.” Some prisoners got to where they
could identify other prisoners’ “brews.” I
don’t think they held onto any batch too
long; it was made for throwing and they
threw it....

Guards wore plastic face shields quite of-
ten when they passed through Isolation.
Sometimes the guards would get so frus-
trated they'd pick up feces and throw it
back. If the guards shook down a guy’s cell
and discovered “brew,” sometimes they'd
ae it and throw it at the guy later.

ne thing that always bothered me was
that the guards brought us our food through
the hall where all this feces throwing was
aimed. The food came in Styrofoam con-
tainers, but they weren’t airtight. On innu-
merable occasions, I’ve had trays arrive at
my cell bearing feces or other unidentifiable
disgusting stuff. Even if the tray seemed
clean, you could never be sure it had come
through that hall in sanitary condition.

Turner, however, remained unde-
terred in his work on “unauthorized pro-
jects,” and busily plotted another escape.
Then, one night last year, Powhatan
guards came to search his cell following
reports of Turner scraping his toilet with
a metal object. When the guards observed
that he had cut a hole in the toilet and
asked him how he had done it, Turner,

WALKABOUT, John (PARRAMORE, Horace), hanged Accomac Courthouse, August 5,
ee 1870,

7 Walkabout was executed for having cut the throat of a man named Ayres Latham on
October 22, 1870, The Governor denied clemency on July 29, 1870.-Peninsula Enterprise,
Accomac Courthouse, VA, 12/22/1890 (retrospective); Executive Journal of the Governor,
July 29, 1870; Accomac County Circuit Court Papers, November Term, 1869.


pee lasughar thd UL. LS SE LEO OLE Oly pS,
dt [AM pgVA tl, Lie? cr cama BAe Mage at —
(. ory se elle, Gedo ie CVT PEL De Pe nb

KLewsr ~ OM saanta Mts gh X AD Sit Cpt 3 fl FF? , a!


VANCE » Abner

La 2 Dd. ; _
wanged in “tussell Co., Va. (nned date)

See large cant, Mote (1 Gos 0.250 of Cxec. lagers of
Gov. tind a letter trom the Sherri of husse!l Co. ty Phe
Gov. Otted 12-10-1818 requesting a change A enue for this
MOYPOSSADL, a/ JuHY,
Aether alo Says that Vance had billed héwis Horton or
9:6-17 and bad been Setonced to dearth tr Apri! 1818
Lut tat the Virypuia (reneral Court fad orulered a /IEW/

tial ti Nate... Wis fs, time frame 13 Marvowed.
Classity as Cleca, fEL9,

|

VEST, James, white, hanged Chesterfield C, H., Chesterfield Co., December 17, 1819.

Vest, who was married, fell in love with another woman. He lured his wife into the woods
where he murdered her in order that he might be free to marry again. A runaway slave, who was
concealed nearby, witnessed the murder. Fearing that he would be captured and charged with the
crime himself, he turned himself in and told the authorities what he had witnessed.-Enquirer,
Richmond, VA, 12/25/1819 (4/3).

tne |

Mee: pee nen

- egainst. the pence.

“Witnesses sworn Pan open Cour

SON ENERO ESCH NOT OT TR TIE IN PTE ROPE INL NTN IIIT I AY NYT YA RE RR CMRI PON Ar Dt 1% EON (AH ales a “_ . |

eat tl tet me tana ew wn

ne COMMOIBALTE OF VIRGINIA,

ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY, TO-‘WIT:

‘

IN THR CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE SAID COUNTY.
w, |The jurors of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in and for the
“body be oe ah of Wight, and. now attend ing the said Court, upon their

cy oath, ‘present: that. Hanson. Warren: on the ‘SO0th day of January, 1917, in ©

| the County aforesaid. in ‘and upon one T. J. Seward, feloniously, wil-:

fully, and of his malice aforethought did make en assault; and that’&,
the said Hansom Warren, with an exein his hand, then and there hel¢,
the said T. J. Sevard in and upon the right side of the neds “the

ante : Seward, then and there,feloniously, wilfully, and of his ma =
lice aforethought, aid strike and cut; giving bo’ the said T. J. Seward,
with the exeaforesaid, in end upon the aforesaid right side of the
head of him, Mne-peda T. J. Seward, one mortal vound ,of which said

mortal wound, he, the seid qT. Je Sewerd from the ssid 70th day of

oO SEMAET «JOU to the 9th day of February, 1917, in the County of Isle

of Wight, did. lenguish, end ‘languishing, did live; on which said 9th

day of February, in. the year, 1917, the said T. J. Seward ,in the

~ County aforesaid of the said. mortal wound ,died; and, so, the jurors

aforesaid, ‘upon their oath aforesaid, do say ,that the said Hansom

Warren, “the said ate Seward, in manner and form aforesaid, felon-

» dously,- wilfully, end of his malice aforethought, did kill. and murder,

and dignity of the Commonwealth of Virginia. |

sent ue prong. Jury tO. ‘give evidence:


Wahine, Hansom, black, 23, elec,

Va. (Isle of Wight Co.) 6/15/1917.

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During the next several weeks, Ne-
groes held memorial meetings in several
of the larger cities, with a silent parade
and large meeting staged in New York
City, in commemoration of the share-
cropper’s death.

In a report issued shorlty afterward by
the Workers’ Defense League, it was
stated that $30,000 had been spent on the
case during the two years it was pending,
although no lawyer had charged more
than $15 a-week for his services.

Camp Claiborne (La.) Rape Case

On August 10, 1942, three soldiers sta-
tioned at Camp Claiborne, near Alexandria,
La., were convicted and sentenced to death
by the Federal district court in Shreveport,
La., for the alleged rape of Hattie Rose
Mason, a young white woman. The at-
tack was reported to have taken place on
the camp grounds. The soldiers were
Richard Adams, 26, of Columbus, Ohio;
Lawrence Mitchell, 21, of Baldwin, Mich. ;
and John Walter Bordenave, 30, of New
Orleans, La.

Immediately following the convicton, the
National Association for the Advance-
ment of Colored People took over the case.
Counsel of the NAACP said that the trial
had been rushed through without notifying
the soldiers’ relatives. Attorneys, for the
NAACP appealed the decision to the U.S.
Supreme Court on the grounds that the
Federal court which convicted the soldiers
had no criminal jurisdiction over the of-
fenses committed on the camp grounds.

The United States Solicitor General filed
a brief with the Supreme Court the first
week in May, conceding that the Federal
court had no criminal jurisdiction over of-
fenses committed on the land upon which
the camp was located, since it was originally
purchased for a national forest and was
turned over tc the Army without any
notice of acceptance of exclusive or con-
current jurisdiction by the United States
ever having been filed with the Louisiana
authorities,. as Federal law requires. On
May 24, 1943, the Supreme Court ruled in
favor of the defendants and Federal civil
authorities were compelled to release the
soldiers.

They were returned to the Army and
sent to Texas, where they were tried by
a military court in Camp Maxey on July
28, 1943. Following a two-day hearing,
they were again convicted and_ sentenced
to death by hanging. However, the sentence
could not be carried out until higher
military authorities had reviewed the tria!
and decision.

At the court martial proceedings, the
defendants testified that the woman was a
prostitute and had voluntarily submitted to

CRIME

175

them after they had paid her $2 in ad-
vance. The woman testified that the attack
had been forced upon her without her con-
sent.

Major McGuffin of the U.S. Army Medi-
cal Corps testified that he had examined
the woman thirty hours after the alleged
attack and had found no evidence that she
had made any resistance. He found also
that she was suffering from a_ venereal
disease of long standing. A medical
officer who examined the soldiers stated
that they were free of any venereal disease.

The soldiers testified that earlier “con-
fessions” signed by them had been forced
by beatings and threats of mob violence.

Review of the decision was pending be-
fore the board of review of the ofhce of
the Judge Advocate General of the Army
at the end of the year.

Baltimore Voutha’ Murder Case

A murder case was carried to the U.S.
Supreme Court on the contention that the
trial of the defendants before a Baltimore
jury was illegal because of the dispro-
portionate number of Negroes selected for
jury service in the city.

The defendants, Arthur Jackson, Frank
Williams and Freeman Holton, were con-
victed in August, 1942, of the murder of
a white theatre manager, Louis Pertnoy, in
Baltimore, and were sentenced to die. Rob-

bery was given as the motive for the
crime.

The attorneys for the men, C. Arthur
Eby, white, and his associates, appealed
the decision of the lower court on the
ground that the men had not been tried
by a jury of their peers because the per-
centage of Negroes serving on Baltimore
juries was not consonant with the percentage
of Negroes in the population of the city.

The State Court of Appeals and U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourt Dis-

trict both upheld the conviction.

In their petition for a re-trial, the at-
torneys pointed out that there were only
2 colored jurors out of 52 on the panel ot
the Baltimore criminal court which heard
the case; that although colored persons
constituted 19 per cent of Baltimore’s popu-
lation, colored jurors were impaneled for
jury service at the rate of 3.34 per cent;
that Baltimore grand juries of 23 mem-
bers had an average of 1 colored juror;
that of every 750 petit jurors summoned,
only 25 were colored; that the names of
colored prospective jurors were written on
cards of a different color from those of
white; and that in making up the jury
panel, the court clerk selected names of
725 white and 25 colored, mixing the
ballots for drawing so that it was always


174

WALLER, Odell, black, electrocuted Va. on July 2, 1912.
THE NEGRO HANDBOOK

OUTSTANDING CRIMINAL CASES

(Note: Other outstanding criminal cases may be found in the chronologies for

1942 and 1943.)

Odell Waller Case, Pittsylvania Co., Va.

The most outstanding criminal case of
the past two years reached its climax on
July 2, 1942, with the execution of Odell
Waller, 25-year-old sharecropper of Gretna,
Va., for the shooting to death of his former
white landlord, Oscar Davis, on July i,
1940. Waller had been granted five stays
of execution and the U.S. Supreme Court
had twice refused to review the case.

The case attracted widespread interest
because many persons believed that Waller
was truthful and sincere in his assertions
that he shot Davis in fear of his own life.
Moreover, it was generally believed that
Waller had been grossly imposed upon by
Davis and had become insanely desperate
in his repeated attempts to obtain some
sort of settlement of his claims.

The Workers’ Defense League took over
the defense of Waller after the original
trial and was later joined by the National
Association for the Advancement of Col-
ored People and the Civil Liberties Union.

{n the Pittsylvania County Circuit Court
of Virginia, Waller was originally tried
and convicted on September 27, 1940, for
the murder of Davis during a dispute over
crop shares on the former’s rented planta-
tion. He was sentenced to die on Decem-
ber 27, 1940.

Defense counsel appealed the case on the
grounds that since only poll-tax payers
had served on the jury indicting Waller
and since the trial jury consisted of planters
and businessmen, denial of jury service to
non-poll-tax payers had prohibited the
sharecropper from being tried by a jury
of his peers, therefore had deprived him
of his constitutional rights.

On plea of counsel, Waller was granted
a reprieve by Governor Price of Vir-
ginia, staying his execution to March 14,
1941. The Virginia Supreme Court of
Appeals, in March, 1941, granted the de-
fendant a writ of error and on October
13 the same court heard the case and af-
firmed the verdict of the lower court.

Waller was again sentenced to die, th's
time on December 12, 1941. A second re-
prieve was granted on December 6, 1941,
by Governor Price of Virginia, setting
Waller's death for March 20, 1942, ill
order to give his counsel an opportunity
to appeal the decision again.

On January 21, 1942, the Virginia Sup-
reme Court of Appeals in a decision
handed down without opinion, denied the
petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and

defense attorneys at once began work on
a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile a petition for a third re-
prieve was answered by the newly-elected
governor of Virginia, Colgate W. Darden,
who granted another death stay, to May
19, 1942, after he had read the printer’s
proofs of the petition to the U.S. Supreme
Court for a writ of certiorari, which would
have directed the Virginia Supreme Court
of Appeals to review its first judgment.

In May, 1942, the U.S. Supreme Court
denied the writ, refusing to review the
case. Then, in response to the pleas of
thousands of persons by letters and tel-
egrams, the Virginia governor, by a fourth
reprieve, again postponed the sharecrop~-
per’s death to June 19, 1942, to permit
counsel to file a petition for a re-hearing.

The petition was filed for the original
writ of habeas corpus in the Federal
Court for Eastern Virginia. On June 11,
this court denied the writ and a petition
was filed in the U.S. Fourth District
Court of Appeals for a certificate of prob-
able cause for appeal and an order staying
the execution. This certifiicate was also
denied.

Governor Darden then, on June 18,
granted Waller his fifth stay of execution
—seventeen hours before he was scheduled
to die, this time setting his execution date
for July 2. At the same time, he an-
nounced that he would hold a hearing on
a plea for commutation of sentence on
June 29, in the Statehouse at Richmond.

Counsel then made a plea for a stay of
execution to each of four U.S. Supreme
Court Justices (the only ones in Wash-
ington at the time) on June 2/, and each
Justice refused the stay. (A stay may be
granted by consent of one U.S. Supreme
Court Justice.)

Following the commutation hearing be-
fore the governor, he announced on June
30, 1942, that no commutation would be
granted, nor any further stay of execution.

As a final attempt to save the share-
cropper, a committee of prominent pet-
sons from various sections of the country
met in Washington in an effort to have
President Roosevelt intercede in the case,
but the President refused to receive the
group.

The case ended with the execution of
Waller on July 2, 1942, in Richmend, Va.
He had spent 626 days in the death row
in the Richmond penitentiary and had re-
ceived five reprieves.

THE NEGRO HANDBOOK, 194.


WASHINGTON, Slave, hanged at Richmond, Virginia, on Nove 17, 185).

"Yesterday, between 11 and 12 o'clock, Washington, the negro slave of
Mr, Thomas 0, Burton, was put to death on the gallows in a ravine a short distance
north-east of the Poor House, precisely the spot on which the two pirates, Clements
and Reed, paid the penalty of their crime about two years since, Negro Washington,
a few weeks ago, was found guilty by the County Court of Henrico County of setting
fire to a barn belonging to and on the farm of Benjamin W. Green, six miles west of
ichmond, and for this crime he was executed. He was taken to the gallows in a furni-
ture wagons; and after a conversation of about 15 minutes with Mr, Hutchinson, Sheriff
of Henrico County, the rope was attached to the crossbeam, the wagon moved off, and
the wretched creature fias launched from time into eternity.

"No clergy attended his last moments, and the solemn affair was attended
with but little ceremony, He went to the gallows in a laborer's dress of shirt, panta-
loons and a small, old, sharpecrowned white hat; and in these clothes, with the addi-
tion of a white handkerchief over his eyes, he was hanged. To the very last moment
he persisted in declaring his innocence of the crime for which his life was to be
taken. Five or six hundred persons, chiefly negroes, were present to witness the
execution, The smallness of the gathering we regard as evidence that executions
have lost their novelty inthis city,

"The criminal was a young and stout man of gingerbread complexion, and
strongly marked with negro features, having a large mouth, thick lips, and a physiog~
nomy indicative of great stupidity. It was evident, from his looks and demeanor on
the gallows, that he had not sufficient mind to comprehend and realize his awful
situation, From the first to the last he exhibited not the slightest sensibility;
but yielded to the awful penalty with as much coolness and composure as if assigned
an ordinary duty of every day life," RICHMOND ENQUIRER, Richmond, Va., 11-18=185) (2=B)


Watkins

executed
for two
slayings

Governor refused
plea for clemency

BY BOB PIAZZA
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

JARRATT — Johnny Watkins Jr. was
executed in the electric chair last
night for the 1983 slayings of two
convenience store clerks during sep-
arate robberies.

Watkins’ death at Greensville Cor-
rectional Center was the state’s 23rd
since the reimposition of the death
penalty in 1976. Only Texas, with 72
executions, and Florida, with Ev a
have put more prisoners to death.

Watkins made no last statement.
He was pronounced dead at 11:11,
spokesman Wayne Brown said.

Watkins, 32, of Danville, spent part
of yesterday visiting with his attor-
neys and a female friend at the cen-
ter, Brown said. He declined to iden-
tify the woman.

Convenience store clerks

Gov. George Allen had denied
Watkins’ clemency petition early
yesterday.

Watkins was convicted of killing
convcnience sture clerks Betty jean
Barker and Carl Buchanan during
Separate robberies in an eight-day
period in November 1983. Watkins
killed Barker first.

He entered the Pittsylvania Coun-
ty store where she was working,
bought some cigarettes and then
shot her twice. He leaned over the
counter and shot her again, according
to the attorney general’s case sum-
mary. The robbery yielded $89.89.

The bullets matched

Watkins denied any knowledge of
the crime at his trial, but an accom-
plice testified that he saw Watkins
shoot Barker. Testimony matched
the bullets used in the shooting to a
gun found in Watkins’ house.

Eight days later in another conve-
nience store, Watkins shot Buchan-
an, took the cash drawer with $34.74,
then shot him again, according to the
attorney general’s case summary.

According to the summary, Wat-
kins and his brother, Darnell, chose
the store to rob and Darnell Watkins
testified against his brother at the
trial. Bullets from the shooting came
from Johnny Watkins’ pistol, accord-
ing to testimony.

Robert Barker, Betty Jean’s father,

PLEASE SEE WATKINS, PAGE B3 >

Pot re ———

SSUCATED or
Virginia plans to allow lethal injection executions
starting in July, possibly ending use of its chair.

BEM 2 are

Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia

Friday March 4, 1994

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«offense. 4045 Ba ag tao a: a

3 ‘wat ee
oat WHITSON & SHEPHERD,’ PRINTERS, PORTSMOUTH, VA.

“VIRGINIA, COUNTY OF.

the Sheriff_or “any Cons ble of
Whereas Ca ag Oe an

© © he se ew

Oe h hafioe me, Sioa:

These are, ther eiace! in the name of th Commonwealth of Virginia, to command you forthwith to

apprehend and bring before me, or some? other Justice of said county, the body of the said ......... y

eto: answer the said complaint and further to be dealt with. ac-

coraung to, law. . pAndsy you are, ae to SUMMON §: oy AERO, BP Ei

Yarra. oats caret... Mb crsn en: OU Litoton Hr" Ip

40 appear ‘and give evidence i in: Mibehalt of the Commonwealth on the examination eens. the said yy

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Pe an LES
Given under my Band and seal,-this - [o27) a day Of Sia.

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Bets Nas ee

VIRGINIA PENITENTIARY

RICHMOND, VA.

June 15, 1917,

J. B. WOOD,
SUPERINTENDENT

THIS IS TO CERTIFY that the order of the Circuit Court
of Isle of Wight County dated May 10, 1917, directing the

electrocution of "HANSOM WARREN" on the 15th Eay: of aves
1917, was this day executed at 7.16, A. M.

Lh d/

Superintendent,


a ea
ee ay

oS ERIE SNES,

oot

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA,

ISLE. OF WIGHT COUNTY, TO-WIT:

“IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE SAID COUNTY.
‘ 4 ek \
tL, The jurors of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in and for the

body of Isle of Wight, and, now attend ing the said Court, upon their

Al

je amencat present: that. Hansom, Warren. on the 20th day of January, 1917, ine?

Be ao the: County aforesaid, in and ‘upon one" Ted. Seward, feloniously, wil-
Haas fully, and of.his malice aforethought did mike en assault; and that’s,
the said Hansom Warren, with an axein his hand, then and there held,
the said T. J. Seward in and upon the right side of the he the

said T. J. Seward, then and there,feloniously, wilfully, and of his ma -
lice aforethought,did strike and cut; giving to,the said T. J. Seward,
“ _ with the axeaforesaid, in and upon the aforesaid right side of the

| | head of hin, thet sala T. J. Seward, one mortal wound ,of which said

| “ mortal wound, he, the said qT. Le sewerd from the ssid ZOth day of

| _Jemusry, 1917, to the oth day. of February, 1917, in the County of Isle

of Wight, did lenguish, end ‘Lenguishine, did live; on which said 9th

day of February, in the year, 1917, the said 7. J. Seward ,in the
“County aforesaid,of the said. mortal wound ,died; and, so, the jurors
aforesaid, “upon their oath eporenatd., do say ,that the said Hansom

Warren, the. said qT. ls Sevard, pha manne Y and form'aforesaid, felon-

- dously, wilfully, end. of, his nalice aforethought, did kill,and murder,

es Bae against the pesce and dignity of the Commonwealth of Virginia. |

“Witnesses sworn ‘in open Court ‘and *
sent to grand jury to. give evidence;

Faas Posen

; ‘ . wee + - - —— ~
Saint ici eran Mili pnb ei enti tain aa


ONE

URGENT ACTION PROGRAM OFFICE « P.O. Box 1270 « Nederland. CO 80466-1270 « 303-440-0913 « FAX. 303-258-7881

EXTRA 12/94_ Death Penalty 24 February 1994
USA (Virginia): Johnny WATKINS

Johnny Watkins is scheduled to be executed in Virginia on 3 March
1994.

Johnny Watkins, black, was~sentenced to death in 1984 for the murders
of one white female and one white male, in unconnected robberies in
1984. He was sentenced to death by an all-white jury after the
prosecutor had excluded all prospective black jurors from jury
service, by use of peremptory challenges (the right to exclude jurors
without giving reasons).

According to Johnny Watkins’ attorney, Watkins’ death sentence was
imposed in a city in Virginia (Danville) which systematically
excludes blacks from serving on trial juries, and which has sentenced
more black defendants to death than any other jurisdiction in
Virginia. Seven of the 23 black prisoners currently on death row in
Virginia were apparently sentenced to death by a Danville jury.
Further information received by Amnesty International states that
Danville has less than 1% of the state population, yet has handed
down 10% of Virginia’s death sentences since 1976. Blacks comprise
35% of Danville’s population.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Many research studies, including those of Amnesty International, have
found that the death penalty in the USA is applied in a racially
discriminatory manner. Studies conducted nationwide have shown that
murders involving white victims are far more likely to result in
death sentences than those with black victims. One such study
published in 1984 looked at racial patterns in capital sentencing in
eight US states from 1976 to 1980 including Virginia, and found
disproportionate capital sentencing for white-victim cases in each
state. Racial disparities in death sentencing are confirmed by the
findings of a report by the General Accounting Office (GAO), an
independent agency of the federal government, published in February
1990. The GAO found that persons convicted of the murder of white
victims are far more likely to be sentenced to death than those
convicted of black-victim homicides. These racial disparities
remained after all other legally relevant factors had been taken into
account. AS of 6 January 1994, there were 2,802 prisoners under
sentence of death in the USA, of whom 1,117 - nearly 40% - were
black. The percentage of black prisoners on death rows in some
individual states is much higher. Blacks make up only 12.6% of the
total US population.

AS of 6 January 1994 there were 47 prisoners under sentence of death
in Virginia. Twenty-two prisoners have been executed in the state
under its present death penalty laws. The most recent person to be
executed in Virginia was David Pruett, on 16 December 1993. The

This Urgent Actior appeal originated from Amnesty internationals research neadquarters at the International Secretariat in Senger ee
Kingdom. Amnesty international is an independent woridwide movement working for the international protection of numan ngnts seexs .

or / ' mPOA nee ate A
rTRIPASRP Of MEN ANT WOaAMeEN AerTalinet anvWwrerA hacaicanttmairmoaiote - r Ay ATRRI CARA fanav ane nrrealininice rae

method of execution is electrocution. In Virginia the authority to
grant executive Clemency lies with the state governor. The present
governor of Virginia, Governor George Allen, took office Only very
recently, in January 1994. On his last day in office in January 1994,
outgoing Governor, Douglas L Wilder commuted the death sentence of
Earl Washington Jr to life imprisonment on grounds that there are

serious doubts that Washington, black, committed the crime for
which he was sentenced to death.

cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment, as proclaimed in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/faxes/express and airmail
letters or call by telephone:

- urging Governor Allen, as the new Governor of Virginia, to set an
example to other state governors by refusing to allow executions to
take place under his leadership, and consequently to commute Johnny
Watkins’ death sentence; .

~ expressing deep concern that Johnny Watkins, a black defendant, was
sentenced to death by an all-white jury after the prosecutor had
struck any potential black juror from the jury panel;

- expressing deep concern that the death penalty in the usa is

applied ina racially discriminatory manner, a fact borne out by many
research studies.

APPEALS TO

The Honorable George Allen
Governor of Virginia
State Capitol

Richmond, VA 23219, USA
(Telegrams: Governor Wilder, Richmond, VA 23219)
(Telephone: 1 804 786 2211)

(Faxes: 1 804 786 3985)

[Salutation]
[Dear Governor }

COPIES TO:

The Letters Editor
.News Leader

BOx C32333

Richmond, VA 23293-0001 (Faxes: 1 804 775 8019)

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY, TO ARRIVE BY 2 March 1994,

© Postage costs: airmail letters cost 5O cents a page (1/2 oz.) to most
countries: aerogrammes are 45 cents each: airmail postcards cost

40 cents to most countries. Mail with colorful stamps may not reach
its destination.

Artucle 9 - "No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest,
detention or exile.”

O Send your appeals in English unless you are fluent with the lan-

guage.
© The name of Amnesty International may be used, although letters

written in a private or professional Capacity are often more effec: O Pleuse take

action as soon as you receive this Urgent Action
tive.

appeal. Carefully read the recommended action and send a tele-
gram or airmail letter ummediately to one or more of the ad-

C Telegrams and letters should be brief and courteous. Stress that
your concern for human rights js not in any way politically partisan.
Reter to relevant provisions in international law, such as the United
‘ations Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

Article 3 - "Everyone has the right to life. liberty, and
the security of person.”
Arucle 5 - "No one shall be subjected to torture or to

swiHel inmeman ve dapendimw ve

O Correct salutations include: Dear Sir -

dresses given. Other letters can be sent afterwords.

for local authorities.
prison commanders. police chiefs; Your Honor - for judges: Dear
Admural, General, Captaun. etc. - for military officers: Your Ex-
cellency - for most mumster-level officials and state presidents:
in closing use "Yours sincerely” or “Respectfully” for any author-


URGENT ACTION PROGRAM OFFICE e P.O. Box 1270 Nederland, CO 80466-1270

OU AP PEE

* 303-440-0913 » FAX: 303-258-7881

7 March 1994

Further information on EXTRA 12/94 (24 February 1994) - Death Penalty

USA (Virginia): Johnny WATKINS

Amnesty International has learned with deep regret that Johnny
Watkins was executed in Virginia on 3 March 1994, as scheduled.

Thank you to all those who sent appeals on his behalf. Letters

expressing regret at Johnny Watkins’ execution may be sent to the
authorities in the original action.


The NATIONAL EXECUTION ALERT NETWORK is a project
of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
For more information, contact: Pamela Rutter, NCADP

1325 G St. NW LL-B, Washington DC 20005 (202)347-2411
Peacenet Access Code-ABOLITION//Non-Business Hours Alert Answering Machine 202-347-2415

94-1 FEBRUARY 16, 1994
**EXECUTION ALERT**EXECUTION ALERT**EXECUTION ALERT**EXECUTION ALERT**

TEXAS FEBRUARY 23, 1994 12:01AM ' LETHAL INJECTION
JOHN SATTERWHITE, (Black), age 47 has been on death row since February 1980. Satterwhite was convicted
of the robbery/murder of a white female convenience store clerk. Satterwhite’s co-defendant was
convicted of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, sentenced to 20 years in prison and released
under mandatory supervision in August 1986.

Pod

TEXAS FEBRUARY 23, 1994 12: O1AM LETHAL INJECTION
BRUCE CALLINS, (Black), age 33 has been on death row since July 1982. Callins was convicted of the
robbery/murder of white male.

TEXAS MARCH 4, 1994 12:01AM LETHAL INJECTION
JOHN GLENN MOODY, (White), age 41 has been on death row since March 1989. MOORS was convicted of
the robbery/rape/murder of an elderly white female.

TEXAS APRIL 8, 1994 12:01AM | LETHAL INJECTION
PEDRO MUNIZ, (Latino), age 37 has been on death row since October 1977. He was convicted of the
rape/murder of a white female.

TEXAS APRIL 15, 1994 12:01AM . LETHAL INJECTION
LESLEY LEE GOSCH, (White), age 38 has been on death row since September 1986. He was convicted of the
kidnapping/murder of a white female.

ON TEXAS DATES PLEASE TAKE ACTION, CONTACT: Gov. Ann Richards, PO Box 12428, Austin TX 78711-2428 or
phone 512/463-2000, or 512/463-1780 or FAX 512/463-1849,

Texas Board of Pardons & Parole, Jack Kyle, Director, PO Box 1776 2503 Lake Rd. Ste 9, Huntsville TX 77340 or
phone 409/291-2161 or FAX 409/291-6852.

VIRGINIA MARCH 3, 1994 11:00PM ELECTROCUTION
JOHNNY WATKINS, (Black), age 33 has been on death row since July 1984. Watkins was convicted of the
robbery/murder of a white female convenience store clerk. Watkins was convicted of an all white jury.
Watkin’s codefendant received a lesser sentence.

