- Thursday, 29 March 2001

Death Row Cases In Va. Earn New Court Scrutiny

The Virginia Supreme Court and the federal courts overseeing the state have subjected several death row cases to unusual scrutiny in recent days, the latest sign that Virginia's fastest-in-the-nation system of capital punishment is slowing down. As a result, executions have all but halted in a state that has put more people to death than any state except Texas. The only person executed this year had dropped his appeals, and only one other execution among the 28 people on death row is scheduled. In 1999, Virginia executed 14 people, taking an average of just six years between an inmate's sentencing and death. But since then, the system has been subjected to intense examination by the U.S. Supreme Court and the legislature. Also, last year, Earl Washington Jr. became the first Virginia death row inmate to be exonerated by DNA testing. "The whole atmosphere on capital punishment has changed," said Scott Sundby, a law professor at Washington and Lee University. "Both legisl!ative and judicially, there is a pause, and we are starting to look more closely at what has happened." Over the last several days:. The state high court ordered hearings in a death row appeal Friday -- the first time it has done so since 1995. An Appomattox court will consider evidence that Brandon Wayne Hedrick's first attorneys were so bad that he was denied a fair trial on rape and murder charges.. On Monday, the U.S. District Court in Roanoke agreed to hear evidence that Percy Walton was so mentally ill that he was incompetent to stand trial and that his attorneys were inadequate because they failed to press the issue.. Three judges of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court issued a rare written dissent from a routine death penalty motion in the case of Walter Mickens Jr. They noted that Mickens would be entitled to a new trial in other parts of the country but not in the 4th Circuit. The dissent, issued Tuesday, "is basically inviting the U.S. Supreme Court to take the cas!e," said Rob Wagner, who represents Mickens. Two other inmates who scored unusual court victories last spring are still working their way through the judicial process. The U.S. Supreme Court sent Michael Williams's case back for a new hearing because one of his jurors had been married to a prosecution witness. Also, the state high court, for the first time since 1977, ordered a new trial during the second round of appeals -- called habeas corpus -- for Chauncey Jackson. Capital punishment continues to enjoy strong support from the public, and most death sentences survive examination. Two of the four Virginia capital cases considered by the U.S. Supreme Court in the last term were upheld, and the inmates were executed. "I don't think it's accurate to say there is a wholesale examination of Virginia death penalty cases," said David Botkins, spokesman for Attorney General Mark L. Earley (R). "Numerous unbiased experts have said Virginia's criminal justice system is a model !for the nation. The system is fair, with numerous avenues of appeal available to defendants. . . . "The overwhelming majority of the sentences are carried out," he said. In the Mickens case, the full 4th Circuit rejected his claim that he should get a new trial because his court-appointed attorney had been representing the victim in the case, Timothy Hall, at the time of the killing. Mickens will die April 17 unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes. And on the same day the Virginia Supreme Court granted Hedrick's unusual hearing, it rejected death row inmate Darrick Demorris Walker's appeals without an evidentiary hearing. "It is hard to feel that Mr. Walker has gotten meaningful . . . review," said his attorney, Eric Hougen. Still, many observers agree that something new is happening in Virginia. Historically, the courts in Virginia have been far more skeptical of death row inmates' claims than those elsewhere. A 23-year study of death penalty cases by James Liebm!an, a Columbia University law professor, found that courts overturned 18 percent of Virginia death sentences, compared with 68 percent elsewhere. But the U.S. Supreme Court has been critical of Virginia cases recently, particularly on the issues of inadequate counsel and failing to grant evidentiary hearings. "The [high] court said, 'We validate deference to the state courts, but you've gone way beyond where you should have,' " Liebman said. The Virginia Capital Resource Center, which represents Walton and Hedrick, appears to be reaping the benefit. In Walton's case, resource center lawyer Jennifer Givens said her schizophrenic client, accused of killing Lisa Yvonne Alexander Crider, laughed through his sentencing hearing and sometimes does not know who she is. She said she intends to argue that his previous counsel should have pushed the issue of his mental competence much harder. "I have high hopes for this case," she said. Hedrick's attorneys want to show that his t!rial attorneys failed to consult with their court-appointed psychiatric expert, did not prepare for cross-examination of the state's witnesses and didn't even begin to discuss strategy until three days before his trial. One of the trial attorneys has agreed to help Hedrick's team. The other declined to comment. But Crider's mother, Dale Alexander, said Hedrick got a fair trial. " "He's always making excuses. Every time he opens his mouth, he's taking advantage of her death to say that he is the victim."