Post by Anja on Jun 8, 2006 16:23:55 GMT -5
Court orders new hearing on whether York killer is retarded
By JON FRANK, The Virginian-Pilot
© June 8, 2006
Last updated: 12:23 PM
The Virginia State Supreme Court today ordered a new hearing to determine whether a Hampton man who murdered a Langley Air Force Base airman 10 years ago is retarded and, therefore, ineligible for the death penalty.
Last year, a jury in York County decided that the defendant, Daryl Atkins, 28, was not retarded. A judge set his execution for December 2005.
That ruling was appealed and argued before the Virginia Supreme Court in April.
Today, the Supreme Court ruled that a prosecution witness at that hearing should not have testified, and the jurors should not have been told that Atkins was previously sentenced to death by a different jury.
Joseph Migliozzi, the capital defender for southeast Virginia who helped defend Atkins, learned of the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday morning. “That is great news,” he said. “It had to happen.”
Migliozzi said the York County commonwealth’s attorney could decide to have another hearing or concede that Atkins is mentally retarded and let him be sentenced to life in prison.
Atkins' mental retardation trial was the first of its kind after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in 2002 to ban executions of the mentally retarded. It was also Atkins' case that led to the Supreme Court ban.
The matter was sent back to a York-Poquoson Circuit Court to determine whether Atkins was retarded because the high court only handles constitutional issues and not factual matters.
Atkins was sentenced to death in 1998 for robbing and killing 21-year-old Eric Nesbitt, an airman stationed at Langley.
Eileen Addison, commonwealth’s attorney for York County and the city of Poquoson, said today that “at this point, our plan is to re-do the hearing.”
But Addison said Nesbitt’s family will be consulted before the issue is decided.
If the victim’s family does not want to go through another proceeding, Addison said, “there is always the possibility of an agreement with (the defense) that (Atkins) should be sentenced to life rather than death.”
Jack Payden-Travers, Director
Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
P.O. Box 4804
Charlottesville, VA 22905
888-567-VADP (office)
434-960-4673 (Jack)
www.vadp.org
jack@vadp.org
By JON FRANK, The Virginian-Pilot
© June 8, 2006
Last updated: 12:23 PM
The Virginia State Supreme Court today ordered a new hearing to determine whether a Hampton man who murdered a Langley Air Force Base airman 10 years ago is retarded and, therefore, ineligible for the death penalty.
Last year, a jury in York County decided that the defendant, Daryl Atkins, 28, was not retarded. A judge set his execution for December 2005.
That ruling was appealed and argued before the Virginia Supreme Court in April.
Today, the Supreme Court ruled that a prosecution witness at that hearing should not have testified, and the jurors should not have been told that Atkins was previously sentenced to death by a different jury.
Joseph Migliozzi, the capital defender for southeast Virginia who helped defend Atkins, learned of the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday morning. “That is great news,” he said. “It had to happen.”
Migliozzi said the York County commonwealth’s attorney could decide to have another hearing or concede that Atkins is mentally retarded and let him be sentenced to life in prison.
Atkins' mental retardation trial was the first of its kind after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in 2002 to ban executions of the mentally retarded. It was also Atkins' case that led to the Supreme Court ban.
The matter was sent back to a York-Poquoson Circuit Court to determine whether Atkins was retarded because the high court only handles constitutional issues and not factual matters.
Atkins was sentenced to death in 1998 for robbing and killing 21-year-old Eric Nesbitt, an airman stationed at Langley.
Eileen Addison, commonwealth’s attorney for York County and the city of Poquoson, said today that “at this point, our plan is to re-do the hearing.”
But Addison said Nesbitt’s family will be consulted before the issue is decided.
If the victim’s family does not want to go through another proceeding, Addison said, “there is always the possibility of an agreement with (the defense) that (Atkins) should be sentenced to life rather than death.”
Jack Payden-Travers, Director
Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
P.O. Box 4804
Charlottesville, VA 22905
888-567-VADP (office)
434-960-4673 (Jack)
www.vadp.org
jack@vadp.org