TAKE ACTION, CONTACT: Gov. George Allen, State Capitol, Richmond VA 23219
or phone (804) 786-2211 or FAX (804) 786-3985

ILLINOIS MAY 10, 1994 12:01AM | LETHAL INJECTION

JOHN WAYNE GACY, (White), age 53 has been on death row since March 1980. He was convicted of the
murder of 12 white males.

TAKE ACTION, CONTACT: Gov. Jim Edgar, State Capitol, Springfield IL 62706
or phone (217) 782-6830 or FAX (217) 782-3560

RAE AE Ae AE Te A aa aH EEE EERE EEE EEE EEEEEEEEE

IN REMEMBRANCE OF THOSE EXECUTED
Keith Eugene Wells, Idaho, executed January 6, 1994.
Harold Barnard, Texas, executed February 2, 1994.

and 1:50 a.m. observed the cash register capen and the money drawer missing.
Looking behind the counter, he found Buchanan’s body. The police ascertained
that there was missing from the cash register the sum of $ S4.73, including a $
2.00 Bill whese serial number had been recorded. Local merchants were notified
of the existence of C¥4735) this bill. Later on November 22, Darnell Watkins
(Darnell), Watkins's brother, was identified as the person whe had tendered the
bill that day in paying a store account.
Obtaining a search Warrant for Darnell’s apartment, the police discovered

that the brothers shared a bedroom. The officers found in a jacket in their
Alt-Z FOR HELPS VTioe $3 FOX 3 1200 N81 2 LOG CLOSED 3 FRINT OFF 3 ON-LINE

229 Va. 469, *475; 331 S.E.2d 422, #428

bedraam credit cards, a driver’s license, and other items belonging ta Carl
Buchanan. In another jacket bearing Watkins’s employee identification badge,
they found eight empty cartridges and a .S@2-caliber pistel leaded with six live
mullets.

Darnell was the principal witness for the Commonwealth. He admitted his
participation in the crimes, for which he had been convicted but not sentenced.

Darnell testified that about midnight on November 21, his breather offered ta
drive him to a store for cigarettes. On the way, Watkins said, "I might rab
same place." After finding one store closed, they proceeded tc Fast Fare, which
Watkins entered while Darnell remained in the car. Neo other customers were in
the store. Darnell saw his brother point a weapon at the clerk, saw the clerk
fall backward, and saw Watkins go to the other side of the counter and take the
cash drawer from the cash register. Hearing two shots, Darnell observed Watkins
bending dawn behind the counter. When Watkins returned to the car with the cash
drawer and a wallet, he drove away with his brother. Darnell asked Watkins if
ne had shot the clerk; Watkins replied that he had shot him three ar four times
in the head and chest. Watkins told Darnell the wallet contained about # 40.
“ram the preceeds af the robbery he gave Darnell $ 42 in repayment of a loan.

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TECTIVE, March, 1994

CRIME DATELINE

DANVILLE, VIRGINIA
NOVEMBER 14 & 22, 1983

THE CONNECTIONS were glaring.
Both Betty Jean Barker and Carl
Buchanan were blasted away in the con-
venience stores where they ‘worked.
Both were hit four times, in roughly the
same parts of their bodies, with small-
caliber fire, and both incidents occurred
in the predawn hours.

The police in Danville, Virginia, had
a killer to catch, and they needed to do it
quick. That fateful Tuesday in late No-
vember 1983, Barker and Buchanan
died within eight days of each other.

Jackson “Jack” Brown, a veteran de-
tective with the Danville Police Depart-
ment, was on vacation when he heard
about Buchanan’s slaying, hours after
the body was found on November 22.
1983. Brown, then 43 years old, gave up’
his plans for deer hunting that Tuesday
and joined his partner, M.O. Dalton, on
the case. Dalton, about three years older
than Brown, was also a homicide vet.

Wiley Lowe had found Buchanan’s
body about 1:55 a.m. that Tuesday.
Lowe stopped there at the West Main
Street Fast Fare to buy smokes. Having
found no one at the counter, he waited
several minutes. Then, he noticed the
cash register was missing its drawer. He

Carl Buchanan was cut down by four
lethal slugs a week after another
convenience store clerk was slain
by the same .22-caliber pistol.

leaned over the counter and saw a man ’S
body lying there.

Lowe scrambled outside and told his
wife, who was waiting in their car, to
lock the doors and stay in the vehicle.
Then Lowe went back inside the store
and examined the body. The man had

apparently been shot: his face was cov-
ered with blood. Now Lowe hurried
back outside and called the Danville po-
lice.

By the time the police and the emer-
gency medical technicians arrived, Car!
Buchanan was dead.

Detectives found that Buchanan was
hit once in the face, twice in the chest,
and once in the back. The sleuths soon
found a customer who had talked to
Buchanan about 1:35 a.m., So there was
a temporal window of perhaps 20 min-
utes in which the ; laying might have oc-
curred.

The cash register drawer was gone,
and the register records showed that the
drawer couldn’t have had more than a
few bucks in it. Buchanan was also
robbed of a wallet that probably con-
tained his credit cards.

Buchanan had served in Korea and
Japan while in the United States Air
Force. He had worked as a Carpenter, a
crab boat worker, a business machine
repairman, and a paint salesman. Now,
having gone through all that, he had
come home to die at the age of 41 on a
cold convenience store floor for a few
lousy bucks and some plastic cards,

The facts surrounding his death, scant
as they were, were chillingly similar to
the facts in Betty Jean Barker’s case.

A customer had found Barker’s body
about 3:15 a.m. o: Sunday, November

Front Page Detective 57


Murder of the two victims spread terror among store clerks in Danville, Virginia.

14th. Her corpse had been lying behind
the counter at the Kwik Stop No. 4 on
State Road 360.

Barker, who would have turned 23 in
December, was shot in the face once and
in the chest twice. Pathologists said that
one of the chest bullets had pierced a
lung and her aorta, causing her to bleed
to death within 5 to 10 minutes. A
fourth bullet, an apparent misfire, was
found in the back of her sweater.

The cash drawer Barker tended had
also been grabbed. Register records
showed the drawer couldn’t have con-
tained more than $50.

Barker was last seen alive about 2:45
a.m., so the crime must have occurred
within a half-hour time frame.

Aside from the evidence, there were
other similarities to the Buchanan case.

On the night of their deaths, both vic-
tims had been filling in for co-workers.
In fact, Barker was well on the way to
catching a cold when she took the
graveyard shift for a co-worker who had
been injured in a motorcycle accident.

Because of that cold, Barker could eas-
ily have excused herself. But she was a
good, dependable worker, and she
needed the money.

Barker, a North Carolina native, liked
to draw, paint and cook. She often
whipped up potato salad and brownies
in the store snack room.

Both Barker and Buchanan had left
school early in life to start working, and
both were dedicated family folks who
lived children. Barker often babysat,
and gave the children who came into the
store candy and money.

The Barker slaying occurred just out-
side the Danville city limits, in Pittsyl-
vania County. While the jurisdiction of
the Danville police extended a mile out-
side their city limits, the Pittsylvania
County Sheriff’s Department.also had
jurisdiction in the Barker case. It was
the sheriff’s department that had been
probing the Barker killing. But despite
diligent work by the detectives, leads
were still scarce in the case.

The detectives on the Buchanan case

hoped to have better luck. But things
weren’t looking that hot as they
sketched the crime scene and shot pho-
tos of it.

Danville’s convenience store workers
were telling reporters that they were
spooked, and many store owners tempo-
rarily suspended their graveyard shifts.
A reward for information leading to an
arrest and conviction in either case was
quickly posted.

But it was the owner of the store
where Buchanan worked who came
through with the most powerful piece of
information. The store owner, Norris
Taylor, called the Danville police hours
after Carl Buchanan’s body was found
to say that his workers kept a marked
bill in their registers, or one of which
the serial number had been recorded. In
fact, Taylor said, Buchanan’s register
was missing a $2 bill that Taylor just
happened to have the serial number of.

Detectives Dalton and Brown hopped
on the lead. With fellow sleuths lending
a hand, and by working over the phones
and in their cars, they canvassed Dan-
ville’s businesses, warning the mer-
chants to be on the lookout for the
marked bill. They told the merchants it
was a $2 bill, and gave them the serial
number to watch for.

Obviously, the sleuths just couldn’t
give the number to the press and allow it
to be published—the killers would see it
along with everyone else. No, the only
ones who needed to know about the
marked bill were the merchants, and
time was of the essence as the sleuths
furiously made calls and went by stores
and shops in the small, hilly factory city
on the banks of the Dan River. Soon,
their efforts paid off.

On Tuesday afternoon, a clothing
shop owner called the police to say he’d
just been the recipient of the marked $2
bill—and the man who passed it had an
account at the store with his name and
address on the account!

The account holder was one Darnell
Watkins, a local 20-year-old factory
worker who had seen his share of trou-
ble. Detectives recognized the name and

Two convenience store clerks, one male, the other female,
were slain in different locations in separate incidents
eight days apart. The crimes were linked by the motive
and the murder weapon, but there was one more thing
that would soon snare the slayer—a two-dollar bill.

58 Front Page Detective

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pulled his mugshot from their records.
They placed that mug in a photo lineup
for the shop owner, who immediately
picked out Watkins as being the man in
his store.

By 10:30 that Tuesday night, the
sleuths were moving in on Watkins at
his Holbrook Street apartment. Before
taking any action, though, they made
Sure to secure a search warrant for the
dwelling.

In short order, the detectives arrested
Watkins at the apartment. While making
that arrest, they found out that he shared
the place with his older brother, 22-
year-old Johnny Watkins. Johnny, a hos-
pital groundskeeper with previous con-
victions for aggravated battery, was at
home as the officers served their warrant
and went to work.

Inside a closet they found hanging a
jacket with Johnny’s name sewn inside.
And in that jacket was a short-barreled,
.22-caliber revolver. The jacket also
contained one of Carl Buchanan’s credit
cards.

The sleuths also confiscated two rolls
of nickels and a glove.

The detectives took the Watkins
brothers downtown to headquarters for
questioning in the Buchanan case. De-
tective Brown worked Darnell in one in-
terview room; Detective Dalton worked

Johnny in another. Longtime Danville

‘ Commonwealth’s Attorney William H.

Fuller III, who’d been involved in the
case since the search warrant had been
issued, monitored the interviews.

Johnny Watkins, a cool character, was
denying any involvement in the crime.

In the other room, Fuller and Brown
told Darnell Watkins that if he was the
triggerman, there wasn’t much they
could do for him. Under Virginia law,
Darnell might well be facing the death
penalty if he was the gunman.

But if he wasn’t, as they secretly felt,
he could help himself by talking. Fuller
and Brown said they couldn’t make any
promises as far as what kind of sentence
he’d get, but they would make Darnell’s
cooperation known to the court.

Darnell waived his rights and started
talking as a tape recorder whirred away.
He said that at the time in question, he
and Johnny headed to Buchanan’s store
to get something to eat. Darnell said he
didn’t think it was going to be a robbery.
From the car, he watched his brother en-
ter the store. Then he saw his brother
shoot Buchanan four times and grab the
cash drawer. Later, he said, Johnny loot-
ed the drawer of $34.73 and threw the
empty drawer into a sewer.

Johnny also grabbed Buchanan’s wal-
let, Darnell said, and took out $40 bucks

and the credit card.

At this time, Brown, Fuller and
Dalton took time out to confer. It was
early Wednesday as they charged Dar-
nell Watkins with first-degree murder,
robbery, and use of a firearm in the com-
mission of a felony. They left him under
guard as they turned their attention to
his brother.

The lawmen confronted Johnny Wat-
kins with Darnell’s statement. Johnny
still maintained his innocence.

They told him he was being charged
with capital murder, a count which in-
volves a possible death sentence upon
conviction. Johnny said he wanted a
lawyer. But then he asked why he was
being charged. By the letter of Virginia
law, the suspect reopened the interroga-
tion with that question and voided his
request for a lawyer.

‘The lawmen told Johnny that his
brother had confessed and implicated
him in the Buchanan killing. They
played him the tape. Now he said he
wanted to talk to Darnell, and they al-
lowed him to do so.

After talking with Darnell, Johnny
said he might talk with the investigators
at a later time. The investigators
charged Johnny Watkins with capital
murder, robbery, and use of a firearm to
commit the crime. He was placed in the

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432 Va. 331 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

132 Va. 512, 516, 110 S.E. 428, 429 (1922)
(jurors not disqualified because previously
convicted same defendant of different of-
fense). Since voir dire revealed no bias or
prejudice among the jurors, including those
who had heard other cases, the court, did
not abuse its discretion in qualifying each
individual juror and in refusing Watkins’s
motion to summon an entirely new panel.

B. Buchanan Murder.

1. Motion to Suppress.

Watkins made a pretrial motion to sup-
press statements given by him to the po-
lice. We have affirmed the ruling of the
trial court in the appeal of his Barker mur-
der conviction that the statements were
freely, voluntarily, and intelligently given,
without coercion, threat, or promise, after
Watkins was properly advised of his rights.
The same rationale applies in this case.
Moreover, the statements were never of-
fered in evidence in either the guilt or
penalty phases of the trial.

2. Other Pretrial Motions.

Watkins moved the court for appoint-
ment of a private investigator at public
expense to assist in his defense. The mo-
tion was denied. For reasons stated in the
appeal of the Barker murder conviction, we
affirm the ruling. See Martin, 221 Va. at
446, 271 S.E.2d at 130.

The trial court denied Watkins’s motion
for discovery of the names and addresses
of all potential witnesses for the Common-
wealth. For reasons stated in the appeal
of the Barker murder conviction, we affirm
the ruling. See Lowe, 218 Va. at 679, 239
SE.2d at 118; Rule 3A:11.

[11] Watkins moved for a change of
venue pursuant to Code § 19.2-251 because
of publicity generated by the trial of Wat-
kins under the indictments arising from the
Barker murder. Attached to the motion
were five articles which had been published
in the local newspapers. The trial court, in
denying the motion, found that the articles

were not inaccurate, prejudicial, inflamma-
tory, or extensive. We affirm the ruling.

Where a defendant relied on 70 articles in
newspapers to support his motion for a
change of venue but did not allege that the
articles were either inaccurate or intemper-
ate, we affirmed the trial court’s denial of
the motion. Linwood Earl Briley v. Com-
monwealth, 221 Va. 532, 587, 2738 S.E.2d
48, 51 (1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 1031,
101 §.Ct. 3022, 69 L.Ed.2d 400 (1981).

A motion for a change of venue is ad-
dressed to the discretion of the trial judge.
Absent an. affirmative showing that there
has been an abuse of discretion, we will not
disturb the decision. Tuggle v. Common-
wealth, 228 Va. 493, 508, 323 S.E.2d 539,
545 (1984), vacated and remanded, 471
US. ——, 105 S.Ct. 2315, 85 L.Bd.2d 880
(1985); Washington, 228 Va. at 544, 323
S.E.2d at 584, Newcomer 2. Common-
wealth, 220 Va. 64, 67, 255 S.E.2d 485, 487
(1979). There has been no such showing in
this case.

[12] The trial court experienced no dif-
ficulty in impaneling an impartial and quali-
fied jury. Prospective jurors were exten-
sively questioned by the court and by coun-
sel on voir dire. Of the first 25 called, only
five were removed for cause, one because
of relationship to the defendant and four
because of unalterable opposition to the
death penalty, under Witherspoon v. Illi-
nois, 391 U.S. 510, 522, 8g S.Ct. 1770, 1777,
90 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968). The others were
found to be qualified. We hold that the
trial court was fully justified in deciding
that it was not necessary to grant a change

of venue in order to accord Watkins:.2: fain: «.:.

trial.

Ill. The Guilt Trial.
A. Barker Murder.

1. Admissibility of Photograph.

Watkins challenges the admission of a
color photograph which depicted from close
range the victim’s face and a bloody gun-
shot wound. He asserts this photograph
was unnecessary, immaterial, and inflam-
matory. The court held the photograph
was admissible to prove the elements of the
offense charged because it showed one of


434 Va.

17th,” the Commonwealth’s attorney re
phrased his question and asked, “if Nash
sold you the gun, did he sell you the empty
cartridges, too?” The prosecutor's mis-
statement in the first question was ebvi-
ously inadvertent and was promptly cor-
rected, without prejudice to Watkins, by
the question which followed.

[18] On redirect examination of Nash,
the Commonwealth was permitted to ask
him if he was alone in the store during the
commission of the offenses, to which Nash
responded that he was not. Watkins con-
tends this question exceeded the scope of
cross-examination, which consisted of a sin-
gle question as to the ownership of the
pistol. While the question was outside the
scope of cross-examination, any error in the
admission of Nash’s answer was harmless.
Nash had previously testified in detail that
Watkins was in the store when he entered
and when he ran out with the cash drawer.

Watkins also argues the trial court im-
properly allowed the Commonwealth to
question Nash about a statement Watkins
allegedly made that he had robbed before.
This evidence, however, was not presented
until the sentencing phase of the trial,
when it was admitted without objection.

3. Display of Bloody Rug.

Watkins objected to admission of the
sweater the victim was wearing and the
rug on which she was found. He argued
that because both articles were bloody, the
prejudice to Watkins would outweigh their
probative value. The court ruled that both
the sweater and the rug were admissible as
physical evidence found at the crime scene.
The rug was then displayed to the jury
along with other items of physical evi-
dence. When i
duced the physical evidence, however, the
rug was not offered, but Watkins contin-
ued his objection because it had been dis-
played.

[19] On issues involving the admissibili-
ty of evidence, much must be left to the
court’s discretion. See Stamper, 220 Va.
at 269-71, 257 S.E.2d at 815. Because the

331 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

court properly ruled the rug admissible as
physical evidence depicting the crime scene,
we hold that no error resulted from its
display to the jury even though it was not
offered in evidence.

4. Sufficiency of Evidence.

Watkins challenges the suffi-
ciency of the evidence to establish his guilt

evidence, based in large part on an accom:
plice’s testimony, created only a suspicion
of guilt. We disagree. The evidence was
amply sufficient to create a jury issue.
The testimony of Nash, the accomplice,
was that Watkins entered the store with
the intent to commit robbery and that he
shot Barker in furtherance of that plan.
The jury was the proper judge of Nash’s
credibility and the weight that should be
given his testimony. Johnson Vv. Common-
wealth, 224 Va. 525, 528, 298 S.£.2d 99, 101
(1982); Coppola . Commonwealth, 220
Va. 243, 252, 257 S.E.2d 797, 803 (1979),
cert. denied, 444 USS. 1108, 100 $.Ct. 1069,
62 L.Ed.2d 788 (1980). The court instruct-
ed the jury that it should use caution in
basing @ conviction on the uncorroborated
testimony of the accomplice. See Johnson,

224 Va. at 527-28, 298 S.E.2d at 101.

[22] Watkins also says the testimony of
William E. Conrad, an expert in forensic
science, Was patently incredible so as to
preclude submission of the case to the jury.
Conrad stated that he was certain one of
the bullets removed from. the victim’s body

was fired from Watkins’s pistol he said’,

there was ‘“no margin of error.” This posi-.
tive statement merely affects the weight of

his testimony; it does not necessarily inval-

idate or even weaken the results of his

ballistics testing.

(23, 24] Finally, Watkins says he could
not be convicted of murder in the commis-
sion of a robbery because he did not actual-
ly take the cash drawer. Rather, Nash
testified that he took the drawer on “Wat-

kins’s command. Under § 18.2-31, how-
ever, a defendant may be convicted of capi-

tal murder in the commission of a robbery

without being 2 principal in the first degree


WATKINS v. COM. Va. 433
Cite as 331 S.E.2d 422 (Va. 1985)

the wounds and the way the victim was
found.

[13] We have held repeatedly that ad-
mission of photographs is within the trial
court’s discretion, and the court’s ruling
will be disturbed only upon a showing of
clear abuse of discretion. See Poyner v.
Commonwealth, 229 Va. ——, ——* 329
S.E.2d 815, 827 (1985); Jones, 228 Va. at
——, 323 S.E.2d at 566-67; Washington,
228 Va. at 552, 323 S.E.2d at 588; Stock-
ton, 227 Va. at 144, 314 S.E.2d at 384;
Bunch, 225 Va. at 486-37, 304 S.E.2d at
278; Peterson v. Commonwealth, 225 Va.
289, 294, 302 S.E.2d 520, 524, cert. denied,
464 U.S. 865, 104 S.Ct. 202, 78 L.Ed.2d 176
(1983); Martin, 221 Va. at 447, 271 S.E.2d
at 130. Having reviewed the photograph
at issue, we find no abuse of discretion in
its admission. The photograph tended to
show premeditation and malice. See Stock-
ton, 227 Va. at 144, 314 S.E.2d at 384.

2. Admissibility of Other Evidence.

Ellen Boaz, an employee of Kwik Stop,
testified early in the trial. After she was
excused, she sat in the courtroom and
heard the testimony of other witnesses.
The Commonwealth interrupted its ques-
tioning of the Kwik Stop manager to have
Boaz excused from the courtroom so she
later could be recalled. The Common-
wealth then elicited from the manager that
he had previously seen Watkins at the mar-
ket. The Commonwealth recalled Boaz to
ask if she had seen Watkins at the store on
prior occasions. Watkins, objecting to the
recall of Boaz, offered to stipulate that he
had been in the Kwik Stop before Novem-
ber 13. Nevertheless, the court permitted
the question to be asked, and Boaz answer-
ed in the affirmative.

[14] Watkins argues the court erred in
allowing Boaz’s recall. We agree with the
court’s ruling that no harm resulted from
recalling the witness since she had not
heard testimony relevant to the question
later asked of her and since Watkins con-
ceded his presence at Kwik Stop at times
prior to these offenses.

On direct examination of Kenny Fitzger-
ald, a participant in the November 18 card
game, the Commonwealth elicited testimo-
ny that Fitzgerald gave Watkins $10 at
Watkins’s request. The Commonwealth’s
attorney then asked, “So he was broke?”
Fitzgerald responded, “Yeah.” Watkins
objected to this question, but before the
court ruled the Commonwealth’s attorney
said, “Well, I’ll ask him ... do you know
whether or not he had any money?” No
additional objection was made, and Fitzger-
ald answered, “Well, I don’t think he would
have asked me for none, if he would have
had some.”

[15] Watkins contends that the court
erred in not ruling on his objection, thereby
allowing the Commonwealth to ask leading
questions of Fitzgerald and to comment on
his testimony. We find no prejudicial error
since the Commonwealth rephrased the
question to eliminate its leading aspect in a
manner apparently satisfactory to Watkins.
Moreover, Nash subsequently testified that
Watkins was “broke.”

[16] During cross-examination of Wat-
kins, who testified in his own behalf, the
Commonwealth attempted to impeach his
testimony with a prior statement. Watkins
objected to the questioning, which he al-
leged was argumentative, and asserted
that the Commonwealth’s attorney was
“yelling” at him. The court ruled that the
Commonwealth was entitled to cross-exam-
ine Watkins on this aspect of his testimony
and allowed the questioning to proceed.
The conduct of the trial is committed to the
discretion of the trial court. Justus ».

Commonwealth, 222 Va. 667, 676, “288%
S.E.2d 905, 910 (1981), cert. denied, 455, “
U.S. 983, 102 S.Ct. 1491, 71 L.Ed.2d 693°

(1982). Perceiving from the record no
abuse of discretion, we will not disturb the
court’s ruling.

[17] Watkins also argues that the court
erred in allowing the Commonwealth’s at-

- torney to misstate his testimony that Nash

had sold him the pistol. Following a de

fense objection to a question which began,
“Gf you sold Quentin Nash that gun on the

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WATKINS v. COM. Va. 43]
Cite as 331 S.E.2d 422 (Va. 1985)

nesses before trial. Weatherford, 429 U.S.
at 559, 97 S.Ct. at 845; see Lowe v, Com-
monwealth, 218 Va. 670, 679, 239 S.B.2d
112, 118 (1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 930,
98 S.Ct. 1502, 55 L.Ed.2d 526 (1978) (Rule
3A:11, formerly Rule 3A:14, providing for
discovery in criminal cases, does not re-
quire Commonwealth to provide names and
addresses of witnesses). The trial court
properly denied the discovery motion.

On the morning of trial, Watkins argued
two motions relating to the selection of the
jury. First, he sought to have separate
juries impaneled for the guilt and sentenc-
ing phases. Second, he requested a new
jury panel because the panel from which
the jury would be drawn to hear the case
had previously provided juries in two un-
related murder cases during the term. The
court properly denied both motions.

[7] Virginia’s capital murder statute ex-
pressly provides that the same jury shall
decide the penalty after finding a defend-
ant guilty of an offense punishable by
death; a different jury is impaneled only if
the sentence of death is later set aside or
found invalid and resentencing is request-
ed. Code § 19.2-264.3. Watkins contends
that once a jury finds a man guilty of a
capital offense, it is incapable of impartiali-
ty in fixing his punishment. This argu-
ment is untenable, however, in light of the
sentencing statute, which has repeatedly
withstood constitutional scrutiny. See Le-
Vasseur v. Commonwealth, 225 Va. 564,
592-93, 304 S.E.2d 644, 659 (1988), cert.
denied, 464 U.S. 1063, 104 S.Ct. 744, 79
L.Ed.2d 202 (1984); Clark, 220 Va. at 212-
18, 257 S.E.2d at 791-92; Smith v. Com-
monwealth, 219 Va. 455, 476-78, 248
S.E.2d 135, 148-49 (1978), cert. denied, 441
U.S. 967, 99 S.Ct. 2419, 60 L.Ed.2d 1074
(1979).

Under § 19.2~264.4, the sentencing jury
must consider, among other things, “the
circumstances surrounding the offense.”
It is the jury’s duty to consider all the
evidence, both favorable and unfavorable,
before fixing punishment. Stamper v.

Commonwealth, 220 Va. 260, 275-76, 257
S.E.2d 808, 819 (1979), cert. denied, 445

U.S. 972, 100 S.Ct. 1666, 64 L.Ed.2d 249
(1980). Thus, even under the two-jury sys-
tem Watkins seeks, the sentencing jury
would necessarily have access to the evi-
dence presented in the guilt phase of the
trial. Such a system would give no greater
assurance of impartiality than the system
now used but it would needlessly require
two separate trials in which the same evi-
dence would be presented. This kind of
cumbersome procedure is not mandated by
the United States or Virginia constitutions.
See Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262, 96 S.Ct.
2950, 49 L.Ed.2d 929 (1976); Gregg v. Geor-
gia, 428 U.S. 158, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d
859 (1976) (upholding constitutionality of
Texas and Georgia statutes which provide
for bifurcated proceedings before the same
jury on the issues of guilt and penalty).

[8] Watkins next contends that voir
dire was not an adequate means to insure a
fair and impartial jury where some of the
members of the venire had served on juries
in other murder cases during the term.
Voir dire examination revealed that 15 of
the 20 jurors who qualified had previously
served on juries, and several had served in
a capital murder trial during the same
term. Nevertheless, each juror affirmed
that he or she could give Watkins a fair
and impartial trial and base any verdict
returned on the law and the evidence.

[9,10] The partiality or impartiality of
an individual juror is a factual issue best
determined by the trial court. Patton v.
Yount, 467 U.S. ——, ——, 104 S.Ct. 2885,
28938, 81 L.Ed.2d 847 (1984). The court’s

finding that the jury impaneled' was~fair.”’’
and impartial is entitled to great weight.

and should be set aside only for plain error.

See Hevener v. Commonwealth, 189 Va..

802, 811, 54 S.E.2d 898, 898 (1949); Slade
v. Commonwealth, 155 Va. 1099, 1106, 156
S.E. 388, 391 (1931). The court does not
abuse its discretion when it seats a juror
whom voir dire shows to be impartial, re-
gardless of the juror’s prior jury service.
Slade, 155 Va. at 1106, 156 S.E. at 391
Gurors not incompetent to try related cases
involving different issues and law in the
same term); Burford v. Commonwealth,

tee er nega et men mee ne ae

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Founded 1848

By JEFF BUCHANAN

Staff Writer

- JARRATT — After almost 10
years of appeals, Johnny Watkins
Jr.’s sentence for the 1983 murders
of two Danville convenience store
clerks was carried out Thursday
night at the Greensville Correctio-
nal Center.
- Watkins, 32, made his way to the
electric chair just before 11 p.m. and
was declared dead at 11:11 p.m.,

said Wayne Brown, operations di-

rector at the prison. Brown said
there were no complications and no
last comments.

’ He became the 23rd murderer to
die in Virginia and the 229th na-
tionwide since the U.S. Supreme
Court re-instated capital punish-
ment in 1976,

- Someone in the death chamber
told Watkins to “... go with the flow”
immediately before he was electro-
cuted, said Wynne Woolley, the Vir-
ginia Press Association’s desig-

Friday, March 4, 1994 - Danville, Virginia

nated execution observer.

