Post by Anja on Jun 9, 2006 2:00:29 GMT -5
Does killer grasp death?----Experts say he has schizophrenia; can he
comprehend penalty?
This could be the last day in the life of Percy Levar Walton, who showed
no mercy shooting 3 Danville residents to death in 1996.
It is unclear he fully understands this.
A federal judge issued a stay of execution yesterday afternoon that was
quickly appealed by the Virginia attorney general's office to the 4th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals, which quickly lifted the stay.
Walton is set to be executed by injection at 9 p.m. unless the courts or
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine respond to pleas from Walton's lawyers that range
from the propriety of lethal injection to the meaning of death.
Yesterday's stay by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith in Norfolk
concerns Walton's challenge to the constitutionality of the way Virginia
conducts lethal injections.
Smith noted that the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this month in
a similar case, Hill v. Crosby, on whether such challenges can proceed.
Smith said the most prudent course of action would be to wait and see how
the justices rule.
In an emergency appeal of Smith's ruling, the Virginia attorney general's
office said other death-row inmates who have sought stays on the basis of
the Hill case have been unsuccessful and executed as scheduled --
including Virginia's Dexter Vinson, executed in April, and James Reid, in
2004.
Experts say Walton, 27, suffers from schizophrenia, a condition that has
worsened over his decade on death row. A minority of judges have noted
there is evidence he does not have a realistic understanding of what it
means to be dead.
Nevertheless, he has been found competent under legal standards to be
executed because he knows that he is to die for the murders of Jessie and
Elizabeth Kendrick, 80 and 81, and Archie D. Moore Jr., 33.
The standards stem from a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court case, which decided that
those who are unaware of the punishment they are about to suffer, and why
they are to suffer it, cannot be executed.
Walton's lawyers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in
Walton's case. They argue, among other things, that Walton should have a
hearing to determine if he understands that death will mean the end of his
physical existence.
The state and a majority seven judges -- of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of
Appeals argue that such an understanding is not necessary, that the U.S.
Constitution does not define death and that the courts should not be in
the business of defining death.
6 dissenting 4th Circuit judges, however, feel such an understanding is
warranted.
They wrote they did not wish to rewrite the 1986 decision, but rather: "It
is a simple recognition that the constitutional question 'Do you
understand that your execution will cause you to die?' cannot be
meaningfully answered unless the condemned understands what 'to die'
means."
If the courts turn down Walton, the matter will drop in the lap of Kaine,
who is considering a clemency petition from Walton. Walton's lawyers are
seeking mercy from Kaine; they argue that Walton is mentally ill, mentally
retarded and had just turned 18 at the time of the crime.
In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has banned the execution of the
mentally retarded and those who kill while under the age of 18.
Meanwhile, Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of
Corrections, said preparations for the execution were proceeding yesterday
at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, home of Virginia's
death house.
Traylor said that several family members of Walton's victims are scheduled
to watch the execution, but he could not comment beyond that.
Irene Jurscaga, 85, of Suffolk, Elizabeth Kendrick's sister, said last
week that she and the Kendricks' son, Grady Kendrick, of Myrtle Beach,
S.C., plan to attend Walton's execution.
The Kendricks' bodies were discovered when their daughter arrived home for
Thanksgiving. Moore's body was found 2 days later.
Moore had been shot in the head, stuffed into a closet, a plastic bag
placed over his head and cologne sprinkled over his body.
Walton described the killings in graphic detail to a fellow jail inmate.
He said that before Elizabeth Kendrick died, she was on her knees begging
for her life. Her husband lay face down nearby crying. Walton told them to
shut up. He shot Elizabeth and then tried to cut Jessie's throat.
Unsuccessful, he put a gun against the top of Kendrick's head and shot
him.
If Walton is put to death, it will be the second execution in Virginia
this year and the 96th since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the death
penalty to resume in 1976.
(source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)
comprehend penalty?
This could be the last day in the life of Percy Levar Walton, who showed
no mercy shooting 3 Danville residents to death in 1996.
It is unclear he fully understands this.
A federal judge issued a stay of execution yesterday afternoon that was
quickly appealed by the Virginia attorney general's office to the 4th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals, which quickly lifted the stay.
Walton is set to be executed by injection at 9 p.m. unless the courts or
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine respond to pleas from Walton's lawyers that range
from the propriety of lethal injection to the meaning of death.
Yesterday's stay by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith in Norfolk
concerns Walton's challenge to the constitutionality of the way Virginia
conducts lethal injections.
Smith noted that the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this month in
a similar case, Hill v. Crosby, on whether such challenges can proceed.
Smith said the most prudent course of action would be to wait and see how
the justices rule.
In an emergency appeal of Smith's ruling, the Virginia attorney general's
office said other death-row inmates who have sought stays on the basis of
the Hill case have been unsuccessful and executed as scheduled --
including Virginia's Dexter Vinson, executed in April, and James Reid, in
2004.
Experts say Walton, 27, suffers from schizophrenia, a condition that has
worsened over his decade on death row. A minority of judges have noted
there is evidence he does not have a realistic understanding of what it
means to be dead.
Nevertheless, he has been found competent under legal standards to be
executed because he knows that he is to die for the murders of Jessie and
Elizabeth Kendrick, 80 and 81, and Archie D. Moore Jr., 33.
The standards stem from a 1986 U.S. Supreme Court case, which decided that
those who are unaware of the punishment they are about to suffer, and why
they are to suffer it, cannot be executed.
Walton's lawyers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in
Walton's case. They argue, among other things, that Walton should have a
hearing to determine if he understands that death will mean the end of his
physical existence.
The state and a majority seven judges -- of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of
Appeals argue that such an understanding is not necessary, that the U.S.
Constitution does not define death and that the courts should not be in
the business of defining death.
6 dissenting 4th Circuit judges, however, feel such an understanding is
warranted.
They wrote they did not wish to rewrite the 1986 decision, but rather: "It
is a simple recognition that the constitutional question 'Do you
understand that your execution will cause you to die?' cannot be
meaningfully answered unless the condemned understands what 'to die'
means."
If the courts turn down Walton, the matter will drop in the lap of Kaine,
who is considering a clemency petition from Walton. Walton's lawyers are
seeking mercy from Kaine; they argue that Walton is mentally ill, mentally
retarded and had just turned 18 at the time of the crime.
In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has banned the execution of the
mentally retarded and those who kill while under the age of 18.
Meanwhile, Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of
Corrections, said preparations for the execution were proceeding yesterday
at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, home of Virginia's
death house.
Traylor said that several family members of Walton's victims are scheduled
to watch the execution, but he could not comment beyond that.
Irene Jurscaga, 85, of Suffolk, Elizabeth Kendrick's sister, said last
week that she and the Kendricks' son, Grady Kendrick, of Myrtle Beach,
S.C., plan to attend Walton's execution.
The Kendricks' bodies were discovered when their daughter arrived home for
Thanksgiving. Moore's body was found 2 days later.
Moore had been shot in the head, stuffed into a closet, a plastic bag
placed over his head and cologne sprinkled over his body.
Walton described the killings in graphic detail to a fellow jail inmate.
He said that before Elizabeth Kendrick died, she was on her knees begging
for her life. Her husband lay face down nearby crying. Walton told them to
shut up. He shot Elizabeth and then tried to cut Jessie's throat.
Unsuccessful, he put a gun against the top of Kendrick's head and shot
him.
If Walton is put to death, it will be the second execution in Virginia
this year and the 96th since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the death
penalty to resume in 1976.
(source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)