2/16/2021 WATCH NOW: Should the death penalty be put to death? The verdict is not unanimous. | Crime News | godanriver.com
Should the death penalty be put to death? The verdict is not
unanimous.
John Crane Feb 15, 2021
Virginia appears on the verge of doing away with capital punishment, and, perhaps
predictably, attorneys across the Southside — including one lawmaker — have strong
opposing viewpoints.
The Virginia Senate voted Feb. 3 to abolish the death penalty, and the House of
Delegates did the same two days later.
Should Gov. Ralph Northam add his signature, Virginia — a state with a reputation for
executions — would become the first from the former Confederacy to take that step.
One of the cosponsors of the legislation is state Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin
County, whose district includes Danville, Martinsville and Pittsylvania, Henry and
Patrick counties. Stanley abstained from voting on the final law because other senators
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2/16/2021 WATCH NOW: Should the death penalty be put to death? The verdict is not unanimous. | Crime News | godanriver.com
IN
Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, spoke Tuesday.
Stanley opposes the death penalty but offered a
substitute bill dealing with mandatory life sentences.
BOB BROWN
rejected his amendment that called for a
mandatory minimum of life in prison for
anyone convicted of aggravated murder
— which would replace "capital murder"
under the new legislation.
But Stanley has said he believes, from a
small-government, conservative
perspective, it just makes sense to take
this step. He declined to be interviewed
and directed a reporter to his words in an
op-ed piece he wrote for The Roanoke
Times.
"Capital punishment empowers the
government with an awesome authority
to which it is not entitled,” Stanley wrote
in the column published Jan. 31.
But it's an authority that Virginia has
wielded often and, in some cases,
indiscriminately.
The Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., said the
first execution in what is now the United States took place in Virginia, when Capt.
George Kendall was put to death in the Jamestown colony in 1608 for spying for Spain.
And data compiled by the center show that Virginia has executed a higher percentage of
its death-row prisoners than any other state.
The most recent execution in Virginia was in 2017, when William Morva was put to
death for killing an unarmed security guard and a deputy sheriff in Montgomery County
in 2006.
The Martinsville 7
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The Martinsville Seven were (top row, from left) Francis Grayson, James L. Hairston, Howard Lee Hairston,
Booker T. Millner and (bottom row, from left) John Clabon Taylor, Joe Henry Hampton and Frank Hairston Jr.
From 1900 through 1977 — the year the U.S. Supreme Court declared the death penalty
unconstitutional for crimes in which no one was killed — Virginia executed 73 Black
defendants for rape, attempted rape or armed robbery that did not result in death.
But no white defendants were executed for those crimes during that same time period.
On February 1951, the state executed seven Black inmates — four on Feb. 2, three on
Feb. 5 — who had come to be known as the "Martinsville 7," accused of raping a white
woman in 1949. All of them when arrested were between the ages of 18 and 23.
"Historians believe that [at] least five of the men were innocent," the Death Penalty
Information Center has published. "After giving coerced confessions, the men were
convicted and sentenced to death by all-white male juries in perfunctory trials that
lasted less than one day each."
Northam has been asked to pardon the seven, and there were rallies earlier this month
on their behalf in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of their executions.
Prosecutors’ weapon
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, some
prosecutors say the death penalty should
remain so it can be applied in cases
involving the most depraved acts of
murder.
"There are simply cases that call for the
ultimate punishment," Danville
Commonwealth Attorney Michael
Newman said.
Newman
Henry County Commonwealth Attorney
Andrew Nester said he supports keeping the death penalty and sees it being applied for
the most violent, heinous crimes.
"These are not simple murders; these are what I call 'murder-plus' — murder plus rape,
murder of a police officer," Nester said.
Prosecutors across the state use the death penalty very sparingly and only when it is
warranted, he pointed out.
Taking away that option would remove "that certain sting" that could result from
committing a depraved act, Nester said he believes.
"Once you remove that, you remove that deterrent from society,” Nester said.
Capital punishment, in some cases, can also provide closure for relatives of murder
victims, he said.
If the state does eliminate the death penalty, Newman said he hopes a mandatory life
sentence for those convicted of capital - or aggravated - murder would be preserved.
On the other side
Danville Public Defender Joseph Schenk said, "Generally, I think it's a good thing to do
away with the death penalty. I don't think it serves much purpose in today's society."
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2/16/2021
Henry County Commonwealth Attorney Andrew Nester
John Crane
WATCH NOW: Should the death penalty be put to death? The verdict is not unanimous. | Crime News | godanriver.com
From a practical standpoint, death
penalty cases simply require much more
labor for attorneys, he said.
Not only do the defense attorneys have to
attack the charges from every direction
and fight for their client's innocence, he
said, but attorneys also have to explore
every avenue of mitigation.
"There's so much work involved, we
stopped representing people in death-
penalty cases," Schenk said. "We no
longer had the manpower to take on
those cases because of the workload."
The truest cost
And, Stanley wrote, the death penalty
comes with more financial costs.
"Many people think executions save the
judicial system and the taxpayers’ money," Stanley wrote in his Op-Ed. "Actually, it costs
more for the government to execute an individual than it does to have them spend life in
prison without parole."
He also pointed out that innocent people have been sentenced to die in the U.S.
"Evidence we once thought reliable, like eyewitness identification, is not always
accurate," Stanley wrote.
More than 170 people sentenced to death in the U.S. have ended up being exonerated,
including Earl Washington in Virginia, Stanley pointed out.
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"If the government kills someone and later finds out they were innocent, we simply
cannot rectify that horrible mistake," he wrote. "Conservatives like me do not believe the
government should have this ultimate authority."
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