As he was led in, Ms. Woolley de-
scribed Watkins as “looking like a
puppy — vulnerable, resigned and
placid, but his facial expression was
one of bewilderment.”

Watkins made no statement be-
fore the execution, she added. He
simply was placed in the electric
chair, then a prison chaplain
blessed him as two guards were
wiping excess saline solution off of
his body.

Watkins killed Betty Jean Bark-
er, then 22 years old, during the
Nov. 14, 1983, robbery of the Kwik
Stop convenience store on Route
360 near the Purdum Woods apart-
ment complex.

He shot Barker three times — a
fourth bullet lodged in her sweater
— and took $89.89 from the cash
register.

“‘Tll know that I can rest in
peace,” Betty Jean Barker's father,
Robert Barker, said after the execu-

atkins executed

tion.

Barker and Ken Powell, the own- _

er of the store where Ms. Barker

was working when she was mur-" ~

dered, kept a lonely vigil outside the

. prison Thursday night. The pair
were the only people to come out on:

the cold night.
“Justice has been done,” Barker
said. “He took a life. I think he
should give a life.”

Despite having to be at work Fri-
day morning, Powell was sharing
the seat of a pickup truck with Bar-
ker, waiting for the final act of the
decade-long drama to be played at
the rural prison.

“I’m just going to be able to rest at

ease knowing the person responsi- |

ble for Jean’s death ... justice has
been served with them,” Powell
said. “Jean was more than just an
employee. She was a friend. A super
nice gir].”

See WATKINS, Page SA

The Hoplin Globe

Friday, March 4, 1994

Convicted
killer

executed

The Associated Press
JARRATT, Va. — A man con-

victed of killing two convenience

store clerks during a pair of
small-time robberies in 1983 was
executed Thursday in Virginia’s

- electric chair.

Johnny Watkins Jr., 33, who had

been visited earlier Thursday by a .

paralegal and a friend, had no final
statement,

Watkins was convicted of killing

Betty Jean Barker, 22, as she filled:
- in at a convenience store on Nov.

14, 1988, for a co-worker who had
called in sick.

Eight days later, he used the
same .22-caliber pistol to shoot Carl
Buchanan, 41, at another store.

Each of the robberies netted him
less than $100.

Watkins cites racism
for sentence, wants
execution called off

RICHMOND (AP) — A black man who killed two
white convenience store employees asked Gov.
: me George Allen to call off his
scheduled execution, alleg-
ing racism affected his sen-
tencing.

Johnny Watkins Jr., 33,
of Danville is scheduled to
die March 8 in the electric
chair. His 1984 murder
convictions were upheld on
appeal, and the U.S. Su-
preme Court refused last
month to hear his case. ©

Watkins killed Betty
Jean Barker, 22, as she
-, worked alone at a conve-
| nience store Nov. 14, 1983.

Eight days later, he shot
| Carl Buchanan, a 41-year-

3 old clerk at another store,
ALLEN with the same .22-caliber
pistol.

In both cases, Watkins shot the victims four times
and left the store with the cash drawer from the reg-

' See PLEA, Page 7A

i

isters, said William H. Fuller I,
the Danville commonwealth’s at-

torney.

: Watkins’ trials were infected
by racism and blacks were sys-
tematically excluded from the ju-
ries that sentenced him to. die,
said Gerald T. Zerkin, one of
Watkins’ lawyers.

“It therefore falls to the gover-
nor to consider whether, in light
of all those circumstances, John-
ny Watkins Jr. ... has been sen-
tenced to death by a process
tainted with racism,” Zerkin
said.

The clemency petition said:
“Danville has never sentenced to
death any white person. In sum,
Danville has displayed an unmi-
tigated record of racism in the
administration of capital punish-

“ment.” cca hgh 5 ee
' Fuller said the charge of rac-

ism is nonsense.
* “All of this was litigated in the
state courts, and they held there
vas no discrimination ... and it’s
been through the federal courts,”
as well, he said.

: Zerkin said the petition to |

‘ommute Watkins’ two death
bentences was filed Wednesday
with the governor’s office:

' “It’s our policy not to discuss
any aspect of aclemency request,
even to confirm or deny there’s
been a clemency request,” said
‘Allen spokesman Ken Stroupe.

' Watkins’ lawyers said that

Danville Register x Bee

p CC Continued from Page 1A

Danville has sentenced six peo-
ple to die since the death penalty
was reinstated in 1976. All were
black. Five of the 72 total jurors
in those trials, or 7 percent, were
black in a city where blacks make
up 36.6 percent of the popula-
tion. . _

Fuller denied that blacks were
excluded from juries in capital
murder cases. “It’s just happened
that these people have been
black defendants.”

1 Satta h i git ele
titi |

ae ogi

| Friday, February 25, 1994 - Danville, Virginia


Wa tki n S Continued from Page 1A

Watkins attributed most of
those humps and bumps in his
life to substance abuse that prob-
ably started because of his lack of
positive male role model.

Born in New York in 1961,
Watkins said his mother brought
him to Danville when he was 3
years old and left him with his
grandmother. Watkins spent his
childhood, he said, passed be-
tween ‘the grandmother and a
maternal aunt who also lived in
Danville.

According to a clemency peti-
tion Watkins’ lawyer, Gerald
Zerkin, filed with Gov. George
Allen last week, Watkins mother
was at his 1983 trial but left be-
fore finding out if the jury settled

on death, citing a need to return.

to New York.

“Her actions ‘demonstrate
more graphically than any testi-
mony the parental abandonment
which Mr. Watkins suffered,”
Zerkin wrote.

Without a man to look up toin
his family, Watkins said, his only
role models were “... the guys on
the street.” é

“I think everybody needs a fa-
ther figure,” Watkins said earlier
this week. “I didn’t have one and
I think if I had one it would have
made my life tremendously dif-

ferent. I just had those guys to »

look up to and try to be like and
that got me into trouble.”

The trouble began when he

was around 13 and began drink-

a

ii
4

ing and using drugs — “... mostly
smoking pot,” Watkins said — at
the urging of his street heroes.

“T started getting into trouble,
staying out later and having
more opportunities to get into
trouble,” Watkins said. “There’s
no doubt about drugs affects your
judgment — its impaired —
your memory and everything.”

Watkins’ drug abuse appar-
ently continued and worsened.

According to trial testimony,
Watkins told a psychologist that
he had drunk almost a pint of gin
and had taken several hits of
LSD before killing Buchanan.
The psychologist described Wat-
kins as having a tendency to-
ward “episodic substance abuse.”

The black community, Wat-
kins said, needs to do a better job
of producing male role models to
keep black children from em-
barking on the road to trouble.

“In the black community, un-
fortunately, you don’t have a lot
of middle class, college educated
men to look up to,” Watkins said.
“When I was coming up, you
didn’t look forward to going to
college. It was something you
couldn’t look forward to because
you knew it wasn’t going to hap-
pen to you.”

That perceived lack of oppor-
tunity served only to drive Wat-

‘kins and his friends back to
hanging out and substance
abuse.

Watkins said like many he
would like to see more young peo-

Thursday

March 3, 1994

Haile. | VINER.

ple avoid getting involved in
crime but, he said, he didn’t
think his impending execution
would have much effect.

“T don’t think my execution is
going to be a deterrent because
when you are doing a crime you
don’t think about the conse-
quences until after you do it,”
Watkins said. “I think when they
commit crimes, they think it’s
wrong but they don’t think about
sentences and that kind of stuff.” .

Capital punishment sends an
ambiguous message about kill-
ing, Watkins added.

“How is it saying that killingis ©
wrong when the state is killing
people?” Watkins asked. “That.
sends a mixed message that kill- ;
ing is wrong except when the *
state does it.”

Watkins and his lawyer, Ger-

ald Zerkin, argue that his death ©

sentence was based upon his race

as much as any other factor.

In the 28-page clemency peti- »,
tion, Zerkin points out that all Be
six of Danville’s death row in-*:
mates are black. Out of 120 po-

tential jurors in those six cases, ©

only 15 were black even though *
blacks make up 36 percent of the
city’s population, he wrote. Of .
those 15, only five actually ©

served on trial juries.

Both Danville Circuit Court. .

juries that convicted Watkins in

two separate trials in 1984 were »=.

all white.

“Officials in Danville ny ré-'“Ttitiéh = would be'sticces

~ yt
!

spond to this evidence by deny-,

ing that they discriminated on°

account of race or by saying that
they excluded a prospective”
black juror for this reason of,.
that,” Zerkin wrote. “But thg
question is not one of being or
saying; it is one of doing. The-
facts are that for 100 years, for 30).
years, for 10 years and even tot!
day, what Danville is doing is exr,
cluding black citizens from it$®
system of justice in capital pros={
ecutions.” ald
~ Danville Commonwealth's Ate:
torney William H. Fuller II, thé
man who prosecuted Watkins ins
1984, could not be reached by thet
Danville Register & Bee but he?
told The Associated Press that?
Watkins’ charges of racism were?
“nonsense.” eh
Fuller pointed out that the-
cases have been upheld through:
almost 10 years of appeals in;
state and federal courts. reah
Watkins said after 10 years on.
death row he believes that capi:
tal punishment is many. times;
meted out along racial lines. ‘°°
“Politicians like to talk about:
law and order,” Watkins said. “I~
believe that society is getting:
worse, I think the system is ra¢;‘
ist and if we keep going dowrh,
that road things are going to get:
worse not better.” wipd

tay

The only way he has been abl ,

to keep his sanity facing a death+
sentence, Watkins said, is ton
haye complete faith that his aie;
peals —~ or now, his clemency paps”

,
4

Sful eS i

'; one 4
Bae Se Ack
; PAA
NE rear bd

DanuiteReiste « Be.


Le oe
i: ;

TUGGLE, Lem D., Jr., white, injection VASP (Smyth Co.) December 12, 1996.

TUGGLE, Lem D., Jr., white-He “...raped and shot a Smyth Co. woman on May 29,
1983, five months after he was paroled in connection with a 1972 murder conviction...”-Detective
Files, March, 1996,p30.

“Marion-A judge set a June 6 execution date for Lem Tuggle, the last of 6 inmates who
pulled off the Nation’s largest death row escape in 1984. The other 5 have been executed.”-
USA Today, 5/7/1996.

“Pending execution: Dec. 12-Lem Tuggle is the sole survivor of six death row inmates
who escaped in 1984. He was recaptured in Vermont. The other five have been executed.
Tuggle raped and murdered a Smyth County woman in 1983.”-7imes-Dispatch, Richmond, VA,
10/19/1996.

“Virginia Execution-Uttering the words ‘Merry Christmas,’ Lem Tuggle was executed by
injection for the 1983 rape and murder of a woman he met at a dance...”-USA Today, 12/13/1996.

Pee

" * Pilot Online - NEWS

Page |

P@ PILOT ONLINE

NEWS -Dec. 13,199

Tuggle, wishing "Merry Christmas," is
executed for 1983 murder

BY BILL BASKERVILL, Associated Press

Copyright 1996, Landmark Communications Inc.

JARRATT, Va. -- After years of delays and appeals, Lem Tuggle gave a farewell ’’ Merry
Christmas" greeting and was executed Thursday night for the 1983 rape and murder of a woman
he met at a dance.

Tuggle, who wore a’ Born to Die" tattoo on his arm, was one of six inmates who took part in
the largest death row escape in U.S. history. He was put to death by injection at the Greensville
Correctional Center.

Tuggle, 44, was pronounced dead at 9:12 p.m.

Tuggle's last words were ’ Merry Christmas." His attorney and a minister bent down to whisper
something to him as he lay on a gurney moments before the execution.

Patricia West, Virginia's new secretary of public safety, was one of the witnesses to the
execution.

A half-dozen opponents of capital punishment waited outside the rural prison's main gate as the
execution hour approached.

_ There is a killing marathon going on in Virginia right now," said Dante Ciolfi, 41, of Falls
Church. ’’ There is no need to create a new set of victims by killing a human being."

Earlier Thursday, Gov. George Allen rejected clemency, saying ‘‘there is no question
whatsoever as to Tuggle's guilt."

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Tuggle's last appeal on Dec. 5, said his lawyer, Timothy
Kaine.

Tuggle was sentenced to death for the 1983 murder of Jessie Geneva Havens in Smyth County.
Ms. Havens, 52, was raped, sodomized and shot in the chest four months after Tuggle was
paroled from a 20-year sentence for murdering a 17-year-old girl in 1971. He had served about
half of the sentence.

As he has in denying clemency to other condemned men, Allen remembered the victims.

The loved ones of Jessie Geneva Havens -- and Tuggle's earlier victim, Shirley Brickey, a
teenager at the time she was murdered -- will not be with them this holiday season, or any other

Court Rules On Death Sentences
AP 30 Oct 95 11:16 EST V0261
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press, All rights reserved.

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

Court Rules On Death Sentences re

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court Monday made it harder to uphold
a death sentence if errors occurred during the sentencing. The court
ordered a new review of a Virginia death row inmate‘s case.

The justices, voting unanimously, ruled that Lem Tuggle Jr.'s death
sentence had been wrongly upheld by the Virginia Supreme Court and a
federal appeals court without proper consideration of what role the
sentencing errors played.

Tuggle was convicted of capital murder | fot the 1993 shooting death
in Smythe County, Va., of Jessie Geneva Havens.

While awaiting trial, Tuggle was interviewed by a state
psychologist. After Tuggie’ s conviction, the psychologist testified at
his sentencing hearing about Tuggle’s “high probability of future
dangerousness., "

That factor was one of two "aggravating circumstances" the
sentencing jury uged to justify capital punishment. The other
aggravating circumstance was its finding that the crime was
particularly vile.

But Tuggle’s lawyer was not present when he was interviewed by the
state psychologist, and at the sentencing trial Tuggle was not allowed
to hire, at state expense, a psychologist who might rebut the state's
testimony about future dangerousness.

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the futurerdangerous factor
was invalid, but it upheld Tuggle’s death sentence based on the
remaining aggravating factor,

Tuggle then turned to the federal courts for help, but the 4th U,S.
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last June that his sentence could stand.

The appeals court relied, in part, on a 1983 Supreme Court decision
that said a death sentence may be upheld even when one of two
aggravating factors is invalidated.

In an unsigned opinion Monday, however, the justices said their 1983
decision "does net support the quite different proposition that the
existence of a valid aggravator always excuses a constitutional error
in the admission or exclusion of evidence,”

The justices said the two lower courts apparentiy tound that any
psychiatric evidence Tuggle would have introduced at his sentencing
trial would not have influenced the sentencing jury’s consideration of
the vileness factor.

“Nevertheless, the absence of such evidence may well have affected
the jury’s ultimate decision, based on all of the evidence before it,
to sentence (Tuggle) to death ‘pather than life imprisonment," the high
court said.

Tuggle’s case was sent back to the 4th Circuit court, which may rule
on it or send it back to the Virginia Supreme Court.

Monday’s decision said a lower court must decide whether Tuggle’s
death sentence "might be sustained or reimposed" or needs to be set
aside in favor of a new sentencing trial.

_ The case is Tuggle vs. Netherland, 95- “6016.

64 They walked out. They did not break out.
You have to remember that. It took human

error for them to escape 5

Jerry Davis
Prison records manager

could run right out of the house.
Everyone was scared.”

Clanton and Peterson were
caught the next day in Warren-
ton, N.C.; Jones and Tuggle a
week later, in Stanford, Vt., after
Tuggle robbed a gift shop.

The Brileys were last. It took -
hundreds of law enforcement offi-
cials from several states, aided by
a bounty hunter, three weeks to
track the pairdown.  —.. -

When FBI agents closed in on
June 19, the Brileys were calmly
barbecuing chicken in Philadel--
phia: 7.‘ - a ae Po ee

Both were executed within a
year, and the others’ soon fol-
lowed. The sole survivor, Lem D.
Tuggle Jr., declined to be inter-
viewed, saying he feared that dis-
cussing the escape could hinder
his continuing appeals.

The breakout prompted a state™

investigation, which found that—

Mecklenburg, which was touted

—

as state-of-the-art and virtually

escape-proof when it opened eight -

years earlier, was actually vul-

nerable to escape because of weak

security procedures and poorly

trained employees.

“Tt was terribly embarrassing,”

said Carl K. Hester, assistant
warden at Mecklenburg Correc-

tional Center. “We have done all —
we could to ensure nothing like |

that ever happened again.”

New security officers were

hired. There are daily checks of”
the cell windows on death row, e

and the evening recreation period
was eliminated.

“A new wall with another °
locked door was added to the -

three cellblocks that make up
death row. Individual guards no —
longer control all the locks and °

can lock themselves into their
stations for protection.
“Obviously, after an incident
like that there were changes,”
Hester said.

Fridag 6-[/- Y

Associated Press

inmates who escaped on May 31, 1984. The sole

Lem D. Tuggle Jr., center, a death row inmate at

Is.

, declined to be interviewed, say-

ing he did not want to hinder continuing appea

survivor, Tuggle

nia’s Mecklenburg Correctional: Center, is

shown in this file p

Virgi

hoto. Tuggle was. one of six

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Good news for death-row escapee

ROANOKE, Va. — A man who escaped with five
others in the nation’s largest death-row breakout may go
free after a judge overturned his murder conviction. The
others have been executed.

Lem D. Tuggle Jr. must be released or retried within six
months, U.S. District Judge James Turk ruled Wednesday
in overturning Tuggle’s 1984 murder conviction. The
42-year-old Tuggle’s rights were violated repeatedly during
the trial, the judge said.

Attorney General Jim Gilmore said Thursday that the
State will appeal the ruling.

In January 1984, Tuggle was sentenced to die after he
was convicted of raping and fatally shooting a’ woman he
met at a dance. On May 31 of that year, Tuggle escaped
with five other death-row inmates from the Mecklenburg
Correctional Center, the state’s maximum-security prison.

It remains the largest death-row escape in U.S. history.
They all were recaptured.

Friday, June 10, 1994 The Arizona Republic A5


Largest death row escape

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By Anne Gearan
Associated Press

BOYDTON, Va. — These days,
Prince A. Thomas Jr. patrols the
razor-wired, 20-foot fences sur-
rounding the Mecklenburg Cor-
rectional Center. He has little
contact with death row or its in-
mates.

“TJ don’t like to go over there,”
he says. eos

Small wonder. Ten years ago,
on May 31, 1984,. Thomas was
among 14 prison employees taken
hostage by a determined band of
six condemned men — stripped,
bound and locked in a cell. _

The six, sentenced to die for a
total of nine murders, then drove
through the open gates of Virgin-
ia’s most secure'prison. It was the
largest death row escape in

American history.

All were recaptured within
three weeks; five of the six have
been executed. The breakout still
haunts Mecklenburg, though em-
ployees rarely mention it.

“You don't ever get over it,”
Thomas said.

“You can’t take nothing for

anted. The only reason you
walk out of here every day is be-
cause the inmates let you walk
out. ... I’m very aware of that.”

The escape was carefully

planned, craftily prepared. The

inmates had secreted homemade |
knives in cracks in their cell
walls, then painted over the
cracks. Over months, they lis-
tened to the guards’ conversa-
tions over an intercom system,
noting assignments, names and
shift changes.

The Briley brothers — James
and Linwood — were the master-
minds; they had been accused of |
11 murders in Richmond, al- ~
though they were not tried for all —
of them. “You can’t burn a guy aa
but one time,” the city prosecutor ~
said after both Brileys were sen- |
tenced to death. an

Richmond Circuit Judge James
Wilkinson called the brothers’
crimes the “vilest rampage of
rape, murder and robbery the
court has seen in 30 years.”

_ The others: Derick L. Peterson, —

22, killer of a ‘supermarket |

worker; Willie Leroy Jones, 26,

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He claims access
denied; state says its
' policy is unchanged.

By LYNN WALTZ
STAFF WRITER

With two inmates scheduled to
be executed by next Wednesday,
Virginia’s senior spiritual advisor
to death-row inmates says he has
been denied, without explanation,
full access to those prisoners. °

Death-row chaplain Russ Ford,
who has counseled nearly 20 men
prior to their executions in a 20-
year: career on Virginia’s death
row, blasted the Department of
Corrections Tuesday for denying
him weekend and after-hours

access to two death-row inmates
about to be executed.

Ford said a new policy was
implemented — without notice —
on Monday, three days before
inmate Lem Tuggle is scheduled to
die and nine days before inmate
Dennis Stockton is scheduled to be
executed.

Ford said the Allen administra-
tion is insensitive to religious and

spiritual counseling in prison and
called corrections director Ron
Angelone the “self-appointed Bish-
op of Corrections.” |

Limiting an inmate’s access to
their spiritual advisor of choice is
unconstitutional, Ford said. And
weekends, especially the last week-
end before an inmate is executed,
are often critical times spiritually,
Ford said.

Death-row chaplain denounces restricted visits

“You can’t plan when someone is
going to need you when they’re in
the sacrament of dying,” he said.
“You can’t keep banker’s hours.
The last Sunday of their lives is
often a time when people are open
to the spirit of God.” :

Corrections spokeswoman Amy
Miller said Tuesday the depart-
ment’s policy has not been
changed. Only employees of the
official chaplain service that minis-
ters to prisoners are allowed 24-
hour access to death-row inmates.

Ford once headed that service
but has since left to start his own
ministry. All other clergy must visit
during regular visiting hours,
which excludes night and weekend
visits.

Exceptions are made on a case-

Please see Access, Page B2

Pe


é

4A « FRIDAY, JUNE 21

1996+ Usa TODAY

Breakout’s sole survivor
nearing execution date

By Tom Curley
USA TODAY

Twelve years after the largest death row jailbreak in
USS. history, there is only one inmate left to tell the tale.

And how long Lem Tuggle stays around depends upon
the Supreme Court. In one of his last appeals, Tuggle
claims his death sentence was unfairly imposed because
he was prevented from rebutting expert testimony.

Tuggle is the lone survivor of an infamous band of
death row convicts who escaped from a maximum secu-
rity Virginia prison by calmly driving a jail van through
the front gates.

Inside the van were six killers dressed as prison
guards. Between them, the men were either convicted or
suspected of some 17 murders. ,

The unprecedented escape in June 1984 led to a man-
hunt that mobilized hundreds of police and FBI agents
from North Carolina to Canada. Quebec cops brought-in
a heat-sensing device to scour dense woods near the Ver-
mont border where inmates were thought to be hiding.

Reports the killers were headed for Canada did little to
quell growing fears in Smyth County, Va., where Tuggle
had been found guilty of murder and sentenced to death
five months before his escape.

Lawyer Danny Lowe, who prosecuted Tuggle, began
making certain the doors to his house were locked. And
he listened for strange noises in the night. “The general
feeling was that it was only a matter of time until (Tug-
gle) doubled back and came to this area,” Lowe says.

The jailbreak in Mecklenburg, Va., had been carefully
planned: A prisoner overpowered a guard in the cellb-
lock control room, then released five other death row in-
mates. Using homemade knives, the group quickly took
other guards hostage and seized the building.

They forced a hostage to radio guards outside the
building with news that a bomb had been found on death
row. A van was sent to remove the bomb. The six in-
mates, dressed in riot gear and carrying the bogus bomb,
jumped in and sped off. About 30 minutes passed before
authorities caught on.

Gene Johnson of the Virginia Corrections Department
was in a staff meeting 12 years ago when the call came
with the news. “The greatest concern was to get them
back and get them back without them hurting anybody
else,” says Johnson, a 30-year corrections veteran, now

| deputy director for operations.

The escapees had frightening resumes of mayhem and
murder. Among them were:

> Tuggle, guilty of the 1983 rape and murder of a 52-
year-old woman he met at a dance. The woman was
killed just four months after Tuggle had been paroled for
the 1971 murder of a 17-year-old girl.

> The Briley brothers, accused of 11 killings during a
rape-and-murder spree. James Briley received two
death sentences for the 1979 murder of a pregnant wom-
an and her 5-year-old son. Linwood Briley got the death
penalty for killing a disc jockey.

Two inmates, Earl Clanton and Derick Peterson, were
nabbed just across the state border in Warrenton, N.C.,
the day after the escape.

It took a week before authorities caught Tuggle, after.

he allegedly robbed a gift shop in Vermont. Police caught
the fourth inmate, Willie Leroy Jones, about 120 miles

By Give Heber, AP
Last chance: If death row inmate Lem Tuggle wins his
appeal, he could get a new penalty hearing.

north of where Tuggle was found, in Newport, Vt, near
the Canadian border.

The Briley brothers were the last to be rounded up.
After almost three weeks, FBI agents tracked them to
relatives in Philadelphia. Some 20 agents swooped down
on the two at a chicken barbecue.

All six inmates were captured without injury to the
public.

The Brileys were executed separately within a year in
the same electric chair. The others soon followed.

Except for Tuggle.

He remains in the prison he once escaped from, hop-
ing still to escape his death sentence. He was scheduled
to die two weeks ago, but the execution was delayed until
the Supreme Court considers his appeal.

Tuggle refuses interviews. His lawyer, Tim Kaine, says
Tuggle “is kind of resigned (to his death sentence). I
guess he expects so little that anything positive would be
a surprise.”

If the Supreme Court sides with Tuggle, he could win a

_hew penalty hearing and his attorneys could argue for a

life sentence.

“T wouldn’t really know what the odds would be,” says
Kaine. “There certainly is the possibility that the death
penalty would be reimposed.”


Tues. May 7

<

VIRGINIA:

A Smyth County, Virginia, judge has set a JUNE 6 EXECUTION DATE FOR LEM
TUGGLE, the last surviving member of a 6-inmate gang that pulled the
largest death row escape in US history. The 4th US Circuit Court of
Appeals upheld Tuggle's death sentence April 13. Tuggle was convicted of
Capital murder for the 1983 rape and killing of Jessie Havens in Smyth
County. Havens, 52, and Tuggle had met at a dance. She was shot in the
chest and thrown down an embankment. The crime occurred 4 months after
Tuggle was paroled from a sentence he was serving for the 1971 murder of
a 17-year-old girl. Tuggle and 5 other death row inmates escaped from
the Mecklenburg Correctional Prison in May, 1984 after posing as guards.
All 6 were recaptured within 1 month, and the 5 other inmates since have
been executed.

Other details about Tuggle's case:

A NoV. 1995 Associated PRess story rerported that the Supreme Court made
it harder to uphold a death sentence if errors occurred during the
sentetncing, when it ordered a new review of’Tuggle's case. The
justices, voting unanimously, ruled that his death sentence had been
wrongly upheld by the Va. Supreme Court and a federal appeals court
without proper consideration of what role the sentencing errors played.

While awaiting trial, Tuggle was interviewed by a state psychologist.
After Tuggle's conviction, the psychologist testified, at his sentencing
hearing about Tuggle's "high probability of future dangerousness." That
factor was one of 2 "aggravating circumstances" the sentencing jury used
to justify capital punishment. The other aggravating circumstance was
its finding that the crime was particularly vile.

But Tuggle's lawyer was not present when he was interviewed by the state
psychologist, and at the sentencing trial Tuggle was not allowed to hire,

at state expense, a psychologist who might rebut the state's testimony
about future dangerousness.

The Va. Supreme Court ruled that the future-dangerous factor was invalid,
but it upheld Tuggle's death sentence anyway, based on the remaining
aggravating circumstance. Tuggle then turned to the federal courts for
help, but the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last June that his
death sentence could stand. The appeals court relied, in part, on a 1983
Supreme Court decision that said a death seentence may be upheld even
when one of 2 aggravating factors is invalidated.

In its unsigned opinion yesterday, the US Supreme Court justices said
their 1983 decision "does not support the quite different proposition

that the existence of a valid aggravator always excuses a constitutional
error in the admission or exclusion of evidence." The justices said the

2 lower courts apparently found that any psychiatric evidence Tuggle would
have introduced at his sentencing trial would not have influenced the
sentening jury's consideration of the vileness factor. "Nevertheless,

the absence of such evidence may well have affected the jury's ultimate
decision, based on all of the evidence before it, to sentence (Tuggle) to
death rather than life imprisonment," the high court said.

Tuggle's case was sent back to the 4th Circuit Court, which may rule on
it or send it back to the Virginia Supreme Court. The US Supreme
Court's decision said a lower court must decide whether Tuggle's death
sentence "might be sustained or reimposed" or needs to be set aside in
favor of a new sentehcing trial. (Tuggle v Netherland, 95-6016)


 —————

Access: It's
case-by-case
for exceptions

Continued from Page Bl

we have to limit the hours when
outsiders come into a prison,”
Miller said. “Our hours are very

January, he and another death row
chaplain were allowed unrestricted
access to death row inmate Dana
Edmonds before Edmonds’ execu-
tion, Ford said. Ch
Stockton said he wants to have
Ford with him this weekend and on
the day of his execution. ie
“J think it’s disgusting they would

deny any prisoner, on death row. or -
not, the right to be able to commu- :
nicate with a long-time spiritual ad- .

