Post by gellibee on Jun 14, 2007 9:47:13 GMT -5
Gov Kaine delays execution
Wednesday, Jun 13, 2007 - 07:23 PM Updated: 08:44 PM
By FRANK GREEN
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine delayed tonight's execution of Christopher
Emmett just two hours before it was to have taken place.
"Basic fairness demands that condemned inmates be allowed the
opportunity to complete legal appeals prior to execution," the
governor said, in a statement released this evening.
Emmett, 35, confessed to the murder of John F. Langley, 43, of
Roanoke Rapids, N.C., as Langley slept in a Danville motel room the two were sharing. Emmett took Langley's wallet for money to buy cocaine.
Kaine pointed out that Emmett filed a writ of certiorari with the
United States Supreme Court seeking review of his conviction and sentence, as well as a motion to stay his execution.
The nation's highest court denied his stay motion but it has yet to consider whether to grant the writ of certiorari, Kaine said.
Four justices - a minority - had voted in favor of the stay motion,
Kaine pointed out, and under the court's rules, the writ will be
granted if four justices vote to accept his appeal.
"The Court does not expect to consider his appeal until late
September," Kaine said, so "basic fairness" demands that Emmett be allowed to complete these legal appeals.
Emmett wants the Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court's decision in his case.
"Allowing Emmett's execution to go forward before the Supreme Court rules on his appeal would foreclose any additional review of his case. The irreversibility of an execution and the fact that four Justices of the Court believe a stay is needed to consider the appeal warrant my intervention in this case," Kaine said.
"Therefore, I delay the execution of Christopher Emmett until October 17th, 2007.
"My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the victim."
Emmett argued that his trial lawyer, Lawrence Gott, then a public
defender in Danville, failed to adequately investigate Emmett's
abusive, impoverished childhood and other problems that might have been used to win a life sentence instead of death.
Gott, now in private practice, declined to comment. The Virginia
Attorney General's office said Gott ably defended Emmett, who had a criminal record stretching back to his childhood.
The Virginia Supreme Court had earlier ruled that Gott's performance failed to meet minimum constitutional standards when he permitted improper sentencing forms to be given the jury.
The court held, however, that the error made no difference in the outcome.
A clemency petition to Kaine included affidavits from three jurors
who said they wish they had been presented the new evidence about Emmett's impoverished and abusive childhood discovered by his current lawyers.
One said she would not have voted for the death penalty had she seen the evidence during the trial. It would only have taken one juror to oppose death for Emmett to have received life without parole.
Since taking office, Kaine, a capital punishment opponent who had represented condemned inmates when he practiced law, has let four executions proceed: Dexter Vinson, Brandon Hedrick, Michael Lenz and John Yancey Schmitt.
He granted Percy Walton, who is mentally ill, conditional clemency. Walton, also sentenced to death in Danville, murdered three people.
Kaine campaigned acknowledging his personal opposition to death penalty but promising to uphold state law and to not abuse his clemency powers.
Emmett's lawyers have been seeking to have his death sentence
commuted to life without parole.
Emmett was to have been executed at 9 p.m. and the governor issued his statement at 7:05 p.m.
Wednesday, Jun 13, 2007 - 07:23 PM Updated: 08:44 PM
By FRANK GREEN
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine delayed tonight's execution of Christopher
Emmett just two hours before it was to have taken place.
"Basic fairness demands that condemned inmates be allowed the
opportunity to complete legal appeals prior to execution," the
governor said, in a statement released this evening.
Emmett, 35, confessed to the murder of John F. Langley, 43, of
Roanoke Rapids, N.C., as Langley slept in a Danville motel room the two were sharing. Emmett took Langley's wallet for money to buy cocaine.
Kaine pointed out that Emmett filed a writ of certiorari with the
United States Supreme Court seeking review of his conviction and sentence, as well as a motion to stay his execution.
The nation's highest court denied his stay motion but it has yet to consider whether to grant the writ of certiorari, Kaine said.
Four justices - a minority - had voted in favor of the stay motion,
Kaine pointed out, and under the court's rules, the writ will be
granted if four justices vote to accept his appeal.
"The Court does not expect to consider his appeal until late
September," Kaine said, so "basic fairness" demands that Emmett be allowed to complete these legal appeals.
Emmett wants the Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court's decision in his case.
"Allowing Emmett's execution to go forward before the Supreme Court rules on his appeal would foreclose any additional review of his case. The irreversibility of an execution and the fact that four Justices of the Court believe a stay is needed to consider the appeal warrant my intervention in this case," Kaine said.
"Therefore, I delay the execution of Christopher Emmett until October 17th, 2007.
"My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of the victim."
Emmett argued that his trial lawyer, Lawrence Gott, then a public
defender in Danville, failed to adequately investigate Emmett's
abusive, impoverished childhood and other problems that might have been used to win a life sentence instead of death.
Gott, now in private practice, declined to comment. The Virginia
Attorney General's office said Gott ably defended Emmett, who had a criminal record stretching back to his childhood.
The Virginia Supreme Court had earlier ruled that Gott's performance failed to meet minimum constitutional standards when he permitted improper sentencing forms to be given the jury.
The court held, however, that the error made no difference in the outcome.
A clemency petition to Kaine included affidavits from three jurors
who said they wish they had been presented the new evidence about Emmett's impoverished and abusive childhood discovered by his current lawyers.
One said she would not have voted for the death penalty had she seen the evidence during the trial. It would only have taken one juror to oppose death for Emmett to have received life without parole.
Since taking office, Kaine, a capital punishment opponent who had represented condemned inmates when he practiced law, has let four executions proceed: Dexter Vinson, Brandon Hedrick, Michael Lenz and John Yancey Schmitt.
He granted Percy Walton, who is mentally ill, conditional clemency. Walton, also sentenced to death in Danville, murdered three people.
Kaine campaigned acknowledging his personal opposition to death penalty but promising to uphold state law and to not abuse his clemency powers.
Emmett's lawyers have been seeking to have his death sentence
commuted to life without parole.
Emmett was to have been executed at 9 p.m. and the governor issued his statement at 7:05 p.m.