Post by Anja on Jun 9, 2006 2:04:03 GMT -5
VIRGINIA----execution stayed
Virginia Governor Delays Walton Execution
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Thursday delayed the execution of a triple killer
just over an hour before he was scheduled to be put to death amid claims
he is mentally retarded and insane.
Kaine's decision came moments after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a
request for a stay of execution.
Percy Walton, 27, had been scheduled to die by injection at 9 p.m. at the
Greensville Correctional Center for the 1996 murders of three neighbors in
Danville.
Kaine delayed the execution for 6 months to allow for an independent
evaluation of Walton's mental condition and competence.
"It would be imprudent to either proceed with the execution or grant
clemency without further review," Kaine said.
Under the governor's action, Walton's execution will be delayed until Dec.
8.
The Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional to execute the insane and
mentally retarded, but left it up to the states to define retardation. In
their petition to the high court, Walton's attorneys argued that Walton is
suffering from schizophrenia and is incapable of understanding the concept
of death, therefore making him ineligible for execution. In a clemency
petition to Kaine, they also argued that Walton is mentally retarded.
The Virginia attorney general's office has argued that intelligence scores
taken when Walton was 17 and 18 place him above the accepted range for
mental retardation, though other evaluations were conflicting. They also
refute Walton's claims that he is insane.
Walton pleaded guilty in 1997 to the murders of Jessie and Elizabeth
Kendrick, a couple in their 80s, and 33-year-old Archie Moore. The victims
were robbed and shot in the head; Moore's body was found stuffed in a
closet, his corpse doused in cologne.
Elizabeth Kendrick's sister, 85-year-old Irene Jurscaga, said she thinks
Walton is faking his behavior in order to save his own life. She had
planned to witness the execution.
"He must be taken out of society," Jurscaga said, sobbing. "He was sane.
He was just on a rampage."
But the Kendricks' daughter, Barbara Case, 68, of Brandon, Miss., said she
has forgiven Walton for murdering her parents and is ambivalent about his
fate.
"I'd be just as happy if he spent the rest of his life locked up thinking
about what he did each and every day," she said.
Virginia Governor Delays Walton Execution
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Thursday delayed the execution of a triple killer
just over an hour before he was scheduled to be put to death amid claims
he is mentally retarded and insane.
Kaine's decision came moments after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a
request for a stay of execution.
Percy Walton, 27, had been scheduled to die by injection at 9 p.m. at the
Greensville Correctional Center for the 1996 murders of three neighbors in
Danville.
Kaine delayed the execution for 6 months to allow for an independent
evaluation of Walton's mental condition and competence.
"It would be imprudent to either proceed with the execution or grant
clemency without further review," Kaine said.
Under the governor's action, Walton's execution will be delayed until Dec.
8.
The Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional to execute the insane and
mentally retarded, but left it up to the states to define retardation. In
their petition to the high court, Walton's attorneys argued that Walton is
suffering from schizophrenia and is incapable of understanding the concept
of death, therefore making him ineligible for execution. In a clemency
petition to Kaine, they also argued that Walton is mentally retarded.
The Virginia attorney general's office has argued that intelligence scores
taken when Walton was 17 and 18 place him above the accepted range for
mental retardation, though other evaluations were conflicting. They also
refute Walton's claims that he is insane.
Walton pleaded guilty in 1997 to the murders of Jessie and Elizabeth
Kendrick, a couple in their 80s, and 33-year-old Archie Moore. The victims
were robbed and shot in the head; Moore's body was found stuffed in a
closet, his corpse doused in cologne.
Elizabeth Kendrick's sister, 85-year-old Irene Jurscaga, said she thinks
Walton is faking his behavior in order to save his own life. She had
planned to witness the execution.
"He must be taken out of society," Jurscaga said, sobbing. "He was sane.
He was just on a rampage."
But the Kendricks' daughter, Barbara Case, 68, of Brandon, Miss., said she
has forgiven Walton for murdering her parents and is ambivalent about his
fate.
"I'd be just as happy if he spent the rest of his life locked up thinking
about what he did each and every day," she said.