Ford for nine years. I would love to
have Russ come in on my execution
day, but if not, I have somebody
with me at all tim * that’s
Jesus.”

granted broader access to a certain

ee Stockton were denied Monday.

Miller said inmates may be

spiritual adviser in some cases.
“Special arrangements call be
made,” Miller said. “If an inmate
wanted a spiritual adviser in there
at other hours, the policy does allow
requests for special exceptions.”
But Ford said requests for visits

“{t’s not like 1 want to camp out
there,” Ford said. “J7’s not an ab-
surdity, where I want to spend the
night. It’s when someone needs you, |
you can’t postpone it. He’s asked
me to support him as his friend and
pastor and he’s being denied that.”
Ford said he was cut short while
administering. last rites to an in- |
mate earlier this year. And, last
week, a death-row inmate’s request
for baptism by immersion was de-

and we've never had access chal-
lenged,” Ford said. “The opposite

ane sas 5 aesenieneineate re a


ow the vic-
of the ad-

Homicide
ng or iden-
» body. But
pped around
ted that the
iuonally set
s at the Dal-
niner’s Of-
he body re-
ussing Teri
n was made
an’s dental

iy had been
eared three
ie advanced
ring of the
o determine
a sexual at-

_a charge
unst Har-

he case was
ov. 2, 1992,
listrict court.
pped agur-
questioning

innounced
uilty to Cap-
ra life sen-
leath penal-
in agreement
ney’s Office.
d rather go
iow and not
come back,”

\ttorney Nor-
ninary analy-
ind on Har-
ndicated that
wards, which
ner death.
)NA test from
‘ood on the
‘rder victim.
ge to life in
ris, Jr. must
years before

egret that in-
ere Teri Ed-
1ow she was
ig was mo-
remain a
e convicted

(2 J I2ZU99

EXECUTION SHUFFLE

Lem Tugle, the dancing killer. Smyth County Courthouse, where death sentence was pronounced.

by JOHN GRIGGS

n December, 1996, a retired

lawman in Smyth County,

Virginia, saw an end in
sight to a murder case that
had plagued him for thir-
teen years.

It began on Memorial Day weekend
of 1983 with a missing person report
to the Smyth County Sheriff’s De-
partment. Jessie Geneva Havens’ fam-
ily reported her missing at 6 a.m. on
Sunday, May 29th, when she failed to
return from a dance at the American
Legion Lodge in the county seat of
Marion. Joe Kenney, chief investiga-
tor for the Sheriff’s Department, drove
out to the Bear Creek area Sunday to

r

ror THE DANCING KILLER

*

talk with Havens’ family. Smyth Coun-
ty is not a high crime area. Dairy
farms dot the rugged wooded hills,
which rise to the sky in scenic vistas.

Kenney, who grew up in the subur-
ban Alexandria area of northern Vir-
ginia, had sought the mountain peace.
He’d worked for the Alexandria Po-
lice Department for four years, deal-
ing with all sorts of trouble. But his
wife was from the mountains, and Ken-
ney too had fallen in love with the Blue
Ridge during weekend trips there. He
didn’t know life could be so good. He’d
resigned from the Alexandria depart-
ment in 1968 and taken a job as a po-
lice officer in Marion, the Smyth Coun-
ty seat. After two and a half years there,
he’d moved on to the Sheriff’s De-

li

partment.

By 1983, Kenney, 41, had been with
the Sheriff’s Department for more than
a decade. Talking with Havens’ fami-
ly, the veteran officer realized there
were troubling aspects to the report.
The lady was a 52-year-old grand-
mother who worked hard at a local fac-
tory and just didn’t have a history of
vanishing. So Kenney, working with
Sheriff J.L. Archer, Chief Deputy Bill
Blevins and Investigator R.L. “Bunk”
Allison, interviewed the blue-eyed, red-
haired woman’s friends and relatives.
Havens’ friends said she had been talk-
ing to one man most of the night at
the American Legion dance. The man
had sat at a table with Havens and her
friends, talking and dancing with them

41


until about | a.m. At that point, the man
had offered Havens a ride home. Her
friends said that as they left, they saw
Havens standing near the passenger
side of the man’s faded green Oldsmo-
bile. He was opening his car trunk, they
said. The man had given his name as
David Tuggle, the friends said. They
said he was a big, bearded man.

To Kenney, David Tuggle sounded
like 31-year-old Lem David Tuggle Jr.,
a hulking local parolee that he and other
law enforcement officials were all too
familiar with. Tuggle usually went by
Lem Tuggle, but Kenney figured the
guy may well have been using his mid-
dle name when he talked to the ladies.
Kenney pulled a mugshot of Lem
Tuggle, placed it in a photographic line-
up, and showed it one of Havens’
friends. Yes, the friend said, that was
the man Havens had been talking to
at the dance.

Setting out to find Tuggle, Kenney
and his fellow officers quickly realized
the guy just wasn’t around-not at his
home nor anywhere else. They en-
tered a lookout for Tuggle’s Oldsmo-
bile in the NCIC national law en-
forcement computer base.

Kenney talked to other folks who had
been at the dance. The doorman said
he remembered Tuggle had wanted to
check his gun at the door. Told he
couldn’t, Tuggle went outside and ap-
parently put the weapon in his car
trunk.

The lawmen searched their county
far and wide for Havens, but found
no sign of her. Leads in the case were
few and far between. Lem Tuggle
couldn’t be found, but lawmen’ did
42

Marion, Virginia, where killer sought victims at dances.

believe he’d played a role in Havens’
disappearance. In addition to the wit-
nesses from the dance, a Virginia
State Police trooper could put Tuggle
with a woman who may well have been
Havens on the night in question.

Early on the Sunday morning Havens
vanished, Trooper G.N. “Snuffy” Smith
had pulled over a weaving car in Smyth
County. The trooper recognized the dri-
ver: Lem Tuggle . An older woman was
sitting right beside Tuggle, and no
one else was in the car. The trooper had
pulled Tuggle over on suspicion of
drunk driving, but found the suspect
didn’t appear drunk. Thus, he told Tug-
gle he was free to go.

The spot where Smith had stopped
Tuggle’s car was intriguing, for it was
not far from an area of the county
known as Seven Mile Ford, a densely
wooded spot on a fork of the Holsten
River. Twelve years ago, Tuggle had
killed a woman at Seven Mile Ford.
Just as Havens, Tuggle had picked
that woman up at a dance at the Amer-
ican Legion post in Marion. Kenney
and his fellow deputies knew Tug-

gle’s history all too well. Tuggle was
something of a heinous hillbilly Hou-
dini.

Tuggle had been 19 at the time of
that first killing. On September, 11,
1971, Tuggle left the dance with 18-
year-old Shirley Mullins Brickey. They
took a cab, intending to go to a local
motel. But Tuggle changed his mind,
and asked the cabbie to take them to
a vacant house at Seven Mile Ford.
Tuggle went in the house with Brick-
ey, the cabbie later testified. The next
day, deputies tipped off by one of
Tuggle’s relatives found Brickey’s mu-
tilated body stretched out on a bed in
the house, a sheet knotted around her
neck, her head covered by a pillow.
Pathologists found she died of stran-
gulation.

The relative who tipped police said
Tuggle had come to him asking for
money to leave town. “I think I’ve
killed a girl,” he had said. The rela-
tive told Tuggle that maybe she was
only passed out. “If her heart isn’t beat-
ing, she’s dead,” Tuggle said.

Deputies had also a hard time catch-
ing Tuggle in 1971, even after issuing
a warrant charging him in Brickey’s
death. Tuggle had stolen a car in Chil-
howie, a Smyth County hamlet. That
car was later found at a Marion ser-
vice station, stripped of a tape deck and
other parts Tuggle sold to raise money
for a bus ticket to Baltimore, Maryland.
While driving a car in Baltimore,
Tuggle was pulled over for a traffic
violation. Police ran his name through
a law enforcement computer, learned
he was wanted on the Virginia mur-
der charge and held him.

Back at the Smyth County jail in
Marion, Tuggle stuck a spoon in a
jailer’s back, claiming it was knife.

He grabbed a pistol and took off. Law
enforcement officers recaptured him a
short time later and put him in the
Bland prison unit. Tuggle escaped from
there by welding a butcher knife from

the facility kitche:
captured shortly
of escape, Tuggle \
years 1n prison.
At his trial in

Tuggle had plead
claimed he’d pass«

—_w-

the killing after di

prescription drugs
the defendant cla
dead. The jury co:
ond-degree murde

Tuggle 20 years i!

years for stealing |
He was paroled

after serving less th

on the murder c:
1982, Tuggle viol
leaving the state \

parole officer. Cap!
Baltimore, his pa

and he was sent

September, 1982. H

in February, 198°
four days later, Je:
was dead.

So as they set 0
ly dancer during t}
in 1983, Kenney a:
working the case |}
work cut out {
both Brigkey an
taken from the Am
and that Troope:
Tuggle with a wo
have been Havens
Brickey’s body wa
Inv. Allison went
Mile Ford, with
They found noth
the aid of the lo
help. A story that :
June 2, 1983, ed
County News & \
to the public for ¢
Deputies didn’t me
story, nor did the,
pected foul play. F
came out, Havens !
five days.

Early on the sam
came out, Troope:
patrolling in Pulas}
ties over from Sm\
up that matched
one used in a Chi
robbery, Freeman
over. Freeman rec
the driver. Like «
forcement officers.
gle only too well. |
gle from the Bla:
Freeman had wo:

(oo well. Tuggle was
1einous hillbilly Hou-

sen 19 at the time of

On September, 11,
tt the dance with 18-
\lullins Brickey. They
ding to go to a local
e changed his mind,
ibbie to take them to
at Seven Mile Ford.
the house with Brick-
ier testified. The next
ipped off by one of
s found Brickey’s mu-
ched out on a bed in
( knotted around her
overed by a pillow.
nd she died of stran-

ho upped police said
e to him asking for
town. “I think I’ve
e had said. The rela-
that maybe she was
ler heart isn’t beat-
iggle said.
a hard time catch-
71, even after issuing
ing him in Brickey’s
| stolen a car in Chil-
Countyghamlet. That
und at a Marion ser-
ped of a tape deck and
e sold to raise money
Baltimore, Maryland.
i car in Baltimore,
ed over for a traffic
ran his name through
nt computer, learned
n the Virginia mur-
eld him.
»myth County jail in
stuck a spoon in a
aiming it was knife.
| and took off. Law
ers recaptured him a
and put him in the
Tuggle escaped from
a butcher knife from

4ilibilly
F the
fas able
‘oof’
time he
rst.

the facility kitchen. Again, he was re-
captured shortly thereafter. Convicted
of escape, Tuggle was sentenced to two
years in prison.

At his trial in the Brickey case,
Tuggle had pleaded not guilty. He
claimed he’d passed out the night of
the killing after drinking and taking
prescription drugs. When he woke up,
the defendant claimed, Brickey was
dead. The jury convicted him of sec-
ond-degree murder. The judge gave
Tuggle 20 years in prison, plus two
years for stealing the car.

He was paroled on July 10, 1981,
after serving less than half his sentence
on the murder conviction. In April,
1982, Tuggle violated his parole by
leaving the state witlfgut notifying his
parole officer. Captured once again in
Baltimore, his parole was revoked
and he was sent back to prison in
September, 1982. He was paroled again
in February, 1983. One hundred and
four days later, Jessie Geneva Havens
was dead.

So as they set out to find the dead-
ly dancer during the last days of spring
in 1983, Kenney and the other deputies
working the case knew they had their
work cut out for them. Given that
both Brickey and Havens had been
taken from the American Legion dance,
and that Trooper Smith had spotted
Tuggle with a woman who may well
have been Havens near the spot where
Brickey’s body was found, Kenney and
Inv. Allison went over that area, Seven
Mile Ford, with a fine-tooth comb.
They found nothing. They enlisted
the aid of the local newspaper for
help. A story that ran in the Thursday,
June 2, 1983, edition of the Smyth
County News & Messenger appealed
to the public for clues about the case.
Deputies didn’t mention Tuggle in the
story, nor did they even say they sus-
pected foul play. By the day the story
came out, Havens had been missing for
five days.

Early on the same morning the story
came out, Trooper Mike Freeman was
patrolling in Pulaski County, two coun-
ties over from Smyth. Spotting a pick-
up that matched the description of
one used in a Chilhowie gas station
robbery, Freeman pulled the vehicle
over. Freeman recognized Tuggle as
the driver. Like other area law en-
forcement officers, Freeman knew Tug-
gle only too well. Freeman knew Tug-
gle from the Bland prison unit, where
Freeman had worked as a guard be-

fore joining the state police.

Freeman asked Tuggle if he had been
near the Chilhowie store. “Yes, I robbed
it,” Tuggle replied. “The money’s in
my pocket. The gun’s in the trunk.”
Freeman found the greenbacks and a
.25 caliber pistol in the trunk. He ar-
rested Tuggle and put him in his cruis-
er to drive him to the jail at Pulaski,
the county seat. En route, Tuggle vol-
unteered that he had “some connec-
tion” with the missing person report
about Jessie Havens, and would like
to talk with Smyth County investiga-
tors.

Freeman alerted the Smyth County
Sheriff’s Department. Chief Deputy
Blevins and Investigator Kenney in-
terviewed Tuggle at the Pulaski jail.
The prisoner told the lawmen they
would find Havens’ body over an em-

bankment off Hubble Hill Road.
Blevins and Kenney pressed Tuggle on
what had happened to Havens. “I
don’t know, but she’s there... from
past experience, I would like to talk
to an attorney. Ill probably tell you the
full story later,” the suspect replied.

If Tuggle was telling the truth, Ken-
ney’s hunch about Seven Mile Ford had
been correct. The embankment on
Hubble Hill Road that the suspect de-
scribed was at Seven Mile Ford. Ken-
ney and his fellow deputies raced out
to Seven Mile Ford. About 9:30 that
morning, they found Havens’ body. Her
clothes were in disarray, and rigor mor-
tis had fully set in. There were abra-
sions on her forehead and neck and
bruises on her right thumb, arm, wrist,
thigh and vagina. There was an ap-
parent gunshot wound to her chest.

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Aside from the body, deputies found
little other evidence at the scene. Ap-
parently, Tuggle had killed the woman
at a nearby “necking spot” and dumped
her. Indeed, Kenney’s hunch had been
right on the mark. He and Allison had
been within several feet of the body
on their earlier hunt, but failed to see
it because of the thick brush. The
body lay a mile or so away from
where Tuggle had killed the woman
12 years ago.

Pathologists found the single gunshot
wound to the chest had killed Havens,
and recovered a slug. They also found
that her right breast had been bitten.
The teeth had left a dragging print, sug-
gesting that the victim had been try-

ing to escape her attacker. The pathol-
ogists found bruises outside the vagi-
na, but no semen inside it. They did
find evidence that Havens had been
sodomized.

Deputies charged Tuggle with the
first-degree murder and rape of Havens.
As the defendant awaited trial in the
Marion jail, Kenney traced the route
Tuggle had taken after the killing. Tug-
gle had clammed up after saying where
the body was. The sleuth determined
that Tuggle had left the county in his
Oldsmobile the day of the slaying. He’d
driven to Columbia, South Carolina,
where he sold his car. From Colum-
bia, Tuggle caught a bus to the
Danville, Virginia, bus station, where

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he caught a taxi. Tuggle kidnapped
the cabbie at gunpoint and forced him
to drive him to Greensboro, North Car-
olina, about an hour from Danville.

In Greensboro, Tuggle robbed the cab
driver and ordered him out of his own
car. The killer then drove the vehicle
back to the Smyth County area, where
he ditched it. After that, Tuggle stole
a pickup truck from a former employ-
er. That was the truck he’d been dri-
ving at his arrest. The truck owner
told a reporter that Tuggle had been a
good, hard worker. “I trusted him
with anything I had,” he said. “He
was dependable.”

In South Carolina, Kenney tracked
down Tuggle’s Oldsmobile. The car
yielded little of evidentiary value, ex-
cept for the box Tuggle’s .25 had
come in. Detectives and prosecutors
were luckier with other physical evi-
dence. Forensic scientists matched
the slug recovered from Havens with
the gun recovered from Tuggle. And
in a groundbreaking move, lab spe-
cialists matched Tuggle’s teeth prints
to the bite mark on Haven’s right breast.
Deputies had obtained a warrant to
get the teeth prints from the defen-
dant.

Tuggle went on trial in January,
1984, at the Smyth County courthouse,
an imposing stone structure in down-
town Marion. Danny Lowe, then com-
monwealth’s attorney for Smyth
County, secured convictions of first-
degree murder and first-degree rape,
then went for the death penalty. “(Tug-
gle) was tried 12 years ago on mur-
der, and they found him guilty of
second degree then, and now he’s back
in here again on another horrible of-
fense... under similar circumstances,”
Lowe told jgrors in his closing argu-
ment.

“The fact that he is here in less time
than he was even sentenced to ought
to be a message to you as to what
will happen if he doesn’t get the death
sentence. The only thing that I want
to state to you, and let it be known so
there is no misunderstanding as to
where we stand, is that I can only say
God forbid if you give him any type
of sentence that permits him to get
out of here and do this again, and
anything less than death is going to
do it.

“There is a great possibility that he’ll
be able to do it again. There are enough
killers out in society that go undetect-
ed and uncaught, untried, unconvicted

and can keep d:

ly get cau

catch them

gotone. W_ ._ -

we can do some!

don’t miss an op
Jurors sentenc:

But the world
from the hillbill\
1984, Tuggle and
men escaped fr
Row at Mecklent
ter in Boydton.
such mass brea}
Using homemad
command of t}
guards, then do:
forms. So dres
gatekeepers th
had to remove
prison and neede:
were dealing wi!
gatekeepers igi
plied the van a:
gates. The cond
with nothing to |
start before the ¢
were able to tel!
happened.

Mecklenburg |!
as State-of-the-art
breakout shook |
tem to if€ found
hood residents f1
England shivered
a frantic manhun!
Investigate
officers wo
should Tuggie rer
out, Tuggle hea
Seaboard. He and |
Leroy Jones sto
North Carolina a:

On June 8, 198-
Tuggle’s tail after
gift shop in the
In the stolen pic
ers on a chase. F
other end of the
dian border. Tuge
to say he was tu
was arrested at
p.m. on June &th
on foot shortly th
told reporters he
in Vermont seve:
in the woods eve
afraid of the da:
was covered wit!
outdoor experien

They had been
Tuggle said, but r:
ing him to rob the

15-Year Inmate Faces Execution
AP 25 May 35 16:45 EDT V0260
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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

JARRATT, Va. (AP) -- A condemned man whose ceaseless. appeals kept
him alive for more than 15 years lost a bid to stave off execution
Thursday by arguing that such a long stay on death row is
unconstitutional. ; .

In an 8-1 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected 49-year-old Willie
Lloyd Turner’s argument that his death row years amounted to cruel and
unusual punishment. Justice John Paul Stevens dissented.

The longest serving of Virginia’s 56 death row inmates was scheduled
to die by injection at 9 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center.

Assistant Attorney General Robert Anderson III likened the convicted
killer's argument to that of a man who has killed his parents and then

“pleads for mercy because he is now an. orphan."

But a similar argument in April resulted in a Supreme Court stay for
Texas inmate Clarence Lackey, who has spent 17 years on death row.

Turner said he had too much pride to ask Gov. George Allen for
clemency.

Turner was convicted of the 1978 murder of Franklin jewelry store
owner W. Jack Smith Jr. A police officer saw Turner shoot Smith three
times.

Six years after his 1980 conviction and death sentence, the U.S.
Supreme Court ordered him resentenced because of possible racial bias
by the jury. Turner is black; Smith was white. A new jury again
sentenced him to death in 1987.

Turner took part in three escape attempts, including a 1984 breakout
of six death-row inmates. Turner did not leave, but prison officials
said he hélped plan the escape.

.

\ ee

TURNER, Willie Lloyd, black, LI VAS (Southampton) May 25, 1995

Inmate Executed After 15 Years
AP 25 May 95 22:29 EDT V0463
Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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

JARRATT, Va. (AP) -- A killer whose appeals kept him living on Death
Row for more than 15 years was executed by injection Thursday.

Willie Lloyd Turner died six hours after the U.S. Supreme Court
rejected his claim that his Death Row years amounted to cruel and
unusual punishment. Justice John Paul Stevens dissented.

The 49-year-old inmate was pronounced dead at 9:06 p.m., three
minutes after receiving the injection, said C.D. Larsen, chief deputy
warden at Greensville Correctional Center, where Turner had been held.

Sentenced to die for murdering a jewelry store owner during a
robbery, Turner was the longest serving of Virginia’s 56 Death Row
inmates. He made no final statement. . |

Assistant Attorney General Robert Anderson III had likened Turner’s
argument to that of a man who kills his parents then "pleads for mercy
because he is now an orphan,"

But a similar argument in April resulted in a Supreme Court stay for
Texas inmate Clarence Lackey, who has spent 17 years on death row.

Turner said he had too much pride to ask Gov. George Allen for
clemency. ,

Turner was convicted of the 1978 murder of Franklin jewelry store
owner W. Jack Smith Jr. A police officer saw Turner shoot Smith three
times.

In a statement issued after the execution, Smith’s family said,

"Tonight, we can move on with our lives knowing that -- despite the
many delays and frustrations -- justice has been determined and carried
out e 7 ;

Two of Smith’s relatives watched the execution separately from the
official witnesses, said Ron Angelone, director of the Department of
Corrections.

Six years after hig 1980 conviction and death sentence, the U.S.
Supreme Court ordered him resentenced because of possible racial bias
by the jury. Turner is black; Smith was white. In 1987, a new jury
again sentenced him to death. |

Turner took part in three escape attempts, including a 1984 breakout

of six death-row inmates. Turner did not leave, but prison officials

said he helped plan the escape.


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Slavery in the Western Hemisphere / 237

LEADERS OF SLAVE REVOLTS IN THE U.S.

GABRIEL PROSSER
17-75?—1800

Slave insurrectionist

Not much is known of the early back-
ground of Gabriel Prosser beyond the
fact that he was borm around 1775, and
was a coachman belonging to Thomas
Prosser of Henrico County, Virginia.

The revolt which Prosser organized—
the first of at least three major slave
uprisings in the first half of the 19th
century—was remarkable not only for the
skill of its organization, but also for the
large numbers of people who were to
have taken part in it. The environs of
Richmond, Virginia—chosen as the site
of the rebellion—had some 32,000 slaves,
but only 8,000 whites, including a num-
ber of Frenchmen and Quakers, groups
which Prosser felt would be sympathetic
to his cause.

Prosser planned the revolt for the end
of August, reasoning that there would be
plenty to eat at the harvest, and that his
followers would thus be spared any
shortage of important supplies. He in-
tended to kill all slaveowners, but to
spare the French, the Quakers, elderly
women, and children. Eventually, he
hoped that the remaining 300,000 slaves
in Virginia would follow his lead, and
take over the entire state.

The plans laid, it was decided to meet
at the Old Brook Swamp outside of
Richmond on the last night of August,
and to martial forces there for the attack
on the city. A severe rainstorm, however,
made it impossible-for many of the slaves
to assemble at the appointed rendezvous,
necessitating a postponement of plans.
Before the slaves could reassemble, the
plot was betrayed by a pair of slaves
who did not wish their, master killed.

Panic quickly swept Richmond, and
martial law was declared. Most slaves
implicated in the conspiracy were
rounded up and hanged, at least until it
became apparent that this procedure
would soon decimate the area’s slave
population. Less severe sentences were
then meted out by the courts.

Prosser himself was captured in the
hold of the schooner Mary when it
docked at Norfolk after a trip from Rich-
mond. Brought back in chains, he was

interrogated by the governor, but refused
to divulge any information on the nature
of his plans, or on the identities of his

compatriots. Prosser was hanged on
October 7, 1800.

DENMARK VESEY
1767—1822
Siave insurrectionist

The second serious uprising of the 18th
century was led by Denmark Vesey, a
slave who for 20 years had sailed with
his master, Captain Vesey, to the Virgin
Islands and Haiti, the latter an independ-
ent island ruled by Negroes.

Born in 1767, Vesey was sold by his
master at an early age, but later re-
purchased because he was an epileptic.
Vesey enjoyed a considerable degree of
mobility in his native Charleston, South
Carolina, and eventually secured his own
freedom by paying his master $600 of
a $1500 sum won in a lottery. He later
became a Methodist minister, using his
church as a base from which to recruit
supporters for his plan to take over
Charleston—a plan set to go into opera-
tion on the second Sunday in July of
1822.

As in the case of Prosser, the Vesey
plan was betrayed by a slave who alerted
the white authorities of the city. Hun-
dreds of Negroes were quickly rounded
up, and Vesey himself was taken prisoner
after a two-day search.

Vesey, who was literate, was ex-
tremely adept at cross-examining wit-
nesses at his trial, but was unable to
deny that his intended purpose was the
overthrow of the city. Sentenced to
death, he was hanged with his com-
patriots on July 2, 1822.

NAT TURNER
1800—1831
Slave insurrectionist

The Nat Turmer Revolt is the best-known
of the three major slave uprisings which
occurred in the South in the early
decades of the 19th century.

Born in 1800, the year of the Prosser
revolt, Turner was strongly drawn by a

kind of visionary mysticism through
which he heard “voices” and believed in
a special destiny. An avid reader of the
Bible, he also prayed and fasted often,
and ultimately conceived a plan to con-
quer Southampton County in Virginia.

her Pub, Co., Ince, 1971.

A, Ploski; Bellwet

BLACK AMERICA, VOL II, Edited by Harry

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Recruiting a handful of co-conspirators,
Tumer struck isolated white homes with-
in his immediate area and, within 48
hours, had built up his band to 60 armed
men. Terrorizing the county, they killed
55 whites before deciding to attack the
county seat of Jerusalem.

While en route, Tumer’s men were

Slavery in the Western Hemisphere / 239

overtaken by a posse and dispersed, with f
Furner himself taking refuge in the for- :
bidding confines of what was known as
the Dismal Swamp. Remaining there for
six weeks, he was finally captured, ;
brought to trial and, along with 16 other
Negroes, sentenced to death by hanging.

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George S. Houston Memorial Librar?

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4


Allen Orders New Inquiry

Into Discovery of Revolver

GUN, From D1

cized the corrections investigation as
hasty.

agency investigate rather than have
them investigate themselves,” said
Sen. Richard J. Holland (D-Isle of
Wight), who added that the hoax'theo-
ry didn’t seem plausible. “I’ve tried to
reason what advantage it would be to
the attorney to do this, and I can see
no advantage to him to do that. ...

Maybe Turner was just trying to let —
the Corrections Department know

that he was right smart.”

Turner was a cunning evader of

prison security, helping plan the larg-
est death row escape in U.S. history
and accumulating a supply of lethal

homemade weapons and tools such as

knives and a hacksaw.

A reporter who witnessed the un-
covering of the revolver wrote over.

the weekend that Turner had suggest-

ed to her in an interview before his —
death that he had a gun. Laura LaFay, |

of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, wrote

that Turner had shown her a piece of |
paper with the word “gun” written on.

it—apparently unwilling to speak it

aloud out of fear he was being ™
bugged—but that she did not believe

him.

“I think it’s good to have another

Walvick, who has adamantly denied . i
any fraud on his part, said he wel- a

GOV. GEORGE ALLEN.
wae “I want toknow”

_comed the new investigation and
' pledged to cooperate with authorities.
As for the Allen administration's shit; .

he asked: “Do you think they might be

a little bit embarrassed?”

Public Safety Secretary Jerry W. *

| Kilgore, who oversees corrections sia

the state police, said no. :
“Corrections has hit what they con-"

sider a brick wall and feel they can’t a

any further,”. he said.

15-Year Wait to Die
Cruel and Unusual,

Va. Prisoner Says
5-31-45

By Charles W. Hall

Washington Post Staff Wnter

In the 15 years he has been on Virginia’s death
row, Willie Lloyd Turner nearly has been executed
three times. He has stared into the death chamber,
smelled the smoking clothes of a fellow inmate
who died in the electric chair and spent eight years
in a top-security unit where inmates regularly
flung feces at their guards.

On Thursday, Turner faces execution for the
fourth time, but he is advancing an unusual legal
argument that he hopes will spare his life. He is ar-
guing that his long wait to die has itself become a
form of torture, one that violates the Constitution.

“It wasn’t my fault it took this long,” said Turn
er, who murdered a jeweler during a 1978 robbery
in rural Franklin, Va., and since has become the
longest surviving of Virginia’s 56 death-row in-
mates. “Each time is worse than the time before.
It’s like a long hell within a hell on Earth.”

Turner's case is part of a legal movement that has

See TURNER, B6, Col. 2

BY JAMES A. PARCELL—THE WASHINGTON POS
Willie Lloyd Turner is scheduled to be executed
Thursday for the slaying of a jewelry store owner
during a 1978 robbery in rural Franklin, Va.

o_

gh DC.
a 21499


Citing 15 Years, Va. Inmate
Seeks to Block Execution

TURNER, From Bl

gained growing attention in the last
year. Last month, the U.S. Supreme
Court delayed the execution of a Tex-
as killer who has been on death row
17 years, and Justice Stephen G.
Breyer in a memorandum called the
issue “important and undecided.”

It remains uncertain whether Turn-
er—who can choose death by electric
chair or lethal injection at Greensville
Correctional Center, a maximum-se-
curity facility 50 miles from Rich-
mond—can win a similar delay.

Virginia’s Supreme Court rejected
his appeal last week, and he is pursu-
ing his case through federal courts.
James C. Cacheris, chief judge of U.S.
District Court in Alexandria, has told
lawyers he will decide by tomorrow
whether to postpone Turner’s death.

Virginia Attorney General James S.
Gilmore III declined to comment on
the case, but in court papers, his office
argued that Turner’s claim has no le-
gal basis. It noted that a death-row in-
mate was executed last week in Mon-
tana after the Supreme Court refused
to hear a similar appeal.

The debate has gained force as
the nation’s death row has ballooned
to nearly 3,000 inmates, and the
average wait between sentence and
execution has reached eight years.

Advocates of the death penalty ridi-
cule the notion that long delays violate
the Eighth Amendment, which prohib-
its cruel and unusual punishment. Like
Gilmore, they argue that death-row
inmates and their attorneys are re-
sponsible for most delays and say re-
form of the appeals process promises
to shorten the wait.

“The people who say the system
doesn’t work are the very ones who
don’t want it to work,” said Daniel E.
Lungren, attorney general in Cali-
fornia, which has 401 inmates on
death row. “We’re working as hard
as we can to shorten this process.
It’s not in prosecutors’ interests to
have these delays.”

Turner’s legal saga began July 12,
1978, when the onetime barber en-
tered a jewelry store armed with a
sawed-off shotgun. He held owner
Jack Smith and a customer captive and
then disarmed a police officer who re-

sponded to a silent alarm set off by
Smith. According to court records,
Turner, who was 32 then and is 49
now, fired the shotgun into Smith’s
head without a word and later fired
twice into Smith’s fallen body.

The brutal murder of one of its
leading citizens shattered Franklin, a
town of 7,000 in southeastern Virgin-
ia, and Turner, who already had
served time for a slaying, was sen-
tenced to death in February 1980.

But that sentence was legally
flawed. Turner, who is black, was
not allowed to question jurors about
their racial attitudes; Smith was
white. After the U.S. Supreme
Court overturned his death penalty
in 1986, a new jury sentenced Turn-
er to death a second time.

Turner’s attorney, Walter J. Wal-
vick, appealed the second sentenc-
ing, arguing that Virginia’s law al-
lowed only the original jury, which
could not be reconvened, to pass the
second sentence.

According to Walvick, the fact
that courts needed so much time to
evaluate Turner’s appeals showed
that they were not frivolous, and
Walvick said Turner should not be
held responsible for the long delays.

In part, Walvick says, the unaccept-
able cruelty stems from the conditions
Turner experienced in prison. Three
times, in 1980, 1981 and 1985, he
was moved to the state’s “death
house.” Then in 1986, two years after
he helped plan a famed death-row es-
cape from Mecklenburg state prison,
he began living in a special isolation
unit at Powhatan state prison.

Citing written statements from
Turner, prison guards and chaplains,
Walvick said Turner’s eight-year stay
in Powhatan’s M Building “conjures up
visions of hell. In some cases, the
guards quit after one.day.” Inmates
threw so much feces at guards that
Turner’s styrofoam food containers
often were stained with human waste.

But Walvick and other death penal-
ty critics also argue that any pro-
longed stay on death row, especially
those that include last-minute re-
prieves, has an almost unsurpassed el-
ement of cruelty to it.

Gerald Zerkin, a Richmond lawyer
who has represented several promi-

BY JAMES A. PARCELL—THE WASHINGTON POST

Willie Lioyd Turner talks to a
reporter on a telephone behind glass
at the Greensville prison.

nent death-row inmates, including Jo-
seph M. Giarratano, recalled spending
several hours outside the electric
chair chamber before then-Gov. L.
Douglas Wilder granted Giarratano
clemency in 1991. “I became obsessed
with the moving of the clock. There’s
an overwhelming sense of the passage
of time,” Zerkin said. “Then I noticed
these pipes that carried electrical ca-
bles directly overhead. I became abso-
lutely fixated by the horror of them. |
remember those pipes much more
clearly than when we got word of
clemency.”

Lungren, California’s attorney gen-
eral, said appeals such as Turner’s fo-
cus on the wrong people’s suffering.
“We mustn’t forget about the families
of the victims. If we believe that soci-
ety has a right to retribution, and that
relatives deserve retribution as mem-
bers of that society, these motions
would obliterate all that.”

A relative of Jack Smith’s said Gil-
more’s office instructed the family not
to comment on the case. She said they
will issue a statement after Turner’s
appeal is resolved.

In an interview Thursday, Turner
volunteered several times that he has
not forgotten the family’s suffering.

“‘T think of them as often as of my
own death,” Turner said. “If I thought
for one minute that by dying I could
undo it, I would, but I can’t do that.
The only way I can pay back is to
show I can change and do better.”

Death Row
Gun Probe

Is Ordered

Allen Has State Police

Launch New Inquiry
S- Sar dg

By Peter Baker
Washington Pos Staff Writer

RICHMOND, May 30—Gov.
George Allen, unsatisfied with an in-
vestigation by his own prison officials,
ordered Virginia State Police to open a
new inquiry today into the discovery of
a loaded revolver in the personal be-
longings of a death row inmate shortly
after his execution last week.

Allen’s action followed complaints of
a coverup after the Corrections De-
partment spent less than 48 hours try-
ing to determine how the .32-caliber
revolver got into a secret compart-
ment in a typewriter used by con-
cemned killer Willie Lloyd Turner.
correctional officials dismissed the

gun’s appearance as part of an “elabo-
rate hoax.”

The gun’s emergence has become
the most compelling mystery in the
Virginia capital. It represents either
the biggest security breach on Virgin-
ia’s death row in a decade or one of
the most daring deceptions ever per-
petrated on state officials.

Either way, Allen vowed today to
get to the bottom of the matter. Al-
though he did not directly fault the
corrections investigation, he said he
wants a more definitive answer to how
the weapon turned up in the typewntt-
er and suggested that state police
would have broader powers to collect
evidence and determine the truth.

“I want to know what the heck is
going on here,” Allen said.

The gun turned up in Turner’s
typewriter a little more than an hour
after he was put to death by injection
Thursday night. Walter J. Walvick, a
Washington lawyer who represented
the convicted murderer for seven
years, said Turner had instructed him
to look in his typewriter after his death
and had hinted several times that he
had a hidden weapon.

Walvick took possession of the type-
writer at Greensville Correctional
Center and then drove to a nearby ho-
tel, where he later opened it in front of
two reporters. Inside were the gun, a
plastic bag containing 12 cartridges
and a note that said simply, “Smile.”

The corrections investigation con-
cluded that the gun had never been in-
side Greensville because Turner’s pos-
sessions were X-rayed when he was
transferred there in January and be-
cause no fingerprints were found on
the weapon.

Walvick and a senior lawmaker criti-

See GUN, D5, Col. 5

oOsT

bth 2.
P95

soe]

70

tomer, Shelton Smith (no relation), with
a watchband, she noticed Willie and his
green velour package. He removed the
towel, revealing a twelve-gauge shotgun
with the barrel cut down to nine inches,
and laid the gun on the counter. Jack
Smith, noticing it, asked Willie, “What
can I do for you?” Having been robbed
before, Smith knew that the thing to do
was to stay calm and to give the intruder
whatever he was after.

Willie, saying nothing, picked up the
gun and motioned with it, whereupon
Jack Smith began loading money and
jewelry into bags while tripping the store’s
silent alarm. When another customer,
Judith R. Cosby, entered the store, Willie,
still silent, motioned to everyone to line
up behind the counter, and he kicked
Mrs. Cosby and Shelton Smith in the
buttocks when they didn’t move quickly
enough. A moment later, a Franklin po-
lice officer named Alan Bain walked in
the front door and told Jack Smith that his
alarm was ringing; the officer’s custom-
ized .38 Special, with its outsized trigger
and grip, was still strapped in its holster.
Willie took it and lined him up with the
others. He toyed with the policeman’s
gun, firing a shot into the back of the
store. Then, perhaps spooked by a siren
sounding outside, Willie aimed the .38 at
Jack Smith and fired, grazing his head. “I
heard Mr. Smith yell like a puppy and he
fell to the floor,” Mary Huffman testified.
She and Shelton Smith managed to flee
through the front door while Officer Bain
was offering to drive Turner out of town,
or anywhere he wanted to go, so long as
he didn’t shoot anyone else. Willie as-
sured the policeman that he wouldn't hurt
him, “but I’m going to kill this...
squealer!” He then leaned over the counter
and fired a bullet into Jack Smith’s chest.
Mrs. Cosby, feeling queasy, asked Tur-
ner’s permission to sit down. He told her
to go ahead. Smith made a gurgling
sound, and Willie fired another bullet
into him. Shot through the lung and
heart, Smith made no more sound. In the
commotion, Officer Bain jumped Willie
and managed to seize the two guns. He
ordered Willie onto the floor, pointed his
revolver at him, and called for support.
“Well,” Turner said as the police hand-
cuffed him, “I guess I’m on the way back.”

URNER spent more than a year in the
Southampton County Jail awaiting
the outcome of his trial—plenty of time

ROYAL AFFAIRS

DIANA MADE EASY

s A ” Is for Adultery. Charles con-
fessed last year to an affair
with Camilla Parker-Bowles,

a huntress; now Diana has admitted to
sleeping with Captain James Hewitt,
a cad.

“B” is for Bulimia. Diana says that
she used to gorge herself and throw up
every day—a technique perfected by
the tabloid press. At one point, she
upgrades it to “rampant bulimia.”

“C” is for Charles: otherwise known
as “my husband.” Non-rampant.

“D” is for Divorce. What Diana does
not want, for the sake of her children.
This may cause seating problems at
any forthcoming coronation.

“E” is for Enemy, The. Diana re-
fers to “the enemy” and to mysterious
“people” who intercept her mail. Also
known as “my husband’s department.”

“F” is for Farm, The Funny. Where
most of the Royal Family now think
Diana should be sent.

“G” is for George III, The Madness
of. The drawback to “F.”

“H” is for Hearts, Queen of People’s.
What Diana sees herself as. Not to be
confused with Queen of England.

‘T’ is for Inside. Where the pain is.

“J” is for James Gilbey. An admirer
of the Princess. Named her Squidgy,
nevertheless.

“K” is for King. Diana hinted that
the crown might pass not to her hus-
band but to her son William. For mili-
tary solution, see “P.”

“L”.is for Love. “Someone’s got to
go out there and love people,” Diana
says. What people?

“M.” is for Mailer, Norman. “She
won't go quietly, that’s the problem,”
the Princess says, referring to herself in
the third person. Pure Mailer.

“N” is for News of the World. A Sun-
day tabloid newspaper whose banner
headline, on the day before the inter-
view, read “DI FOUND KNICKERS IN
CHARLES’ POCKET.” Regrettably, the
interviewer forgot to request con-
firmation of this discovery from the
Princess.

“O” is for O. J. Simpson. Claims
the knickers were planted.

“P” is for Powell, General Colin.
Probably the only guy who could sort
out this mess. Yet to be persuaded.

“Q” is for Queen, the sort of rock
band that the Princess used to admire
when she was Lady Diana Spencer.

“R” is for Rejects. “I found myself
more and more involved with people
who were rejected by society, and |
found an affinity there,” Diana says.
Hey, leave the in-laws out of this.

“S” is for Soames, The Rt. Hon.
Nicholas. Also known as Fatty. Min-
ister for the Armed Forces. Turned big
guns on Diana after the interview, air-
ing his suspicions that she was “in the
advanced stages of paranoia.” Close
friend of the Prince of Wales.

“T” is for Three. “Well, there were
three of us in this marriage, so it was
a bit crowded,” Diana says. Not as sexy
as it sounds. Still, a great line.

“U” is for Unstable. “There is no
better way to dismantle a personality
than to isolate it,” the Princess says. It
is subsequently reported that she is
quoting by heart from the memoir of
a former Beirut hostage. Yikes.

“V” is for Verbal Skill. Alarmingly
improved upon previous appearances,
suggesting extensive rehearsal.

“W” is for Walters, Barbara. The
only person likely to have grasped
everything that Diana was talking
about—strength through weakness,
light through tunnels, “real” people.

“X” is for “X-Files, The.” Shown in
England on a BBC channel immedi-
ately before broadcast of interview.
An hour of dark fantasy about bizarre,
illogical forces that could threaten
Western civilization, followed by some-
thing really scary.

“Y” is for Young Boy. Diana, asked
whether she made obsessive phone
calls to a Mr. Oliver Hoare, a married
art dealer, admits to making a few, but
claims that “a young boy had done
most of them.” What boy?

“Z is for Zapruder, Abraham. Man
with camera. Shot Super-8 footage of
young boy putting knickers in pocket.
Proved young boy was acting alone.

— ANTHONY LANE

tu
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RALD SCAR

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|

72

for him to create an escape plan. The
chief problem to be overcome, Turner
learned, was that the bars to the cell-
block were constructed of a metal re-
sistant to hacksaw blades, so he knew
he would have to open the huge door
soméhow rather than try to cut through
it. For days, his memoir recounts, he lis-
tened carefully every time the door was
opened and closed, and managed to
figure out the gearing in its locking
mechanism and to draw a mind’s-eye pic-
ture of how it worked. All he needed now
was a saw blade to cut into the lock box
so that he could rework the mechanism,
allowing him to open the door from in-
side the cellblock. This was his home-
town jail, and Turner knew it well, in-
cluding the location of the storage area
containing tools. The storage space was
locked, of course, but he persuaded a jail
trusty to slip a thin piece of plastic into
its lock, thereby making an impression
that allowed Turner to make a pick that
would open it. The pick worked, and
Willie had his blades. He then cut two
bars at the bottom corner of his cell,
which were of ordinary steel, in such a
way that he could slip into the block at
will. Each night, as the other prisoners
slept, he left his cell and worked on the
lock box, covering his progress at the end
of each session with a paste made of gum
and ink. He finally cut through the metal
plate and rigged the lock mechanism so
that he could leave the cellblock to work
on the next phase of his plan, which was
cutting the bars on one of the windows
of the jailhouse itself. Again, he covered
his work each night with his homemade
paste.

Finally, on a snowy evening just days
before the judge was to impose sentence,
Turner made his move. He tucked a
dummy into his bed, went through the
cellblock door, removed the bars to the
window, and slipped out of the jail. He
hitched a ride to Franklin and walked
right through town to a friend’s house;
there he caught a ride to his great-aunt’s
home, across the North Carolina line. His
jailers, falling for the ancient dummy gag,

didn’t discover his escape for hours. How-:

ever, his aunt’s home, where he had of-
ten stayed when he was a boy, was one of
the first places they thought they might
find him, and they called the North Caro-
lina police. At 3 A.M., Turner, asleep on
his aunt’s couch, was recaptured by them
without incident. He was tried and con-

THE DESOLATE BEAUTY PARLOR
ON BEACH AVENUE

So much has impaired here

as well as getting here. It’s where
we used to trade personals, then divide up
the aptly named “spoils.” You know the kind of crud

I mean. Zombie set-tos,

the kind of thing.

It was impossible to locate Hell or Heaven
standing in the basement, inspecting
which pipes might have led to upstairs.

And the little pines off the street—

so sweet, but no sweeter

than what’s been taken down in the interim.
I wonder where people hang their laundry nowadays,

who’s for sale.

Then I saw it over Cannibal Beach—a big baboon of a moon

wafting this way

and that across the silken heather. It gave me

the widdershins. I’m still counting.

But the nice octagon trainer—he offered something
in the way of comfort, that eyeglasses can choose to go
and fit if they're so inclined. I’m talking

product now, and the new productivity

that comes from it. No one can afford

to ignore it anymore. Sure, sheep

bawl at their station, mad at having voted,

at being voided. But another way of sexy being
has been unveiled, and disturbed. I almost think
they won't be able to fix it, but it’s so new—

Wait for the end, though. It’s a small, arched close
built to contain ragged passions, and emptied

of them at present. The dale sweeps down

the sober dawn. Every face shows signs

of extreme concentration. Now ¢hat’s

the way I’d like to behold you. For always.

For when the clipper blows astray and the

cheap shot is parted.

victed for the escape, and was sentenced
to death for the murder of Jack Smith.

LV darcy death row is housed in
the Mecklenburg Correctional
Center, a modern brick complex sur-
rounded by hurricane fences, each of
which is topped with billows of curled ra-
zor wire. The thought of the place filled
Turner with the old dread, summoning
visions of confrontations with “cold kill-
ers willing to kill or try to kill anybody in

—JOHN ASHBERY

sight for no good reason.” Instead, he was
greeted by a death-row welcoming com-
mittee. Turner had been preceded at
Mecklenburg by his reputation, and the
inmates were impressed; his jailhouse es-
cape commanded respect.

In the world of prison, death row is a
separate country. People there share a
time reference that is unique: a calendar
that disobeys the rules of nature. Each of
them is given the date of his death. “Dead
men walking” is how the guards refer to


VALENTINE’S HUMILIATION

youth, before he had got into trouble,
when he was jarringly confronted by his
own limitations:

Finally, I ended up living with my aunt
in North Carolina and working for her. I
was doing siti good there and had found
me a nice little girlfriend until Valentine’s
Day rolled around. I bought her the biggest
med prettiest red heart I could find. And I
got my aunt to address the envelope to my
girlfriend for me. I wouldn’t let my aunt see
the card because I knew she would com-
plain that I paid too much for it. And I just
couldn’t wait to see the reward of a great
big smile of approval by my girlfriend for
the card, as I had imagined I would, when I
went to see her on Valentine’s Day, as

lanned. I got no such smile. Instead, I
foand her out in her front yard crying while
the rest of the folks were rolling all around
on the ground laughing and pointing at
me. I had no idea what was going on and
thought maybe it was just some sort of a
friendly joke or something.

When I asked her if she had gotten the
card I sent her and what was the matter,
she threw her arms around me and cried out,
‘They said you can’t read.’ I changed colors
from a combination of guilt and shame. I
tried to deny it. But before I could get any-
where, she pointed out to me that I had
sent her a Father’s Day card for Valentine’s
Day. I had never felt so hurt in all the days
of my life. In fact, I felt so cheap you could
have bought me all day long two for a
penny. All I could do was walk away.

Once he had learned to read and write,
Turner became something of a prison
bookworm, and he even taught other
prisoners to read. He enrolled in the
prison’s vocational school and took bar-
bering courses, and his prison report
praised his “personal growth” and “excep-
tional work in the barbering field.” Turner
actually seemed to flourish in this new
undertaking, and earned the prized job of
prison barber. In 1975, a week before his
thirtieth birthday, he was awarded his
barber’s certificate. “It was a real big deal
for me and I took every bit of it seriously,”
he wrote. “Because it was as close as I had
ever been to being a legally licensed mem-
ber of any profession.” He was trusted
with the potentially lethal tools of his new
trade, and was even allowed to cut hair in
the edgy segregation unit in which he had
been so often confined. Turner’s prison
record includes a commendation for the
“outstanding work he is doing toward his
own rehabilitation.”

Then he was paroled.

“TT WAS wearing a twenty-four-hour-a-
day smile of approval spread across
my face from ear to ear,” Turner wrote,
describing his mood when he returned to

Franklin early in 1978. But although he
had achieved respect and a certain stand-
ing in prison, he was nothing in the out-
side world. In Franklin, he worked briefly
as a barber, but mostly he drank and
chased women. One afternoon, bumming
around with a friend, he tried to pick up
a white girl at the local Dairy Queen. The

girl, who had just finished high school at

the time, remembered the incident years
later, not least for its audacity; after all,
Tidewater Virginia was Nat Turner coun-

try, and Saturday-afternoon Klan rallies

‘lived in near memory. Willie, as smooth

as ever, planted a kiss on the girl’s hand
and got her phone number as well, and
she secretly hoped he would call. He

never did. Freedom was proving a more

‘difficult adjustment than prison, and

Willie signalled the direction he meant to
take when, after arriving home, he ac-
quired a sawed-off shotgun.

His father had died years before, and
Willie wasn’t getting on with his mother,
who was now living in a housing project
in Franklin. She worried that Willie
would hurt somebody with the shotgun,
and on one occasion she called the police
when he threatened her. James Peebles,

an uncle of Willie’s, had helped one of .

Willie’s brothers turn his life around, but
he couldn’t reach Willie. Peebles told a
policeman, “Willie needs help,” but the
officer said there was nothing he could
do. “I love my nephew,” Peebles says
now, remembering that time, “but he just
couldn’t deal with society.”

69

Willie had talked of opening his own
barbershop in town, and had even de-
cided on a name and designed a business
card (“Doc’s Hair Clinic: If You Want
Your Hair to Be Coming to You... You
Should Be Coming Here”). But on the
morning of July 12, 1978, he wrapped his
shotgun in a green towel, put it in a
brown paper bag, and took a walk down-
town, stopping at Smith Jewelers.

In his memoir Turner invariably por-
trays his crimes as mishaps rather than
misdeeds, and for the central crime of his
life he created a multilayered confection.
His version of what happened at Smith
Jewelers was that he had set out to get rid
of the shotgun, which he no longer
wanted, and had ducked into Smith’s only
to avoid a cop who was trailing him. Be-
fore he knew it, the policeman had en-
tered the place, and Willie, fearing a
shootout, had relieved the officer of his
service revolver. But his fingers had been
slick with sweat and gun oil, and the re-
volver had accidentally fired. A struggle
had followed, and, fearing that the police-
man would shoot him, he had emptied
the gun before ordering an ambulance for
Smith and peacefully surrendering. Tur-
ner’s version, suffice it to say, is at vari-
ance with the sworn testimony and state-
ments of eyewitnesses to the event.

According to the eyewitnesses, Turner
entered Smith Jewelers at about eleven-
thirty, carrying his shotgun. As Mary
Huffman, who had worked for Mr.

Smith for seven years, was helping a cus-

h

“Under ‘Occupation’ I usually just put ‘Roam the earth.

>”


68

‘IT wish we had tiptoed, not jumped, into wicker.”

twenty, he got drunk and shot a man ina
fight outside a restaurant, and shortly af-
ter that he was charged with assaulting a
girlfriend and threatening her with a gun.
That was followed by a period on the lam,

hich ended in a drunken shooting out-
side a bar in Franklin. Willie, who felt he
had been disrespected by an old pal
named Lorenzo Wallace Artis, shot him
five times, wounding him in the head,
stomach, and chest. “I hope he dies,”
Willie told the arresting officer as he was
taken away. Artis lived, but Willie was
bound for the state prison.

ILLIE’S first impression of the
Virginia State Penitentiary, in
Richmond, was his customary one—“the
biggest, ugliest and meanest looking
prison I had ever seen”—and his trepida-
tion was not without basis. Prison was a
world in which the acculturation process
was brutally simple: there were victims
and victimizers, and everybody had to
choose. Willie, who was small and pretty,
~ became a target, and he responded char-
acteristically. He hated the homosexual
predators in the population, and deter-
» mined to be made into no one’s “punk.”
When, after three weeks in the pen, he
received a “gift” of two cartons of ciga-
ttes and some candy, he traded the
@..... for a lead pipe; then, when his
benefactor approached him, Willie

jumped, savagely beating the inmate un-
til some other prisoners broke it up.

Turner’s prison records reveal his early
years of incarceration to be an almost un-
interrupted expression of violent im-
pulses. He was transferred to a road gang,
where he answered a perceived insult by
attacking a fellow crew member with a
bush axe, hitting him in the face. Fearing
reprisal, he eventually escaped from the camp
with the help of a girlfriend; she drove the
getaway car. They went to Washington,
D.C., where they ran street scams for a
few months. It may have been the closest
he would ever come to finding a place for
himself in the world outside prison. Here
is Turner's description of one scam:

The game was played by marking a
twenty with a special note, such as “Happy
Birthday, Dad,” on it. We would then go
from store to store, or any place where
money is exchanged such as bars, night
clubs and theaters. In each place one - us
would use it to buy a dollar or so worth of
items, get our change, leave and then return
a few minutes later together looking all
around on the floor just fussing and accus-
ing each other of having lost the special
twenty dollar bill. We looked rich and stu-
pid as we were searching through a hand
full of money for it. The act starts on the
street and continues all the way back to the
cashier that we gave the twenty to.

At that point, if we have not alread
been ene what we are looking for, i
would walk up to the cashier and say, “Hey,
Miss, or Mister, I may have given you the
wrong twenty a few minutes ago when I

THE NEW YORKER, DECEMBER 4, 1995

paid for this (showing what-
ever item was bought). I
looked everywhere and can’t
find it. It had “Happy Birth-
oo Dad” written on it.

ould you please look and
see if I gave it to you?”

Once the bill is found, my
partner and I show a sign of a
great big relief because it
means so much to us. Then
one of us pulls out another
twenty dollar bill while ask-
ing the cashier, “Will you
please give that one back to
me and charge me for this
item with this one. Ninety-
nine per cent of the time we
anes be given back the first
twenty and about eighteen
dollars in change from the
second one.

It is the way you word it,
along with the rest of the act,
while you are reaching for
one bill and handing one
back at the same time that
causes the confusion of other-
wise simple arithmetic.

Eventually, Willie was re-
captured and sent to the Pow-
hatan maximum-security fa-

cility, near Richmond (“the roughest
prison in the state,” he called it), where his
adjustment to prison life resumed. A fight
landed him in the segregation unit, re-
served for incorrigibles, and before very
long he stabbed another prisoner during
a card game. His personal prison wars
peaked in 1973, in an altercation with an
inmate named Romero Riddick, who
made the mistake of carrying a shiv when
he came to collect a debt. Willie was wait-
ing with a glass of salted orange juice,
which he tossed in Riddick’s face; there
was a fight, with much blood, and in the
end Riddick was dead.

Turner later wrote that the experience
filled him with regret, and it may well
have done so. His first killing at last se-
cured his reputation. In any case, the as-
saults stopped, and a sort of transforma-
tion occurred after he was transferred to
the Virginia State Penitentiary. He was
convicted of second-degree murder for
Riddick’s death, and did time in isolation,
but when he returned to the general
prison population he stayed clear of trou-
ble. He went to work in the prison
kitchen, and studied hard to learn to read
and write. In the outside world, his illit-
eracy had always been an enormous
handicap (it had kept him out of the
Army, for one thing) and the source of his
deepest shame. In his manuscript, there
is a story of a bittersweet time from his

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that he frequently carried a pistol.

30) William and Mary Magazine SUMMER 1992

land and were forced to become sharecrop-
pers working for a white man named Oscar
W. Davis. They were joined by Odell’s wife
Mollic, whom he married in January 1939.

Like the Wallers, Davis was also a victim
of personal misfortune as well as the eco-
nomic hardtimes. ‘Twice a widower, he was
married for a third time in 1939. Some
years carlier he had attempted to purchase
81 acres of land, but he had been unable to
keep up the payments on it and was forced
into tenancy. Among whites in the area Davis
seems to have been well regarded as a de-
cent, hardworking, God-fearing man. Some
of his black neighbors saw him differently,
however, and reported that he was mean
and that he broke his promises. They also
said that he quarreled with his sons and

As sharecroppers the Wallers worked
corn, wheat and tobacco for Pavis. Their
arrangement called for them to receive one-
fourth of the corn and wheat and one-half
of the tobacco crops. Living ina small house
on the farm Davis rented, they coped ad-
equately in 1939. But the next year the Agri-
cultural Adjustment Administration severely
cut back the tobacco acreage Davis was al-
lowed to plant. This had a severe impact on
the Wallers. ‘Vo make ends meet in April
1940 Odell took a temporary job with a
contractor who was putting up electric lines
in Maryland. Annic and Mollic continued
to work on the Davis farm, but Davis com-
pounded their problems by refusing to pay
Annic for three weeks of care she had pro-
vided for the ill Mrs. Davis. Shortly after
that he had them evicted from their house.

Worse yet, after the harvesting and thresh-
ing of his wheat in early July, Davis refused
fo turn over to the Wallers the 52 bags of
wheat that was their due.

All this put the Wallers in a seemingly
hopeless situation. Poor and powerless, they
could hardly imagine, let alone obtain, a
redress of their grievances through formal
legal processes. In theory they could sue for

their wheat; in practice such a course of

action was impossible. In fact, according to
a federal government study at the time, it
had never been done by sharecroppers in
Virginia. Such was the background of the
dispute between Odell Waller and Oscar
Davis, one that had tragic consequences for
both.

Fearing a possible
lynch mob, the terrified
Waller fled. Eventually
he made his way to rela-
tives in Columbus, Ohio.
But his trail was easy to
follow, and on July 24 he
was arrested there.

The victim, Oscar W. Davis, was shot in Jront of his house near Gretna afler Odell Waller came to try
to collect his share of the wheat crop. Waller claimed Davis was shot accidentally after an argument
broke out between the two. Davis died two days later.

On Sunday, July 14, 1940, Odell returned
from Maryland. Farly the next morning he
went to see Davis in hopes of getting his
wheat. Odell obviously feared Davis, for he
knew that he was short tempered and be-
licved that he carried a weapon. So when
Odell went to the Davis house he took a
pistol. Just what happened at that point was
hotly disputed. ‘The ouly witnesses were
Davis, Odell and a young black man who
worked for Davis and whose testimony was
inconsistent and unreliable. Odell claimed
that there was an argument and that Davis
reached toward his back pocket as if to pull
out a weapon. (Later testimony indicated
that Davis did not have a gun in his pocket.)
At that point Waller fired four times. Davis
suffered life-threatening abdominal wounds,
and he died two days later.

Fearing a possible lynch mob, the terri-
fied Waller fled. Eventuali, lie made his way
to relatives in Columbus, Ohio. But his trail
was easy to follow, and on July 24 he was
arrested there, A few days later he was extra-
dited back to Virginia and placed in jail in
Chatham. Fortunately for Waller, the story
of his capture in Columbus was reported in
the newspapers and picked up by a number
of outside organizations, including the Na-
tional Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP), the Revolution-
ary Workers League of the U. S. (RWI),
and the Workers Defense League (WDL,).
This fact insured that eventually his case

would be made known beyond the limits of

rural Pittsylvania County.

On Sept. 16 a grand jury in Chatham
indicted Odell for murder. His trial was set
to begin on Sept. 19, giving the defense a
mere two days to prepare. At that stage
Waller was defended by ‘Thomas H. Stone
of Richmond, a 38-year old attorney with
limited experience, and J. Byron Hopkins,
a young black lawyer from Richmond. Stone
had a radical past, having been a leader in
the 1930s of the Communist-sponsored
Richmond Unemployment Council. He had
been hired by the Revolutionary Workers
League, an organization totally unknown to
most Americans. Small in number, the RWI,
was composed of radical ideologues who in
1935 had broken off from the main group
of Troskyites. Not surprisingly, neither Stone
nor the RWI. was a welcome presence in
rural Pittsylvania County.

The trial opened on Sept. 19 before

Judge James ‘Turner Clement. Stone re-

quested, and Clement reluctantly granted,
a postponement to Sept. 26. But this was
sull far too little time for the preparation of
an adequate defense. The jury that was se-
lected was composed entircly of white men,
Eleven were farmers, six of whom hired
sharecroppers; the other was a businessman,

ts

y

that the WDL arranged to have Annie
Waller, accompanied by Pauli Murray, po

on an extended fund-raising tour of the
Midwest for most of January 1941. Speak-
ing to audiences arranged by the NAACP,
the WDE. churches and other groups, they
raised a modest amount of money to help
defray the mounting costs of the defense.
From mid-April to May 1941 Annie Waller
and Murray undertook an even longer cross-
country tour. The effort was emotionally
and physically exhausting for the two
women, but it was significant in helping to
spread the word about the case of Odell
Waller.

The hearing before the Virginia Su-
preme Court of Appeals finally was held in
September 1941. The defense listed several
trial errors as a basis for Wallecr’s appeal.
These included Judge Clement's refusal to
grant a change in venue and his refusal to
disqualify himself because of his allegedly
prejudicial remarks. But the most impor-
tant one was that Waller had becn deprived
of a trial by a jury of his peers as a result of
the alleged exclusion of non-poll taxpayers
from both the grand and petit juries. Un-
fortunately for Waller, the court rejected
every point. On the crucial question of the
jury, it denied the defense contention that
Virginia law required jurors to have been
poll taxpayers, and, more importantly, it
held that since Waller’s lawyers had failed
to show at the trial that he had not paid
that tax, “he was in no position to complain
of such discrimination, had it existed.” Thus
the judgment of the trial court was affirmed.

From then until the late spring of 1942
Waller's lawyers pursued one legal approach
after another. Governors Price and, from
January 1942, Colgate W. Darden Jr.

granted four more reprieves to allow time

32 William and Mary Magazine SUMMER 1992

While his case made
Bil through the ap-

peals court, Waller’s
return address was
500 Spring Street in
Richmond, the main
entrance to the
Virginia State Peni-
tentiary.

for a series of appeals. First came an applica-
tion to the Virginia Supreme Court of Ap
peals for a writ of habeas corpus. ‘This was
denied on Jan. 22, 1942. On April 2 Finerty
filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of the
United States asking it to review Virginia's
courts denial of Jan. 22. For this appeal
Thurgood Marshall prepared an amicus cu-
riac brief on behalf of the American Civil
Liberties Union. In their briefs the defense
developed, among other points, the innova-
tive argument that the equal protection of
the laws demanded that a particular eco-
nomic class, such as the one to which Waller
belonged, not be excluded from jury ser-
vice. On May 4 the Supreme Court rejected
the petition without explanation. It was a
crushing disappointment to Waller and his
defenders.

On June 1 Finerty’s application to the
Supreme Court for a rehearing was similarly
rejected. Finerty then proceeded to argue
his case, without success, before the United
States Disuict Court in Richnioud and the
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in sitting in
Asheville, N.C. In a desperate late move,
only 48 hours before Waller’s scheduled ex-
ecution on June 19, Finerty asked Chief Jus-
tice Harlan Fiske Stone for permission to
appeal to the United States Court of Ap-
peals, or, failing that, fora stay of execution.
He failed on both counts, As Finerty sum-
marized it afterward, Stone’s position was
that “the Federal Courts are held powerless,
because of the error of Waller’s trial coun-
sel, to prevent Waller’s execution even if his
constitutional rights have in fact been vio-
lated.” Understandably, Finerty believed that
this was “a barbarous doctrine.”

At this stage Odell’s only hope was inter-
vention by Governor Darden. At the last
moment, on June 18, the governor granted

Waller one more reprieve, this time until
July 2. Darden was obviously troubled by
some of the questions that had been raised.
To resolve these doubts, he announced that
he would hold a special commutation hear-
ing on June 29.

While the lawyers were battling in the
courts, an unprecedented number of let-
ters, telegrams and petitions urging com-
mutation of the sentence, or even a par-
don, poured into the governor’s office from
all over the country. In addition to Eleanor
Roosevelt, many other well-known people,
including Pearl S. Buck, the Nobel Prize-
winning novelist, John Dewey, the eminent
philosopher, Harry Emerson Fosdick, the
renowned pastor of Riverside Church in
New York City, Frank P. Graham, the presi-
dent of the University of North Carolina,
and William Allen White. the celebrated
newspaper editor, wrote or spoke out on
Waller’s behalf. Another encouraging sign
for the defense came on June T4, 1942,
when Virginius Dabney, in a reversal of his
previous position, published an) editorial
entitled "Po Vindicate Virginia Justice” in
which he argued that justice demanded a
new trial for Waller or, at the least, commu
tation of his sentence. On June 27 Dabney
also joined a list of 19 prominent Virgin-
ians, including President John Stewart Bryan
of William and Mary, who submitted a clem-
ency petition to Darden.

During all this Darden remained care-
fully noncommittal. The commutation hear-
ing on June 29 provided Finerty, who was
assisted by Edmund M. Preston of Rich-
mond, with an opportunity to present the
defense’s argument in considerably greater
depth than had been possible at the trial. In
addition to asserting the constitutional ques-
tions regarding the jury, they showed, at
least to the satisfaction of many observers,
that the prosecution’s case rested on con-
tradictory, and in some instances quite pos-
sibly coached, testimony. It appeared to
many that there was morc than a reason-
able doubt that Waller was guilty of willful,
premeditated murder. Darden concluded
differently, however, and in the end resolved
all disputed points in favor of the prosecu-
tion. On the evening of June 30 he issued a
statement against commutation. Members
of the WDL and Waller’s numerous other
supporters were appalled. As Thomas
Sancton, managing editor of the New Repub-
licand a southerner from Louisiana, wrote:
“It was in Governor Darden's hands to win
a truly great victory for Virginia, indeed, for
the whole South. Instead, he chose to inter-
pret this case in the strict, unheroic spirit of
a crossroads magistrate.”

The day before Waller's scheduled ex-


All had paid their poll tax, a device then
used by Virginia and seven other southern
states that was extremely effective in limit-
ing the size of the clectorate. Like nearly all
blacks in the county, the Wallers had failed
to pay this tax. Thus Odell was tried by a

jury that in no meaningful sense, including

race and cconomic position, was one of his
peers. Had he been, it is certainly conceiv-
able that the outcome of the trial would
have been different. Unfortunately, Stone
failed to offer any evidence at the trial to
show that the jury had been selected from a
list of poll taxpayers or that Waller had not
paid his tax. These omissions turned out to
be crucial mistakes.

By his “lights” Judge Clement undoubt-
edly believed he conducted a fair and im-
partial trial. But the gap between his world,
which inched that of the white ivrors, and
that of black sharecroppers was enormous.
Clement did not permit the defense to
presenta broad perspective, one that would,
for exainple, have allowed Annie Waller an
opportunity to explain their desperate cir-
cumstances, But these circumstances liad
to be understood if one had any hope of
accurately assessing Odell’s motivation and
actions. ‘Thus the results of the trial were
wholly predictable. There was no doubt that
Odell had shot Davis, although a case could
have been made that he had acted in self
defense. After a short trial the jury returned
a verdict of guilty. Clement then sentenced
Waller to be put to death in Virginia’s clec-
tric chair on Dee. 27, 1940.

Had the RWL, the WDIL., and the
NAACP not been aware of his case, Waller
would probably have gone to his death un-
known to the outside world. Instead, these
organizations made sure that Waller’s plight
became known well beyond the confines of
Virginia. ‘To be sure, the RWL’s involve-
ment in the trial had been a mixed bless-
ing, for the presence of such radical outsid-
ers may have further prejudiced the judge
and jury against Waller. Still, the RWL had
provided Waller with trial counsel, however
defective it may have been. After the trial,
the organization that played the most im-
portant role in assisting Waller was the Work-
ers Defense League. Although many Vir-
ginians confused the WDL with the RWL,
they were very different organizations. Com-
pared to the RWL,, the WDL was a model of
respectability. Founded by the Socialist Party
in 1936 as a vehicle to protect labor’s rights,
it provided, among its other activities, the
legal defense for the Southern Tenant Farm-
ers’ Union. Thus its interest in the case of
sharecropper Waller was not surprising. The
WDL rejected both the ideology and the
tactics of the RWL, however, and the con-
flict between the two groups forms an inter-

tla Whsmeirr tak lt
AS, OAs PAL
SAAC

Pah sh

i Gravestone of Oscar
W. Davis, who died

Unfortunately for
Waller, the court rejected
every point. On the cru-
cial question of the jury,
it denied the defense
contention that Virginia
law required jurors to
have been poll taxpayers,
and, more importantly, it
held that since Waller’s
lawyers had failed to
show at the trial that he
had not paid that tax,
“he was in no posiuon to
complain of such dis-
crimination, had it ex-
isted.”

esting subplot of the story, one that space
limitations do not allow to be retold here.
At the time of the trial the executive
head of the WDL, David L.. Clendenin, had
not yet decided to come to defend Waller.
The WDL’s funds were limited, and there
was the problem of the RWL’s involvement.
But Clendenin and other WDL leaders fi-
nally concluded that the issues, especially
the right toa fair trial by an impartial jury of

on July 17, 1940,
after being shot by
Odell Waller who
was execuled two
years later.

one’s peers, were too important to be ig-
nored. On Nov. 2 they announced that the
WDL would come to Waller's Gcfense. Soon
it had enlisted the backing of other organi-
zations, including the NAACP and the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, led
by veteran civil rights activist A. Philip
Randolph, It also provided first-rate legal
talent led by the eminent attorney John PF,
Finerty, although Stone continued to serve
as the counsel of record,

The WD's first move was to senda
young black woman, Pauli Murray, to Vir-
ginia to raise funds and to try to organize a
committee to continue the work. During
her visit to Richmond, Murray conferred
with Virginius Dabney, the influential edi-
tor of The Times-Dispatch, whose support
could have been extremely valuable. At that
time, however, Dabney simply accepted the
prosecution’s argument and told Murray
that it was a poor case on which to mount
an appeal. In November 1940 the WDL, also
began a publicity and fund-raising campaign
through press releases, telephone solicita-
tions and mailings. As a result of these ef
forts the Waller story began to be reported
in an increasing number of journals and
newspapers across the nation. In addition,
the WDL efforts won the support of a num-
ber of prominent citizens, including at an
early stage, that of Eleanor Roosevelt.

The defense achieved its first objective
on Dec. 20 when Gov. James H. Price
granted Waller a reprieve until March 14,
1941, in order to give him a chance to ap-
peal to the Virginia State Court of Appeals.
In carly March the court agreed to hear the
case, and thus his execution was again put
off pending a decision by that court.

In the meantime the WD. continued its
fund-raising and publicity campaign. In late
November it brought Annic Waller to New
York to speak to interested church, labor
and other groups about her son's plight.
Small, stooped, but dignified, she proved to
be an effective emissary, so eflective in fact

William and Mary Magazine SUMMER 1992

31

orn

ccuton a delepation of Alrican-Americans,
led by Pauli Murray and A. Philip Randolph,
went to Washington ina desperate attempt
fo induce President Roosevelt to intervene
with the governor. Eleanor Roosevelt also
continued to do what she could to influe
ence her husband. ‘These efforts were all
futile.

Meanwhile Odell waited for the inevi-
table end of his ordeal. By then he had
spent 630 days in his death row cell, longer
than any prisoner in Virginia history up to
that time. On the afternoon of July 1, he
gave Preston a 10-page “Dying Statement”
that he had painstakingly written early in
the day. It is a remarkable document that
explains his difficulties in simple, but at
times eloquent words. Waller admitted that
he had made mistakes, but he still main-
tained that he had not intended to kill Davis.
Others had lied, he said, so the governor
and the courts did not know the true facts.

“Some people are alowed a chance over
& over again[.] then there are others are
alowed littl chance[.] some no chance at
all[.] ... First I will say dont work for a man
two poor to pay you[.] he will stecl and take
from youf.] in my case worked hard from
sun up until sun down trying to make a
living: for my family an it ended up to mean
death for me. ]”

Shortly after 8:30 on the morning of July
2, 1942, Waller was escorted to the execu-
tion chamber and strapped into the electric
chair. Ten minutes later he was pronounced
dead.

The agony of Odell, Waller had finally
ended, but the pain continued for his de-
fenders. As they saw it, American justice
had been tested, and it was found wanting.
The contrast between America’s professed
democratic ideals, repeatedly proclaimed
in the war then being fought against the
Axis, and the realities as exemplified by the
Waller case were indeed staix and painful.
As Pauli Murray concluded, “If the colored
man is not given his full rights now, then
the battle for democracy is lost.”

Sull, Waller’s defenders continued to
hope that their efforts had not been in vain.
For some, like Pauli Murray and Morris
Milgram, Clendenin’s successor as head of
the WDL, the case had a lasting impact on
their lives. Hoping to make the WDI. into
an agency committed to the ending of all
forms of racial discrimination, Milgram re-
mained its national secretary until 1947, Sub-
sequently he went into the business of build-
ing integrated, multiracial housing, operat-
ing on the premise that such projects were
not only morally right but practical and
potentially profitable, and he continues to
serve as president of the Fund for an Open

Socicty, a non-profit mortgage fund to end
housing segregation.

Pauli Murray Was per haps the One most
deeply affected by the Waller case. Her ex-
perience convinced her of the need to study
law, which she began in the fall of LO4L at
Howard University in Washington. After her
graduation in 1944 she practiced and taught
law until the 1970s, championing the rights
of women as well as blacks. In 1966 she
became one of the cofounders of the Na-
tional Organization for Women. Later she
began several years of theological study
which culminated in her being ordained in
1977 as the first black female Episcopal
priest. In the meantime she had published

On the afternoon of
July 1, he gave Preston a
10-page “Dying State-
ment” that he had pains-
takingly written carly in
the day. It is a remark-
able document that ex-
plains his difficulties in
simple, but at times elo-
quent words.

any :

D

a number of works, including an epic poem
about blacks in America called “Dark Testa-
mene” that, tits inital versions, drew heavily
on the tragedy of Odell Waller.

For most Americans, however, the Waller
case was soon overwhelined by the events of
World War II and simply forgotten. But as
recent events have shown, it still has a rel-
evance, Vo be sure, we have made some
progress in improving the conditions that
had warped the lives of both the Davis and
the Waller families. ‘Thus the poll tax was
finally abolished in federal elections, as a
result of the ratification of the 24th Amend-
ment in January 196-1, although Virginia
obstinately clung to it as a requirement for
voting in state and local elections until the
United States Supreme Court declared it
unconstitutional in March 1966. Similarly,
the voting power of blacks in Virginia has
been substantially increased thanks to the
1965 Voting Rights Act, while the civil rights
movement brought an end to the oppres-
sive segregation Laws, Still, poverty has not
been abolished, and the quality of justice in
America is still very much related to one’s
economic position, while race surely remains
a factor in many aspects of the criminal

justice system, especially when it comes to

the death penalty. Phus the Waller case can
be seen as a measure of the progress we
have made in the past 50 years, and a re-
minder of how far we still have to go to
create a truly just society.

Richard B. Sherman, Chancellor I ’rofessor of
History at William and Mary, is the author of The
Case of Odell Waller and Virginia Justice,
1940-1942, which was published by the Univer-
sity of Tennessee Press in the Spring of 1992.

A sharecropper for Oscar Davis, Waller and his family formerly lived in this house near Gretna in

Pittsylvania County,

William and Mary Magazine SUMMER 1992

33


| oN VIRGINIA, COUNTY OF ..

the Sheriff_or any Constable of
Whereas u Ca rh Sa

Pa GAL ipeccrrs Alas gabe ott oy ices

in | the name of the Commonwealth of Virginia, ‘to command you forthwith to
apprehend and bring before me, or some? other justice of said county,

the body of the said ......... ?
i BAA AVATE. Meter. , to answer the said complaint and further to be dealt with.ac- ay
Le )
a pe te, | law. a you are, hereby + uired to Summon ..C@G4u ae

.

Ao appear and g
; offense. Sea co

; _ Given under ekg hand and seal, this’ :

‘ bay WHITSON @ SHEPHERD, |PRINTERS 2 ronranour Ane : Kea
las we “sy “s
VIRGINIA PENITENTIARY |
RICHMOND, VA,
June 15 » 1917,
J. B. WoobD,

SUPERINTENDENT

THIS IS TO CERTIFY that the order of the Cirouit Court

of Isle of Wight County Gate May 10, 1917, direoting the

electrocution of "HANSOM WARREN" on the 15th vay of aches

1917, was this day executed at 7.16, A.M

Superintendent,

ans


(792, 60, ¥/

eleane) F Mery Megeprne ,

‘Tue Sap Saca or Opett WALLER

CSerweece),
17-335:

By RICHARD B. SHERMAN

ifty years ago this summer, on July 2, 1942, a young black man was put to death in
Virginia’s electric chair at the state penitentiary in Richmond. His name, Odell
Waller, is not likely to be recalled by many people today. In the early 1940s, however,

the case of Odell Waller was a matter of intense concern, not only in Virginia, but

across the nation, for it raised se-
rious questions about the relation-
ship of economic status, political
power and race to the quality of
justice in America. Indeed, for
many people at the time, but es-
pecially for African Americans,
Waller became a symbol of many
of our country’s failings. Although
it is largely forgotten today, the
Waller case is worth remember-
ing, for it involved significant is-
sues that, unfortunately, continue

to be relevant.

Odell Waller was born in 1917 near
Gretna in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and
raised by his adoptive parents, Annie and
Willis Waller. Like many of the people in
the area, black and white, the Wallers
struggled to make a living from the land by
farming. In 1940 about 53 percent of the
white farmers and 74 percent of the black
farmers in the county were tenants. Worse
yet, 48 percent of the black farmers were
lowly sharecroppers, people who owned
nothing and who were totally dependent
upon their landlords. Within this context
the Waller family was relatively well off, at
least until 1938, for they owned a small plot
of some 25 acres. But after the death of
Willis in that year, Annie and Odell lost this

Puoro oF ODELL WALLER COURTESY OF VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; OTHER PHOTOS BY RICHARD B. SHERMAN.

Odell Waller, who was executed for
the murder of his landlord Oscar
Davis in a controversial capital
punishment case in Virginia in
1942, is buried in a graveyard near
Gretna, Va., where he was born in
1917. The case is the subject of a
new book by Richard B. Sherman,
professor of history at Wiliam and
Mary.

William and Mary Magazine SUMMER 1992 29


a =

e

land and were forced to become sharecrop-
pers working for a white man named Oscar
W. Davis. They were joined by Odell’s wife
Mollie, whom he married in January 1939.

Like the Wallers, Davis was also a victim
of personal misfortune as well as the eco-
nomic hardtimes. Twice a widower, he was
married for a third time in 1939. Some
years earlier he had attempted to purchase
81 acres of land, but he had been unable to
keep up the payments on it and was forced
into tenancy. Among whites in the area Davis
seems to have been well regarded as a de-
cent, hardworking, God-fearing man. Some
of his black neighbors saw him differently,
however, and reported that he was mean
and that he broke his promises. They also
said that he quarreled with his sons and
that he frequently carried a pistol.

As sharecroppers the Wallers worked
corn, wheat and tobacco for Davis. Their
arrangement called for them to receive one-
fourth of the corn and wheat and one-half
of the tobacco crops. Living in a small house
on the farm Davis rented, they coped ad-
equately in 1939. But the next year the Agri-
cultural Adjustment Administration severely
cut back the tobacco acreage Davis was al-
lowed to plant. This had a severe impact on
the Wallers. To make ends meet in April
1940 Odell took a temporary job with a
contractor who was putting up electric lines
in Maryland. Annie and Mollie continued
to work on the Davis farm, but Davis com-
pounded their problems by refusing to pay
Annie for three weeks of care she had pro-
vided for the ill Mrs. Davis. Shortly after
that he had them evicted from their house.

Worse yet, after the harvesting and thresh-
ing of his wheat in early July, Davis refused
to turn over to the Wallers the 52 bags of
wheat that was their due.

All this put the Wallers in a seemingly
hopeless situation. Poor and powerless, they
could hardly imagine, let alone obtain, a
redress of their grievances through formal
legal processes. In theory they could sue for
their wheat; in practice such a course of
action was impossible. In fact, according to
a federal government study at the time, it
had never been done by sharecroppers in
Virginia. Such was the background of the
dispute between Odell Waller and Oscar
Davis, one that had tragic consequences for
both.

Fearing a possible
lynch mob, the terrified
Waller fled. Eventually
he made his way to rela-
tives in Columbus, Ohio.
But his trail was easy to
follow, and on July 24 he
was arrested there.

The victim, Oscar W. Davis, was shot in front of his house near Gretna after Odell Waller came to try
to collect his share of the wheat crop. Waller claimed Davis was shot accidentally after an argument
broke out between the two. Davis died two days later.

On Sunday, July 14, 1940, Odell returned
from Maryland. Early the next morning he
went to see Davis in hopes of getting his
wheat. Odell obviously feared Davis, for he
knew that he was short-tempered and be-
lieved that he carried a weapon. So when
Odell went to the Davis house he took a
pistol. Just what happened at that point was
hotly disputed. The only witnesses were
Davis, Odell and a young black man who
worked for Davis and whose testimony was
inconsistent and unreliable. Odell claimed
that there was an argument and that Davis
reached toward his back pocket as if to pull
out a weapon. (Later testimony indicated
that Davis did not have a gun in his pocket.)
At that point Waller fired four times. Davis
suffered life-threatening abdominal wounds,
and he died two days later.

Fearing a possible lynch mob, the terri-
fied Waller fled. Eventually he made his way
to relatives in Columbus, Ohio. But his trail
was easy to follow, and on July 24 he was
arrested there. A few days later he was extra-
dited back to Virginia and placed in jail in
Chatham. Fortunately for Waller, the story
of his capture in Columbus was reported in
the newspapers and picked up by a number
of outside organizations, including the Na-
tional Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP), the Revolution-
ary Workers League of the U. S. (RWL),
and the Workers Defense League (WDL).
This fact insured that eventually his case
would be made known beyond the limits of
rural Pittsylvania County.

On Sept. 16 a grand jury in Chatham
indicted Odell for murder. His trial was set
to begin on Sept. 19, giving the defense a
mere two days to prepare. At that stage
Waller was defended by Thomas H. Stone
of Richmond, a 38-year old attorney with
limited experience, and J. Byron Hopkins,
a young black lawyer from Richmond. Stone
had a radical past, having been a leader in
the 1930s of the Communist-sponsored
Richmond Unemployment Council. He had
been hired by the Revolutionary Workers
League, an organization totally unknown to
most Americans. Small in number, the RWL
was composed of radical ideologues who in
1935 had broken off from the main group
of Troskyites. Not surprisingly, neither Stone
nor the RWL was a welcome presence in
rural Pittsylvania County.

The trial opened on Sept. 19 before
Judge James Turner Clement. Stone re-
quested, and Clement reluctantly granted,
a postponement to Sept. 26. But this was
still far too little time for the preparation of
an adequate defense. The jury that was se-
lected was composed entirely of white men.
Eleven were farmers, six of whom hired
sharecroppers; the other was a businessman.

i

30 William and Mary Magazine SUMMER 1992

All had paid their poll tax, a device then
used by Virginia and seven other southern
states that was extremely effective in limit-
ing the size of the electorate. Like nearly all
blacks in the county, the Wallers had failed
to pay this tax. Thus Odell was tried by a
jury that in no meaningful sense, including
race and economic position, was one of his
peers. Had he been, it is certainly conceiv-
able that the outcome of the trial would
have been different. Unfortunately, Stone
failed to offer any evidence at the trial to
show that the jury had been selected from a
list of poll taxpayers or that Waller had not
paid his tax. These omissions turned out to
be crucial mistakes.

By his “lights” Judge Clement undoubt-
edly believed he conducted a fair and im-
partial trial. But the gap between his world,
which included that of the white jurors, and
that of black sharecroppers was enormous.
Clement did not permit the defense to
present a broad perspective, one that would,
for example, have allowed Annie Waller an
opportunity to explain their desperate cir-
cumstances. But these circumstances had
to be understood if one had any hope of
accurately assessing Odell’s motivation and
actions. Thus the results of the trial were
wholly predictable. There was no doubt that
Odell had shot Davis, although a case could
have been made that he had acted in self
defense. After a short trial the jury returned
a verdict of guilty. Clement then sentenced
Waller to be put to death in Virginia’s elec-
tric chair on Dec. 27, 1940.

Had the RWL, the WDL, and the
NAACP not been aware of his case, Waller
would probably have gone to his death un-
known to the outside world. Instead, these
organizations made sure that Waller’s plight
became known well beyond the confines of
Virginia. To be sure, the RWL’s involve-
ment in the trial had been a mixed bless-
ing, for the presence of such radical outsid-
ers may have further prejudiced the judge
and jury against Waller. Still, the RWL had
provided Waller with trial counsel, however
defective it may have been. After the trial,
the organization that played the most im-
portant role in assisting Waller was the Work-
ers Defense League. Although many Vir-
ginians confused the WDL with the RWL,
they were very different organizations. Com-
pared to the RWL, the WDL was a model of
respectability. Founded by the Socialist Party
in 1936 asa vehicle to protect labor’s rights,
it provided, among its other activities, the
legal defense for the Southern Tenant Farm-
ers’ Union. Thus its interest in the case of
sharecropper Waller was not surprising. The
WDL rejected both the ideology and the
tactics of the RWL, however, and the con-
flict between the two groups forms an inter-

Unfortunately for
Waller, the court rejected
every point. On the cru-
cial question of the jury,
it denied the defense
contention that Virginia
law required jurors to
have been poll taxpayers,
and, more importantly, it
held that since Waller’s
lawyers had failed to
show at the trial that he
had not paid that tax,
“he was in no position to
complain of such dis-
crimination, had it ex-
isted.”

esting subplot of the story, one that space
limitations do not allow to be retold here.
At the time of the trial the executive
head of the WDL, David L. Clendenin, had
not yet decided to come to defend Waller.
The WDL’s funds were limited, and there
was the problem of the RWL’s involvement.
But Clendenin and other WDL leaders fi-
nally concluded that the issues, especially
the right to a fair trial by an impartial jury of

! W. Davis, who died
on July 17, 1940,
| after being shot by
Odell Waller who
| was executed two
years later.

one’s peers, were too important to be ig-
nored. On Nov. 2 they announced that the
WDL would come to Waller’s defense. Soon
it had enlisted the backing of other organi-
zations, including the NAACP and the
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, led
by veteran civil rights activist A. Philip
Randolph. It also provided first-rate legal
talent led by the eminent attorney John F.
Finerty, although Stone continued to serve
as the counsel of record.

The WDL’s first move was to send a
young black woman, Pauli Murray, to Vir-
ginia to raise funds and to try to organize a
committee to continue the work. During
her visit to Richmond, Murray conferred
with Virginius Dabney, the influential edi-
tor of The Times-Dispatch, whose support
could have been extremely valuable. At that
time, however, Dabney simply accepted the
prosecution’s argument and told Murray
that it was a poor case on which to mount
an appeal. In November 1940 the WDL also
began a publicity and fund-raising campaign
through press releases, telephone solicita-
tions and mailings. As a result of these ef-
forts the Waller story began to be reported
in an increasing number of journals and
newspapers across the nation. In addition,
the WDL efforts won the support of a num-
ber of prominent citizens, including at an
early stage, that of Eleanor Roosevelt.

The defense achieved its first objective
on Dec. 20 when Gov. James H. Price
granted Waller a reprieve until March 14,
1941, in order to give him a chance to ap-
peal to the Virginia State Court of Appeals.
In early March the court agreed to hear the
case, and thus his execution was again put
off pending a decision by that court.

In the meantime the WDL continued its
fund-raising and publicity campaign. In late
November it brought Annie Waller to New
York to speak to interested church, labor
and other groups about her son’s plight.
Small, stooped, but dignified, she proved to
be an effective emissary, so effective in fact

William and Mary Magazine SUMMER 1992 31


Danville killer is executed —

Governor refused plea for clemency

¥ WATKINS FROM PAGE B1

sat in a pickup truck in a small field
outside the prison for 3’2 hours be-
fore the execution. He said he was a
strong believer in capital punishment
and was waiting to see justice done.

“T know I can’t bring her back, but
I believe I can lay down and sleep at
night now,” he said.

Kenneth Powell, who was Bark-
er’s employer at the convenience he
sat through both Watkins’ murder
trials.

“He showed no remorse; he
showed no emotion,” Powell said.

He said he would feel relieved
“knowing that he can’t do this again.”

Watkins filed a motion for a stay of
execution Wednesday at the federal
court in Roanoke. A judge denied the
motion.

Allen studied Watkins’ clemency
petition for a week and concluded the
case didn’t warrant his intervention,
said Allen spokesman Ken Stroupe.

In the petition, Watkins’ lawyers
7 asked that his life
be spared be-
cause of alleged
racism in Dan-
ville.

Watkins was
black. The two
convenience
store clerks he
? | killed were white.

| The 1984 convic-
tions have been
upheld in appeals

ny

courts.

“Danville never has sentenced to
death any white person. In sum, Dan-
ville has displayed an unmitigated
record of racism in the administra-

7 aa

tion of capital punishment,” Watkins’
lawyers argued.

Danville Commonwealth’s Attor-
ney William H. Fuller III denied the
racism charge.

“It’s just happened that these peo-
ple have been black defendants.”

Watkins’ attorneys argued that in
Danville, blacks have been “shut out
of any role in the administration of
capital justice.”

The six defendants sentenced to
death by Danville juries have been
black and only five of the 72 jurors
involved in seven trials were black.

Fuller denied that blacks were be-
ing excluded from juries. He said in
one capital murder trial he attempted
to get two more blacks on a jury but
failed when defense lawyers
wouldn’t agree to that.

In his state and federal appeals,
Watkins charged faulty jury instruc-
tions, ineffective counsel and the in-
troduction into evidence of a confes-
sion he claimed was involuntary.

Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia
Friday, March 4, 1994

PELE OE RT Et


Wlaven 4/0!

THE WASHINGTON POsT

Va.’s Execution of Double Murderer
May Be Last for Its Electric Chair

State Plans to Allow Death by Lethal Injection Starting in July

+ Oona

By Peter Baker fo

Washington Post Staff Writer

JARRATT, Va., March 3—The switch on the Vir-
ginia electric chair may have been thrown for the final
time when a 32-year-old double murderer was put to
death late tonight.

Without the fanfare of public appeals or noisy pro-
tests, Johnny Watkins Jr. likely became a footnote in the
history books. After 86 years of electrocuting death-
row inmates, Virginia plans to allow them to die by le-
thal injection beginning July 1, an option almost always
chosen when offered in other states.

Watkins made no final statement after he was led into
the death chamber, and he was pronounced dead at
11:11 p.m. :

If his death was a landmark in Virginia, it was an an-
ticlimactic one. Watkins looked somewhat confused as

he was escorted into the death chamber, but he walked |,

calmly to the chair without protest or struggle. As he

was strapped in, witnesses heard someone say, “God

bless you” twice and “go with the flow,” but it was not
clear who uttered the words. 3

When the power was turned on, Watkins’s body
tensed, his fists clenched, smoke began billowing from
his right leg where a metal clamp was attached, and a
sizzling sound could be heard. Y

Watkins, who became the 23rd man executed in Vir-
ginia since the Supreme Court restored the death pen-
alty in 1976 and the sixth in the last 14 months, was
convicted of murdering two convenience store clerks
during separate robberies in 1983. Watkins, who was
black, had appealed to Gov. George Allen by claiming
that his sentences by all-white juries were racially mo-
tivated.

The state’s new Republican governor issued a four-
sentence statement saying that he had “concluded that
the facts of the case do not warrant exercise of the ex-
traordinary remedy of executive clemency.”

Watkins’s crime and his appeals were so typical that
they generated little of the national notoriety accom-
panying such recent Virginia cases as that of Roger
Coleman, who was put to death despite an international
campaign to save him, and Earl Washington Jr., whose
sentence was commuted to life in prison after new DNA
tests cast doubt on his guilt.

The change to lethal injection comes too late for Wat-
kins, but the method of execution was not the important
issue for him. “Killing is wrong any way for the state,”
he said in a recent interview.

The state’s oak electric chair was installed in 1908 at
the Virginia State Penitentiary in Richmond, and for
each scheduled execution competing crowds gathered
outside, one to cheer on the death of a heinous criminal
and the other to hold candles and mourn state-sanc-
tioned killing.

After the prison closed, the chair was moved in 1991
to the new Greensville Correctional Center, 55 miles to
the south in rural Jarratt.

Over the years, 258 men and one woman have been

strapped into Virginia’s electric chair, but it has not
always gone smoothly. In 1990, witnesses said that Wil-
bert Lee Evans lunged forward after the voltage was
turned on and that blood flowed profusely from under
the leather face mask, drenching his shirt. An outraged
prison chaplain spoke out publicly afterward. The next
year, corrections officials had to shock Derick Lynn
Peterson a second time when a physician detected a
pulse after the first cycle.

Incidents such as those helped motivate Del. Phillip
A. Hamilton (R-Newport News) to introduce his bill
allowing lethal injection, which was passed by both
houses and is scheduled to be signed by Allen.

Hamilton, a capital punishment supporter, witnessed
an execution as part of his four-year effort to win ap-
proval of lethal injection. While it was carried out with
precision, he argues that the skull is the most resilient
part of the body and worries that the brain remains
alive while the rest of the body burns.

“Reading some of the. autopsy reports left some
doubt in my mind whether the jolt of electricity really
did cause death or brain death right away,” he said last
week.

Specialists have said that an inmate dies in the elec-
tric chair almost immediately. Virginia corrections of-
ficials said they have had few problems despite the Ev-
ans and Peterson incidents.

Under present policy, a condemned killer is strapped
into the chair and his face is covered with a leather
mask. Once the button is pushed, the chair delivers an
1,825-volt shock for 30 seconds, followed by a 240-volt
surge for 60 seconds, It then resets itself over a span of
three to five seconds and repeats the cycle.

That procedure has been altered several times over
the years to find the most effective formula. David
Bass, manager of corrections operations for the state’s
eastern region, said the Evans and Peterson incidents
both had simple explanations.

An investigation determined that Evans suffered a
nosebleed because a notch in the mask’s strap was not
big enough to accommodate his large face, Bass said. In
Peterson’s case, Bass said, corrections officials decided
to have the physician check after one cycle of electricity
instead of two.

“It was always the procedure to run as many cycles
as necessary,” he said. “The machine is designed to ren-
der the condemned brain dead within moments.”

Watkins may have been the last inmate to die in the
chair, but his case drew little attention compared with
some of the death-row inmates who have died or been
spared in Virginia in recent years.

Watkins was convicted of fatally shooting Betty Jean
Barker during a robbery on Nov. 14, 1983, and then
killing Carl Douglas Buchanan on Nov, 22, 1983.

He spent his final day in a holding cell and was visited
by a girlfriend for two hours and met with his attorneys,
but no family members came to the prison.

In their clemency petition to Allen, Watkins’s law-
yers noted that no white man has ever been sentenced
to death in Danville, a small town near the North Car-
olina border where the Confederate flag still is flown.

Grim FINALE

Double-murderer Johnny
Watkins Jr., above,

was executed last night in
what may have been the
last time Virginia uses it’s
86-year-old electric chair.
Story on Page D6.

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS

at

ee

259th Electrocution

Appears to Be Last
In Virginia History

|
|
|
|
|
|

JARRATT, Va., March 4 (AP) —
Using its electric chair for the 259th
‘and possibly last time, Virginia on
| Thursday night executed a man con-
| victed of killing two convenience store
: clerks in a pair of small-time robber-
; ies. |
| The condemned man, Johnny Wat-'
| kins Jr., 33, was pronounced dead at
| 11:11 P.M., said Wayne Brown, opera-
| tions officer at the Greensville Correc-
| tional Center, where the state’s electric

; chair is housed.

| Mr. Watkins made no final state!

| ment. Two days earlier, he told a re-

‘porter, ‘‘I've made peace, and I’m

; about as ready as I’m going to get, I

| expect.”

i Mr. Watkins, who is black, had asked

i Gov. George Allen to grant clemency,
arguing that racism played a part in
his sentencing. Governor Allen reject-
ed the request on Thursday morning.

Adopting Injections
Virginia has executed 259 people in

| the electric chair in the last 86 years.

But starting July 1, the state will allow
death-row inmates to die by lethal in-
jection. Most condemned killers choose
that option in the states where it is
offered. In that procedure, an inmate is
first injected with a sleep-inducing
drug before the lethal fluids are admin-
istered.

Mr. Watkins was convicted of killing
Betty Jean Barker, 22, at a Danville
convenience store on Nov. 14, 1983.
Eight days later, he used the same .22-
| caliber pistol to shoot Carl Buchanan,
| 41, at another store.

Each of the robberies netted him less
than $100. In both cases, he shot the
victim four times.

The police arrested Mr. Watkins af-
ter his brother, Donnell, spent a $2 bill

| from the second robbery at a clothing

store.

—

> eer

> EXECUTION: Virgi
for the gunshot murders 0
ic clerks in separate 1983 holdups.

ins Jr.
ia executed Johnny Watkins Jr.,
silly f two Danville convenience

icslasie

AA + FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 1994 - USA TODAY

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.ty holdups went to his death qui-
etly late Thursday evening.
Johnny Watkins Jr., 33, was
convicted of killing Betty Jean
Barker, 22, at a Danville conve-
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A20 The Sacramento Bee Final e Saturday, March 5, 1994

WATKINS, Johnny, Jr. - Virginia.

° ‘Alt-Z FOR HELP3 VT100 3 FDX 8 1200 N@I 3 LOG CLOSED 2 PRINT OFF 3 ON-LINE
oe LEVEL 1 - 3 OF 37 STORIES
| Copyright 1992 The Washington Fost
| 10 | The Washington Post
‘ | Ps | September 2, 1992, Wednesday, Firial Edition

SECTION: FIRST SECTION; PAGE A28

H

C LENGTH: 2146 words

HEADLINE: VIRGINIA’S DEATH-ROW INMATES

: SERIES: Occasianal
. _| © BYLINE: The Washington Post
BODY:
@ ... SENTENCED: 1984
oO JURISDICTION WHERE CONVICTED: Hamptoni
CIRCUMSTANCES OF CONVICTION: Killed five women, twa by shots to the head.
© Alt-Z FOR HELP? VT100 3 FDX 3 1200 N81 3 LOG CLOSED 3 PRINT OFF 3 ON-LINE
| O | The Washington Post, September 2, 1992
NAME: Johnny Watkins Jr.
#4 ® ace: 31
RACE: Black
O

YEAR SENTENCED: 1984
O JURISDICTION WHERE CONVICTED: Danville

CIRCUMSTANCES OF CONVICTION: Killed two convenience store clerks in separate
Oy abberies.

NAME: Joe Lewis Wise
AGE: 80
O  -RACE: Black

YEAR SENTENCED: 1984

©
Alt-Z FOR HELFS VT100 5 FDX 3 1200 N81 3 LOG CLOSED 2 FRINT OFF 3 ON-LINE
LEVEL 1 - 10 OF 37 STORIES
2 Cepyright 1989 The Washington Fost

The Washingten Post

Octeber 11, 1989, Wednesday, Final Edition,
_ SECTION: METRO; FAGE D2; AROUND THE REGION
LENGTH: 88 wards

CHEADLINE: Va. Death Sentence Is Upheld


~~

a

6! AORN eee abiee weet. : 5 EE

Lawyers representing death row inmates in thé lawsuit argue that fewer

G@avyers are willing ta veolunteer for the cases because the cases are sca camplex

and time-consuming.

Death row inmates at Mecklenburg Correctional Center have na access ta
lawyers cutside the prison, Watkins said.

C ’’ They (quards) have ta make all the phone calls for you and they have tea be

appraved an the

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Copyright 1985 The Washington Post
The Washington Post

: June 15, 1985, Saturday, Final Edition
SECTION: Metro; Around the Region; BS

LENGTH: 138 werds

~~

GADLINE: 2 Death Sentences Upheld in Va.

BYLINE: From news services and staff reports

BODY:

~. The Virginia Supreme Court yesterday upheld the death sentences of the
canfessed killer af a Portsmouth widow and that of a Danville man wha fatally
shet two clerks in separate robberies.

Richard Boggs, 21, a part-time student at Tidewater Community College, was
sentenced to die in the electric chair for the January 1984 murder of Treeby
Shaw, 87. Johnny Watkins Jr. was condemned for sheeting Betty Jean Barker and
Larl Douglas Buchanan during holdups at two Danville convenience stores in

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The Washington Post, June 15, 1985
November 1983, which netted $124.72. .
The seven-member court unanimously rejected as groundless all challenges
waised by Baggs and Watkins. Both cases were on automatic appeal ta the state

Supreme Court. The men can further appeal their death sentences in the federal
caurts.
f No execution date has been set for either man.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

“%

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Freprietary ta the United. Fress International 15984

United Press Internatianal


Vigini— ail
1. h " a 1 (ce Cd
p nny Watkins (Bick) \ ie ep" oS
ae : ae AYN 3099015
Dec: | 1993 Cecuton icles. \ x Cae
- of Crime - it (it /s3
Sentemmea - 7 /13/34 Danville County
vidim — 1 white female ( Buty ;
| Con ga St tmersee? tore SO CRE:
robbery |murlar OR Gor
also Linehiod a Ufe Sutenca Qy
DGAN Spnterta
re ms
ethy Barker (white) /1-14-§3

B — Carl Dousles Buchanan Lishite) 1-22-83

(0 -defendone - Quintin Nash

RACE: Black

YEAR SENTENCED: 1984

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LEVEL 1 - 10 OF 37 STORIES

ot

| Copyright 1989 The Washington Post
H The Washington Post

October ii, 1989, Wednesday, .Final Edition
_ SECTION: METRO; PAGE D2; AROUND THE REGION -°
“LENGTH: 88 wards
HEADLINE: Va. Death Sentence Is Upheld
BYLINE: From News Services and Staff Reports

BODY:
|Virginia death row inmate Johnny Watkins Jr., convicted in Danville of twa

1983 murders, last a Supreme Court appeal yesterday.

PERSON: JOHNNY WATKINS

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LEVEL 1 - 22 OF 37 STORIES

Proprietary to the United Press International 1986

July 10, 1986, Thursday, AM cycle

SECTION: Regional News

DISTRIBUTION: Virginia |
LENGTH: 463 words
EADLINE: Death raw inmates want legal fees paid
-BYLINE: By PAGE BOINEST
DATELINE: RICHMOND, Va.
“BODY: . _ inp
A death row inmate told a federal Judge Thursday he had no access to lawyers
that could help him appeal his capital murder conviction and that he did nat
“now how go through court channels on his own.
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Praprietary ta the United Press International, July 40, 1986

Johnny Watkins Jr., scheduled to die for murdering a convenience store
<ierk in Danville, told U.S. District Judge Robert Merhige that he does not know
whe status af his appeal.

Watkins testified in the first day of a two-day hearing on a lawsuit filed by

weath raw inmates. The lawsuit seeks ta farce the state tao pay legal fees far
Prisoners seeking appeals of their convictions.


Three trials held in Danville Circuit Court brought out chilling details in the two mur-

ders and led to one of the perps keeping a rendezvous with ultimate justice.

Chatham jail, 18 miles away.

Darnell was placed in the Danville
jail.

The next day, Johnny sent word that
he was ready to talk. Detective Dalton
interviewed him at the Chatham jail.
Now Johnny told Dalton that he’d shot
Buchanan in self-defense because the
man was going ‘or a gun.

No such gun was found at the crime
scene, however, and there was no other
evidence to suggest that the victim had
ever been armed. Plus—he shot four
times in self-defense?

Detective Dalton later remarked that
he found the suspect to be cold and
without remorse.

Soon after Dalton’s interview, the
Danville lawmen conferred with the
Pittsylvania sleuths. It was decided that,
since the Danville investigators had
some leverage going in the Buchanan
case, they would join the probe into
Barker’s death.

With the Watkins brothers in jail un-
der high bonds, the sleuths took their
time probing the Barker case. They
worked the probe through the end of
1983, and into the winter of 1984.

Eventually, the investigators devel-
oped an informant who told them that
Barker died as Johnny Watkins and an-
other local man, 19-year-old Quentin
Everett Nash, were robbing the store.

Since Johnny Watkins wasn’t talking,
the investigators leaned on Nash. Final-
ly, Nash told them that he did indeed
take part in the crime with Johnny Wat-

60 Front Page Detective

kins. Nash said he and Watkins left a
card game that night, stopped by Wat-
kins’s pad for a few minutes, then drove
to the store.

Watkins declared that he was tired of
being poor, Nash said, and wanted to
commit a robbery. When they got there,
Watkins got five bucks’ worth of gas for
his car:and paid for it. Then another car
pulled up, apparently spooking Watkins.
He got back into his own car, parked it
near the store, and waited.

When the store was empty, Watkins
went back inside. Nash said he got
scared, so he followed Watkins into the
store to stop the crime. He saw Betty
Jean Barker punch a button to open the
cash drawer and reach over the counter
to get Watkins a pack of smokes. As she
did so, Watkins fumbled in his pocket,
pulled out his gun, and shot Barker in
the face.

Barker grabbed herself and fell, Nash
said. Watkins then shot her again, and
yelled at Nash to grab the cash drawer.
Nash said he refused at first, but he fi-
nally grabbed the drawer and made for
the car.

As Nash left the store, he saw Wat-

‘kins leaning over the counter with his

gun. Watkins then shot Barker twice
more, and one of those bullets was the
misfire that got snagged in her clothing.

Now they drove to Watkins’s pad.
There, Nash told Watkins, “I don’t want

‘no money. If you get caught, keep my

name out of it.”
Watkins had gotten a total of $89.8

in that robbery-murder.

On Thursday, March 29, 1984, Com-
monwealth’s Attorney Fuller presented
the Barker case to a Danville Circuit
Court jury. That jury indicted Johnny
Watkins on one count each of capital
murder, robbery, and use of a firearm to
commit the crimes. The same jury in-
dicted Quentin Nash on charges of first-
degree murder and robbery.

Forensic scientists matched the slugs
recovered from the victims’ bodies with

. Johnny Watkins’s pistol. The scientists

also found one of Darnell Watkins’s fin-
gerprints on Carl Buchanan’s credit
card. ©

Detectives found the empty cash
drawer from the Buchanan robbbery—
the drawer that Johnny Watkins had
ditched. The sleuths never found the
drawer taken by Nash took in the Barker
robbery.

In March 1984, a Danville Circuit
Court jury convicted Darnell Watkins of
first-degree murder and robbery. He was
later sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Quentin Nash was also convicted as
charged. He, too, received a 20-year
sentence. Each man also got life sen-
tences that were suspended.

Both Quentin Nash and Darnell Wat-
kins testified against Johnny Watkins
when he stood trial twice in Danville
Circuit Court in the summer of 1984,
once for each killing. Each time, the
verdict was guilty as charged, and the
sentence was death in the state’s electri
chair.

Through his lawyers, Johnny Watkins
made the inevitable appeals through
state and federal courts over the next de-
cade. By 1994, he was facing a March
3rd execution date, and had used ‘up all
his appeals. He was housed at the
Greenville Correctional Center in Jar-
ratt, home of Virginia’s death row.

In the days before the scheduled exe-
cution date, Watkins talked to a report-
er over the phone. The phone Watkins
used was just down the hallway from
the chamber that contained the electric
chair.

The convicted murderer said he want-
ed people to know that he was human.

“I’m not the terrible thing I’m proba-
bly portrayed as being,” Watkins said.

He refused to discuss the slayings,
other than to say that he would not ad-
mit guilt. He did talk about capital pun-
ishment, his childhood, lack of
opportunity, and his drug abuse.

Watkins went on to theorize that most
folks find it easy to think of death-row
inmates, and criminals in general, as

something le:
makes execut

“T think *
dle the th
just think _-
not a person.
only wish p
humps and
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spent his ch
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WATKINS y. COM.:' Va. 423

Cite as 331 S.E.2d 422 (Va. 1985)

crimes, and he appealed. The Supreme
Court, Cochran, J., held that: (1) failure to
appoint an investigator to assist in prepara-
tion of defense was not violative of defend-
ant’s Sixth Amendment rights; (2) use of
Same jury to decide penalty after finding
defendant guilty of offense was not consti-
tutionally invalid; (8) voir dire was not
inadequate to insure impaneling of a‘ fair
and impartial jury; (4) any error in admit-
ting testimony of an accomplice which was
outside scope of cross-examination was
harmless; (5) color photographs depicting
victim’s face from close range were admis-
sible to prove elements of offense; (6) evi-
dence was sufficient to Sustain convictions;
(7) elements of vileness and future danger-
ousness were sufficiently established in
Sentencing phase to justify imposition of
death penalty; and (8) statutory verdict
form was not unconstitutional as placing
undue emphasis on aggravating circum-
stances of future dangerousness and vile-
hess without similarly emphasizing jury’s
duty to consider mitigating factors.

Affirmed.

1. Criminal Law <=736(2)

Admissibility of a defendant’s state-
ments is an issue to be decided by the
court, which evaluates the credibility of the
witnesses, resolves any conflicts in the tes-
timony, weighs the evidence as a whole,
and then decides whether the defendant
knowingly and intelligently relinquished
and abandoned his rights. U.S.C.A. Const.
Amend. 5.

2. Criminal Law <1158(4)

A trial court’s determination as to the
admissibility of a defendant’s statement is
a question of fact based on the totality of
the circumstances and, unless plainly
wrong, will not be disturbed on appeal.

3. Criminal Law ¢=414

Factual determination by trial court
that defendant’s statement with respect to
incidents leading to murder/robbery
charges in question was voluntarily given
was supported by evidence in record indi-
cating that defendant not only understood

his rights, but could read well, and had
previously been advised of his rights twice
in unrelated matters and twice in preceding
week relative to incidents in question.

4. Constitutional Law €=248(2), 268.2(3)

Status of defendant as an indigent did
not give him a right under either the due
process or equal protection clauses to ap-
pointment, at public expense, of a private
investigator. U.S.C.A. Const.Amends. 5,
14,

5. Costs 302.3

Advantage of having assistance of an
investigator could not be equated to rights
of indigent defendant to assistance of coun-
sel and to compulsory process for obtaining
witnesses and, hence, could not be used as
a basis for establishing a violation of Sixth
Amendment rights when an investigator
was not appointed to assist indigent de-
fendant in his defense. U.S.C.A. Const.
Amend. 6.

6. Criminal Law <629

Right to discovery of names and ad-
dresses of all potential witnesses for the
Commonwealth was not a constitutional
right afforded the defendant in a criminal
case, nor was such right created by prohibi-
tion against concealing exculpatory evi-
dence. Sup.Ct.Rules, Rule 3A:11; U.S.C.A.
Const.Amend. 6.

7. Jury 149

Jury, having found defendant guilty of
a capital offense, was not thereafter incap-
able of impartiality in fixing his punish-
ment and was not, therefore, subject to
being replaced by a different jury for that
purpose unless sentence set by it was later
Set aside or found invalid and resentencing
was requested. Code 1950, §§ 19.2-264.3,
19.2-264.4.

8. Jury 131(13)

Voir dire was not an inadequate means
to insure a fair and impartial jury, even
though some members of venire had served
on juries in other murder cases during
term, where each juror selected affirmed
that he or she could give defendant a fair

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atkins had
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ille Circuit
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ate’s electric

nny Watkins
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d used up all
used at the
enter in Jar-
ath row.

sheduled exe-
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vallway from
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said he want-
was human.
ng I’m proba-
Watkins said.
the slayings,
~---'d not ad-
pital pun-
lack of
abuse.
yrize that most
of death-row

, in general, as

something less than human, because it
makes executions easier to take.

“I think it’s easier for people to han-
dle the thought of an:execution if they
just think of the person as a criminal,
not a person,” Watkins said. “I could
only wish people knew me and the
humps and bumps that I have gone
through.”

Watkins attributed most of his prob-
lems to substance abuse, and said that
the abuse probably started because of
his lack of a positive role model. Born
in New York in 1961, Watkins said he
spent his childhood being passed be-
tween relatives in Danville.

Without a man to look up to, he said,
his only role models were “the guys on
the street.

“I think everybody needs a father fig-
ure,” Watkins said. “I didn’t have one. I
think if I had one, it would have made
my life tremendously ‘different. I just
had these guys to look up to and try to
be like, and that got me into trouble.”

The trouble began, Watkins said,
when he was 13 and began drinking and
doing drugs, “mostly pot,” at the urging
of his street buddies.

“I started getting into trouble, staying
out late, and having more opportunities
to get into trouble,” Watkins said.
“There’s no doubt about [the fact that]
drugs affects your judgment...your
memory and everything.

His drug use apparently continued
and worsened.

A psychologist testified at the
Buchanan trial that Watkins said he
drank almost a pint of gin and took sev-
eral hits of LSD before killing
Buchanan. The doctor described the de-
fendant as having a tendency to “‘epi-
sodic substance abuse.”

Watkins said that the community
needed to do a better job of producing
male role models to keep its children
from getting into trouble.

“In the community, unfortunately,
you don’t have a lot of middle-class,
college-educated men to look up to,”’
Watkins said. “When I was coming up,
you didn’t look forward to going to col-
lege. It was something you couldn’t
look forward to because you knew it
wasn’t going to happen to you.”

That perceived lack of opportunity
led Watkins and his friends back to
“hanging out” and drug abuse.

Like many others, Watkins indicated
that he wanted to see more young peo-
ple avoid crime, but he didn’t think his
impending execution would have much
effect.

“1 don’t think my execution is going

to be a deterrent, because when you are
doing a crime, you don’t think about the
consequences until after you do it,”
Watkins said. “I think when they com-
mit ‘crimes, they think it’s wrong, but
they don’t think about sentences and
that kind of stuff.” :
He said capital punishment sends an
ambiguous message about killing.
‘“‘How is it saying that killing is
wrong when the state is killing people?
That sends a mixed message, that killing
is wrong except when the state does it.”
Watkins said he kept his sanity during
his decade on death row by believing
that his appeals would be successful.
With his appeals exhausted in the first
days of March 1994, he hoped for clem-
ency from Governor George Allen. But

ij i

oe, Oe mes ee

Johnny Watkins Jr. told detectives he

shot one of the victims in self-defense—
except that the victim wasn’t armed.

on the morning the execution was set
for, Governor Allen, who had taken of-
fice the previous January, denied Wat-

-kins clemency.

“The governor has concluded that the
facts of the case do not warrant the exer-
cise of the extraordinary remedy of ex-
ecutive clemency,”’ stated a press
release from Allen’s office.

Later that day, a paralegal and a
friend visited Watkins in his cell. Wat-
kins made no final statement as officials
led him into the execution chamber just
before eleven o’clock that Thursday
night.

A reporter described Watkins as
“Jooking like a puppy—vulnerable, re-
signed and placid, but his facial expres-

sion was one of bewilderment.”

Officials placed Watkins in the elec-
tric chair. A prison chaplain blessed him
and stepped away.

At the appointed time, Watkins was
hit with four separate jolts of electricity
applied in succession. The automat-
ically-timed machine at first sent 1,825
volts at seven amps through Watkins’s
body for 30 seconds. Then it automat-
ically shifted to 240 volts at 1.5 amps

_ for 60 seconds. After a short pause, the

machine reset itself and repeated the
process.

At 11:11 p.m., Johnny Watkins was
pronounced dead.

“The mechanism is designed to ren-
der the condemned brain-dead in the
first few moments,” said one official,
adding that several other states use simi-
lar electric chairs.

Watkins was the 23rd convicted mur-
derer to die in Virginia and the 229th na-
tionwide since the U.S. Supreme Court
reinstated capital punishment in 1976.
He was apparently the first person from
the Danville area to be executed in Vir-
ginia’s chair since 19!5, when a man
was put to death for killing his wife and
sister-in-law.

Carl Buchanan’s relatives told report-
ers they were glad that the ordeal was
over and justice was done, but they
didn’t understand why it had taken so
long to carry out the Danville court’s
1984 sentences.

One of Betty Barker’s relatives said,
“Justice has been done. He took a life. I
think he should give a life.”

Detectives Dalton and Brown, retired
now, remain close friends. Fuller carries
on with the war against crime as the
commonwealth’s attorney.

Quentin Nash and Darnell Watkins
were each paroled in the late 1980s, but
they are now back in prison again, com-
pleting their original 20-year sentences.
Nash, paroled in July 1989, was sent
back to prison in September 1992 for vi-
olating his parole—he was convicted of
brandishing a firearm and assault. His
mandatory release date is April 1999.
Watkins, paroled in July 1988, was sent
back to prison in July 1991, after vio-
lating his parole by multiple drunk-driv-
ing convictions. His mandatory release
date is September 2001. 600

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Wiley Lowe and Norris Taylor are not
the real names of the persons so named
in the foregoing story. Fictitious names
have been used because there is no rea-
son for public interest in the identities of
these persons.

Front Page Detective 61

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JATKINS, Johnny, Jr., black, elec. VA (Danville) Mar 3, 1994

422 Va.

presented by the defendant, his father and
the psychiatrist.” He also argues that,
while the errors assigned “may be con-
sidered harmless when considered sepa-
rately ... when compounded, the errors
constitute severe and indelible impressions
which lead to the sentence of death.” He
asks us, therefore, to hold that the sen-
tence was imposed under the influence of
passion, prejudice, or other arbitrary
factors and to commute his sentence to
imprisonment for life. See Code § 17-
110.1(D)(2).

[29,30] The trial court instructed the
jury to consider all evidence adduced at the
penalty trial, the written verdict expressly
recited that the jurors had “considered the
evidence in mitigation of the offense”, and
the defendant’s assertion that they had not
done so is merely conclusory. Moreover,
since we have determined that there was
no error in the conduct of the guilt trial or
the finding of an aggravated battery, there
is no foundation for the defendant’s cumu-
lative-effect argument. See Waye v. Com-
monwealth, 219 Va. 688, 704, 251 S.E.2d
202, 214, cert. denied, 442 U.S. 924, 99
S.Ct. 2850, 61 L.Ed.2d 292 (1979).

Boggs suggests nothing further to sup-
port his claim that the death penalty was
the product of passion or prejudice, we find
nothing of record, and we reject his com-
plaint.

(3) Propriety of the Sentence

[31] In support of his contention that
his sentence in the capital case was exces-
sive or disproportionate to the penalty im-
posed in other cases, Boggs cites a number
of our opinions which, he says, “involve
circumstances which are far more shocking
and cruel than the evidence in the case at
bar.”

That may be. But the legislature did not
limit the disproportionality review to cases
chosen selectively. Our comparison ex-
tends to the records in all the capital cases
presented to this Court, including those in
which the trial court imposed a penalty of
imprisonment for life. Because we are di-
rected by Code § 17-110.1(C)(2) to compare

331 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

“similar” cases, we give special attention to
those in which the underlying felony, the
penalty predicate, and the facts and circum-
stances surrounding the commission of the
crime are fairly comparable. Understand-
ably, we have found no case identical in all
particulars with Boggs’ case. But, from
our analysis of the cases in which the death
penalty was based, as it was here, solely on
the vileness predicate, see Jones v. Com-
monwealth, 228 Va. 427, 450-51, n. 3, 323
S.E.2d 554, 567 (1984) (collecting and anno-
tating cases), and Washington v. Com-
monwealth, 228 Va. 535, 323 S.E.2d 577
(1984), we confidently conclude that “juries
in this jurisdiction generally approve the
supreme penalty for comparable or similar
crimes.” Stamper v. Commonwealth, 220
Va. 260, 284, 257 S.E.2d 808, 824 (1979),
cert. denied, 445 U.S. 972, 100 S.Ct. 1666,
64 L.Ed.2d 249 (1980).

We find no reversible error in the con-
duct of the defendant’s trial and no reason
to commute the sentence of death, and we
will affirm the judgments entered below.

Affirmed.

°

Johnny WATKINS, Jr. KY

Vv.

KEY NUMBER SYSTEM

4ums

COMMONWEALTH. of: Virginiaw... ;

(Two Cases).
Record Nos. 841551, 841913.

Supreme Court of Virginia.

June 14, 1985.

Defendant was convicted in the Circuit
Court of the City of Danville, James F.
Ingram, J., of capital murder in the com-
mission of robbery while armed with a
deadly weapon, of robbery, and of use of a
firearm in commission of a felony, and was
convicted in a second case for similar

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WATKINS v. COM. Va. 435
Cite as 331 S.E.2d 422 (Va. 1985)

to the crime of robbery. James Dyral
Briley v. Commonwealth, 221 Va. 563,
573, 273 S.E.2d 57, 63 (1980). The Com-

monwealth need only prove that the de-

fendant actually committed the murder and
was an accomplice in the robbery. Jd. In
this case, the Commonwealth met its bur-
den. The court properly overruled Wat-
kins’s motion to strike the evidence, sub-
mitted the case to the jury, and overruled
Watkins’s motion to set aside the verdict,

B. Buchanan Murder.

Sufficiency of Evidence.

[25] Watkins raises similar arguments
to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence
to sustain his conviction for the murder of
Buchanan. He argues the testimony of
Darnell, an accomplice in the commission of
the offenses, was suspect. As in the trial
on the Barker offenses, the court gave the
jury a cautionary instruction about relying
on an accomplice’s uncorroborated testimo-
ny. Darnell’s testimony, if believed, was
sufficient to convict. Additionally, Wat-
kins’s aunt confirmed portions of Darnell’s
testimony, stating that Watkins admitted
to her that he killed Buchanan.

Watkins also challenges the credibility of
Conrad, who again testified that he had no
doubt that one of the bullets recovered
from the victim’s body was fired from Wat-
kins’s gun and that there was no possibility
of mistake in his analysis. For reasons
Stated in the appeal of the Barker murder
conviction, we hold the court properly sub-
mitted this case to the jury and properly
refused to set aside the verdict.

Watkins reiterates his previous argu-
ment that he could not be convicted of
murder in the commission of a robbery
Where he did not perpetrate the act of

taking. This argument is not only merit- ©

less, for reasons stated in the appeal of the
Barker murder conviction, but is: inapplica-
ble in the Buchanan case, as the Common-
Wealth’s evidence showed that it was Wat-

kins who actually removed the cash drawer
and took Buchanan’s wallet.

IV. The Penalty Trial.
A. Barker Murder.

1. Admissibility of Evidence of Buchanan
Murder and Sufficiency of Evidence of
Dangerousness.

During the sentencing phase of the Bark-
er murder trial, the Commonwealth intro-
duced detailed evidence of the Buchanan
murder, for which Watkins had yet to be
tried and convicted. The evidence included
testimony of the Fast Fare manager, the
medical examiner, the forensic scientist,
and four law enforcement officers, all of
whom later testified in Watkins’s trial for
the Buchanan murder. The Common-
wealth introduced Watkins’s statement of
November 28 and photographs of the store
and the second victim’s body. Moreover,
Nash testified without objection that, as he
and Watkins proceeded to the Kwik Stop,
Watkins assured him that there was “noth-
ing to” the proposed robbery, that Watkins
with others had committed robbery before.
There was no evidence that Watkins had

been charged or convicted of an earlier
robbery.

Watkins contends that admission of evi-
dence of the second murder in the first trial
violated his presumption of innocence of
the second offense; he Says he was, in
effect, tried and convicted of the Buchanan
murder in the Sentencing phase of the

Barker murder trial. He also argues that’ ~ .-

use of evidence of unadjudicated criminal

activity is restricted by statute. See Code
§ 19.2-264.2.

[26] Code § 19.2-264.9 provides that a
jury may impose a sentence of death upon
finding that the defendant poses a continu-
ing serious threat to Society after consider-
ing his prior “criminal record of convic-
tions.” Under Code § 19.2-264.4, however,
the Commonwealth is expressly authorized
to introduce “evidence of the prior histo
of the defendant” to establish his future
dangerousness. In Le Vasseur, we re-

Le + bog *
2 dhl Si PR eek Ma es Ce

he Teed


436 Va.

solved any conflict in the statutory termi-
nology and held that the difference in the
language of the two provisions did not ren-
der the capital-murder sentencing scheme
unconstitutionally vague. 225 Va. at 593-
94, 304 S.E.2d at 660. We noted that, in
determining the probability of a defend-
ant’s future criminal conduct, it is “essen-
tial ... that the jury have before it all
possible relevant information about the
individual defendant whose fate it must
determine.” Id. at 594, 304 S.E.2d at 660,
quoting Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262, 275-
76, 96 S.Ct. 2950, 2957-58, 49 L.Ed.2d 929
(1976) (emphasis added in LeVasseur).

Admissible evidence in the sentencing
phase is not limited to the defendant's
record of convictions. Peterson, 225 Va. at
298, 302 S.E.2d at 526. We have repeated-
ly approved the use of testimonial evidence
relating to a defendant’s commission of
other crimes of which he has been convict-
ed. See Coleman v. Commonwealth, 226
Va. 31, 48-44, 307 S.E.2d 864, 870-71
(1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. ——, 104
S.Ct. 1617, 80 L.Ed.2d 145 (1984); Peter-
son, 225 Va. at 298, 302 S.E.2d at 526;
Quintana, 224 Va. at 147-48, 295 S.E.2d at
653-54; Stamper, 220 Va. at 275-77, 257
S.E.2d at 819-20. In Stamper we said, “In
determining his proclivity for violence, the
jury may obtain from the mere record of
previous convictions an inaccurate or in-
complete impression of the defendant’s
temperament and disposition.” 220 Va. at
276, 257 S.E.2d at 819.

We have also held to be admissible in the
sentencing phase evidence of other crimes
for which a defendant has not been convict-
ed. See Poyner, 229 Va. at ——, 329
S.E.2d at 827; Stockton, 227 Va. at 147,
314 S.E.2d at 385. In Poyner, the Com-
monwealth was permitted to introduce the
defendant’s video-taped confession to five
murders in the sentencing phases of three
capital-murder trials (Williamsburg and
Newport News cases), although he had not
yet been tried and convicted of all five

offenses. 229 Va. at——, 329 S.E.2d
at 827, 837. The confession was deemed

331 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

“highly reliable and wholly relevant to the
issue of future dangerousness.” 229 Va.
at ——, 329 S.E.2d at 828. The Common-
wealth also was permitted to introduce the
testimony of the victim of assault and bat-
tery, although there was no evidence that
Poyner was tried or convicted of the of-
fense which she described. 229 Va. at
——,, 329 S.E.2d at 827.

In Stockton, a witness had testified to
Stockton’s murder of a second victim.
That evidence, admissible in the guilt phase
because the two offenses were interrelated
and because the second murder demon-
strated Stockton’s guilty knowledge of the
first and his attempt to conceal his guilt,
we also deemed relevant to establish the
defendant’s propensity for future crimes of
violence. 227 Va. at 143, 147, 314 S.E.2d at
883, 385.

[27,28] Adhering to these rulings, we
hold that evidence of prior unadjudicated
criminal conduct, while generally not ad-
missible in the guilt phase of a capital-mur-
der trial, may be used in the penalty phase
to prove the defendant’s propensity to com-
mit criminal acts of violence in the future.
See Clines v. State, 280 Ark. 77, 91-92, 656
S.W.2d 684, 690 (1983), cert.: denied, —
U.S. ——, 104 S.Ct. 1328, 79 L.Ed.2d 723
(1984); State v. Rault, 445 So.2d 1208,
1214-15 (La.), cert. denied, — US. —,
105 S.Ct. 225, 83 L.Ed.2d 154 (1984); Wil-
liams v. State, 668 S.W.2d 692, 694 (Tex.

Crim.App.1983) (evidence: of: unadjudicated... pee
criminal activity admitted in sentencing”

phase of capital-murder _ proceedings).

Here, in his statement introduced in evr -

dence, Watkins claimed he shot Buchanan,
an unarmed man who he thought was
reaching for a weapon, four times in self-
defense. The jury could find this explana-
tion incredible. The evidence of Watkins’s
involvement in the Buchanan murder and
commission of an earlier robbery, together
with his prior convictions for assault and
battery and possession of a concealed
weapon, was sufficient to support 2 jury
finding of his future dangerousness.

Be ver =


438 Va.

appropriate crimes under objective stan-
dards); Smith, 219 Va. at A16-18, 248
S.E.2d at 148-49 (death penalty not cruel
and unusual punishment, jury not vested
with standardless discretion, and statutes

not void for vagueness).

[32] Watkins also contends that the
statutory verdict form is unconstitutional
because it places undue emphasis on the
aggravating circumstances of future dan-
gerousness and vileness without similarly
emphasizing the jury’s duty to consider

form verdict because it fails to state the
standard of proof for mitigation. States
are not constitutionally required “‘to adopt
specific standards for instructing the jury
in its consideration of aggravating and mit-
igating circumstances.” Zant, 462 U.S. at
890, 108 S.Ct. at 2750. The jury is instruct-
ed to consider mitigating circumstances,
and the form verdict reflects that a jury
may sentence 4 defendant to death only
after “having considered the evidence in
mitigation of the offense.” Code § 19.2-
264.4. These safeguards sufficiently satis-
fy the constitutional requirement that the
jury’s discretion be “guided and channeled
by requiring examination of specific factors
. that argue in favor of or against imposition
of the death penalty, thus eliminating total

arbitrariness and capriciousness its im-
position.” Proffitt v. Florida, 428 US.
242, 258, 96 S Ct. 2960, 2969, 49 L.Ed.2d
913 (1976).

Listing of aggravating factors in the
form verdict without a comparable listing
of mitigating factors penefits rather than
prejudices the accused. Clark, 220 Va. at
212, 257 SE2d at 791. Aggravating
factors are expressly limited to those speci-
fied by statute, while any circumstances in
mitigation may be considered. © Id.; see
Smith, 219 Va. at 479, 248 S E.2d at 149.
Hence, the form verdict, which follows the
language of the statute, is constitutional.

4. Propriety of Trial Court’s Sentence.

The trial court received a post-sentence
report as mandated by Code § 19.2-264.5.
After conducting 4 sentencing hearing at

331 SOUTH EASTERN REPORTER, 2d SERIES

which Watkins offered no additional evi-
dence, the court imposed the death sen-
tence in accordance with the jury’s verdict.
Watkins argues that his age, 22 years, and
his lack of a “significant” prior criminal
record required the court to impose 4 life
sentence. We do not agree. Under § 19.-
2-264.5, the court may set aside the death
sentence “upon good cause shown,” and
the trial court could reasonably conclude
from the evidence that good cause had not

been shown.

[33] Watkins’s age did not per se pre
clude imposition of the death penalty; it
was merely a factor to be considered by the
jury. Peterson, 225 Va. at 300, 302 S.E.2d
at 527. Watkins’s criminal history, aS Te
vealed by the post-sentence report, includ-
ed, in addition to the assault and possession
convictions in evidence at the sentencing
phase, one larceny and two shoplifting con-
victions and a charge of robbery which was
dismissed.

[34] Watkins contends on brief that the
sentence of death was racially motivated
because he is black but the victim and all
the jurors were white. A black defendant
is not constitutionally entitled to a jury

Swain v. Alabama, 380 US.. 202, 203, 85
S.Ct. 824, 826, 13 L.Ed.2d 7159 (1965);
Brown . Commonwealth, 912 Va. 515,
516, 194 S.E.2d 786, 787 (1971), vacated in
part, 408 U.S. 940, 92 S.Ct. 2877, 33
L.Ed.2d 763 (1972), see Turner, 221 Va. at

598, 273 S.B.2d at 42. In order to-establish..<:
a violation of the Equal Protection Clause, .

he must demonstrate purposeful or deliber-

ate exclusion of blacks from jury service On. .

the basis of race. Suck discrimination
“may not be assumed or merely asserted”
but must be proven. Swain, 380 US. at
9203-09, 85 S.Ct. at 826-30.

[35] Watkins has presented no evidence
that the jury selection procedures in this
case departed from the random selection
procedures mandated by statute. See Code
§§ 19.2-260, 8.01-343 to -363. He merely
relies on his allegation that the jury was
entirely white in composition. His bare

CM ae


WATKINS v. GOM.
Cite as 331 S.E.2d 422 (Va. 1985)

2. Sufficiency of Evidence of Vileness.

Watkins argues that the evidence was
insufficient to establish vileness and the
court therefore erred in instructing the
jury on this aggravating circumstance.
Even if the evidence were insufficient to
sustain a finding of vileness, the imposition
of the death sentence in this case would
nonetheless be proper because the jury
found, on sufficient evidence, that Watkins
is likely to constitute a continuing serious
threat to society. Zant »v, Stephens, 462
U.S. 862, 881, 108 S.Ct. 2733, 2745, 77
L.Ed.2d 235 (1983). We hold, however,
that the evidence was sufficient to estab-
lish vileness.

So far as is pertinent here, Code § 19.2-
264.2 authorizes imposition of a death sen-
tence if the jury finds that the defendant’s
conduct “was outrageously or wantonly
vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved
++. an aggravated battery.” The court’s
instruction permitted the jury to find that
Watkins’s conduct constituted vileness in
that it involved an aggravated battery.
The question is whether there was suffi-
cient evidence to Support the instruction
and the jury’s finding of an aggravated
battery, defined as one “which, qualitative-
ly and quantitatively, is more culpable than
the minimum necessary to accomplish an
act of murder.” Smith, 219 Va. at 478,
248 S.E.2d at 149; see also Edmonds v.
Commonwealth, 229 Va. —, —, 329
S.E.2d 807, 814 (1985); Turner v, Com-
monwealth, 221 Va. 518, 527, 273 S.E.2d
36, 45 (1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 1011,
101 S.Ct. 2847, 68 L.Ed2d 863 (1981);
Clark, 220 Va. at 211, 257 S.E.2d at 790.

The evidence established that Watkins
fired four shots at Barker, inflicting one
facial and two chest wounds. He first
fired two shots across the store counter
and she fell to the floor. After Nash fled
With the cash drawer, Watkins leaned

across the counter and fired two more
shots.

Va. 437

[29,30] An aggravated battery is not
proven where the evidence shows that the
victim died almost instantaneously from a
single gunshot wound. Godfrey v. Geor-
gia, 446 U.S. 420, 100 S.Ct 1759, 64
L.Ed.2d 398 (1980); Peterson, 225 Va. at
296, 302 S.E.2d at 525. However, proof of
infliction of multiple wounds may meet the
test for an aggravated battery. See Boggs
v. Commonwealth, 229 Va. —, —,, 331
S.E.2d 407, —— (1985) (this day decided);
Edmonds, 229 Va. at —, 329 S.E.2d at
814. In this case, Watkins exceeded the
quality and quantity of force necessary to
accomplish Barker’s murder. The shots
were separated by a lapse of time, during
which Nash first refused and then obeyed
Watkins’s order to take the cash drawer to
the car. Death was not instantaneous.
We hold that this evidence is sufficient to
sustain the court’s giving of an instruction
on vileness based on aggravated battery
and the jury’s finding under the instruc-
tion. See Turner, 221 Va. at 518, 527, 273
S.E.2d at 39, 45 (aggravated battery estab-
lished by evidence that defendant shot
store owner in head and, after lapse of time
during which two occupants fled and police
officer urged defendant not to shoot again,
inflicted fatal chest wounds because owner
had previously triggered an alarm).

3.. Constitutionality of Sentencing Stat-
utes and Form Verdict.

[31] Watkins reiterates arguments pre-
viously made in capital cases that Code
§§ 19.2-264.2 and -264.4 are unconstitu-
tional. Having repeatedly upheld the con-
stitutionality of these provisions, we adhere
to our prior rulings. See, e.9., LeVasseur,

225 Va. at 592-94, 304 S.E.2d at’ 659=60:." >

(statutes facially constitutional and not
vague); Whitley v. Commonwealth, 223
Va. 66, 77-78, 286 S.E.2d 162, 168-69, cert.
denied, 459 U.S. 882, 103 S.Ct. 181, 74
L.Ed.2d 148 (1982) (death penalty not cruel
and unusual punishment and not arbitrarily
and capriciously imposed); James Dyral
Briley, 221 Va. at 577-80, 273 S.E.2d at
65-67 (sentencing statutes not overbroad
or vague); Clark, 220 Va. at 212, 257
S.E.2d at 791 (death penalty imposed for

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Hes ia ‘st " a
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,, On’ Nov.
,22,° 1988,

- Watkins shot
‘Carl Douglas
Buchanan,
_then4l years ff
‘old, with the ©
same .22 cali-
ber pistol
during a rob-
bery * the | ¥ ad
Fast Fare
convenience WATKINS
store on West Main Street. He
made off with $34.78 in that rob-
be

q definitely feel sad,” Marie
Vaughan, Car!’s sister, said from
her home after the execution. “I
hate to think somebody else has
to die. I do believe in capital pun-
ishment, though.

“T do feel relief instead of won-
dering whether he’s going to
spend life in prison, I’m glad to
know justice is done. I’m glad it’s
over and the families can get on
with their lives.”

Vaughan said her brother
caught his own murderer. He
wrote down the serial number of
a two dollar bill, placed the bill in
a cash drawer and then slipped
the number in his pocket.

“I hope he has made his peace

with God,” Vaughan said of Wat- |

kins. “We family members have
prayed for him that he would. At
least he knew when he died.
Most of us don’t know. I hope he
has gone on to a better place.

“I hope this will be a warning
to other murderers. I hope that
much good will come out of it.”

Vaughan’s brother, Jud Bu-
chanan Jr., issued a statement
on the Watkins execution. Vaug-
han said Buchanan was glad the
ordeal was over, but he didn’t un-

derstand why it took so long to »

execute Watkins. She said he
was glad to see “that justice was
finally being done.”

Earlier Thursday, another
brother, Steve of South Boston,
said the execution of Watkins
would bring some sense of finali-
ty to his family’s decade long or-
deal.

“Nothing will bring my broth-
er back, but, at least in this one
instance, I feel that justice has
been done,” Steve Buchanan
said. “I hope that, in prison, a
chaplain or someone has told him
about God and that he has met
the Lord. I wouldn’t want for
anyone to go to hell.”

- Brown said that Watkins
spent time with a friend early
Thursday; the other visits were
with his lawyers.

- A minister was talking with
Watkins at about 7:30 p.m.,
Brown added.

Watkins asked that the menu
of his last meal not be released to
reporters.

protesters showed up.

“T don’t think you'll see any-
body tonight,” a guard at a check-

point on the road said.

Brown said that only the 1992
execution of Roger Keith Cole-
man of Grundy has garnered
much publicity or protesters

since the electric ‘chair was
moved to Jarratt several years
ago.

Coleman’s case received inter-
national attention before he was

executed for the rape and murder ,

of a young Grundy woman.
In Watkins’ two trials in the
summer of 1994, tw

Darnell, 30, testified
him

Quentin Nash, then 19, testi-

fied that Barker had pushed a
button on the cash register to
open a drawer when Johnny
Watkins Jr. shot her, The pair
had left a card game before the
robbery, Nash told the jury in
1984, when Watkins said that he
wanted to rob a place because he
was tired of being poor.

Nash was also convicted of
first-degree murder and robbery,
~ In the second trial, Watkins
was convicted, in part, due to the

testimony by his brother, Dar-
nell, The testimony against his
brother came after a Danville
jury had convicted Darnell Wat-
kins of first-degree murder and
robbery in Buchanan’s death.

Police were able to further tie
the crimes to Johnny Watkins J .
after finding the .22 caliber pistol
in his apartment. The search
took place after Darnell Watkins
had attempted to spend a $2 bill
taken in the Fast Fare robbery.

Despite the evidence, merely
days before his execution, John-
ny Watkins Jr. denied his guilt.

Brown said Watkins had been
treated much like the rest of the
prison population, except for se-
curity, since he arrived there on
Jan, 29.

Death row is actually at the
Mecklenburg prison but the
state’s electric chair is housed at
the Greensville facility in Jar-
ratt.

“Anytime we have an individ-
ual scheduled for execution we
take as many precautions as we
can,” Brown said.

Watkins had been on death
row for close to 10 years until he
exhausted his appeals this past
January, when the U.S. Supreme
Court refused to hear his case for
the third time.

Friday

March 4, 1994

a le, Virginia

~ Prison officials roped off two
“General Parking and Assemb] y”
sections along Route 397, the
road leading to the prison, but no

oO men, in-
cluding his younger brother,
against

en

In a last-minute attempt to
spare Watkins’ life, Gerald Zer-
kin, his Richmond lawyer, filed a
clemency appeal with Gov.
George Allen arguing that his cli-
ent’s death sentence was based
more on his race than the crimes.

Allen denied that request ear-
ly Thursday. Watkins is black.

“The Governor has concluded
that the facts of the case do not
warrant the exercise of the ex-
traordinary remedy of executive
clemency,” according to a press
release from Allen’s office Thurs-
day morning.

Zerkin pointed out that all six
of Danville’s death row inmates
are black and that only 15 people
in a potential juror pool of 120 in
those six cases were black. Only
five blacks served on the six trial
juries, despite the fact that Dan-
ville’s population is 36 percent
black.

“The facts are that for 100
years, for 30 years, for 10 years,
and even today, what Danville is
doing is excluding black citizens
from its system of justice in capi-
tal prosecutions,” Zerkin wrote.
“What Danville is doing is pro-
curing death sentences against
black defendants by means of a
racially discriminatory system.
What Danville is doing is intol-
erable.”

Danville Commonwealth’s At-
torney William H, Fuller II, the
man who prosecuted Watkins in
1984, could not be reached for
comment by the Danville Regis-
ter & Bee, but he told the Asso-
ciated Press that the charges of
racism were “nonsense.”

Fuller pointed out that the
convictions had been upheld
throughout 10 years of appeals
through the state and. federal
court systems, © ;

Watkins is apparently the first
person in the Danville area to be
executed since Raymond Wood-
all died in the electric chair in
1945. Woodall was convicted of
killing his wife and sister-in-law
in 1943,

Soon after he was put into the
electric chair at 11 p.m., Watkins
was hit with a total of four sepa-
rate jolts of electricity.

The automatically-timed ma-
chine coursed 1,825 volts at 7
amps through Watkins’ body for
30 seconds at first. It then auto-
matically shifted to 240 volts at
1.5 amps for 60 seconds. After a
short pause, the machine reset
itself and repeated the process,

“The mechanism ig designed
to render the condemned brain
dead in the first few moments,”
said David Bass,the Department
of Corrections manager of opera-
tions for the eastern district.

The machinery is the same as
several other states use, Bass
said.

Staff writer Robert Benson
contributed to this story.

Danville Registers Ber


i oh tees? Cg

: Virginia Killer Executed
Despite Clemency Pleas”

_ JARRATT, Va., March 26 (AP) —
_A man who slashed and stabbed a
_ Store owner to death in a robbery
Was executed by injection on
' Wednesday night despite pleas for
_ clemency, by former First Lady

Rosalynn Carter and others.
The man, Ronald L. Watkins, 35,
_ Was executed at the Greensville Cor-
rectional Center for the murder of
William McCauley, 29, who was
killed in his store in 1988.
Investigators said Mr. Watkins
had once worked for Mr. McCauley
and knew where he kept money in his
store. ~~ .
Gov. James S. Gilmore 3d rejected
the clemency petition earlier on

Wednesday. Mrs. Carter and others:

had asked the Governor to commute
Mr. Watkins’s sentence to life in pris-
on because he had become a devout
Christiane" 9% ote

Mrs. Carter has lobbied on behalf
of other death-row inmates.