The VLW Blog

A group of 34 former judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials is urging a federal appeals court to reject the state’s effort to reinstate the capital murder conviction of Justin Wolfe. Wolfe was convicted in Prince William County of hiring a man to kill a rival drug dealer in 2002. The evidence against him came [...]

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David P. Baugh, the capital defender for the central region of the state, has filed a formal complaint with the Virginia State Bar against Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert and Richard Conway, one of Ebert’s deputies. The complaint is based on an opinion earlier this month by U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson, who [...]

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Gov. Bob McDonnell has declined to intervene in the scheduled execution of Teresa Lewis. In 2003, Lewis plead guilty to two counts of capital murder for hire of her husband and step-son. She was sentenced to death on both counts, with an execution date set for this Thursday, Sept. 23. Yesterday, the governor released a [...]

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The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to halt the planned execution of Paul Warner Powell, who was sentenced to death for the murder and attempted rape of a Prince William County girl in 1999. Powell’s death was scheduled for July, but that date was canceled when the high court said it needed more time to [...]

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A Chesapeake judge is considering a mistrial motion in a murder case after a juror failed to disclose her history as a crime victim. James Boughton Jr. was previously found guilty for shooting a Mormon missionary to death. This past Friday, defense attorney Andrew Sacks told Chesapeake Circuit Judge Randy Smith that a woman known [...]

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The jury deadlocked in an Albemarle County trial involving a killing 21 years ago. In 1988, Roger Lee Shifflett was robbed and shot to death at the convenience store he owned and operated, reports The Daily Progress. Less than a month after the shooting, defendant Alvin Lee Morris divorced his own wife, married Shifflett’s widow and [...]

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Paul W. Powell will not be executed tomorrow night. U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts granted a stay of execution today pending review of his petition for a writ of certiorari to the high court. The three-sentence order indicates that Powell shouldn’t put but so much faith in the stay, however. If the court denies the [...]

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The execution of death row inmate Paul Warner Powell has been scheduled for tomorrow. The Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney will be among the witnesses, reports the Associated Press. Powell’s lawyers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the execution until it can decide whether his second capital murder charge violated his protection against [...]

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The capital murder case of Daryl Renard Atkins finally appears to be over. The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled today that the prosecution had no way to challenge the trial judge’s commutation of Atkins’ death penalty to life in prison without possibility of parole. York County Circuit Judge N. Prentiss Smiley commuted the sentence after [...]

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Sentencing instructions for a man facing the death penalty had the attention of the Supreme Court of Virginia yesterday. According to the Associated Press, the jury that convicted Alfredo R. Prieto of the 1988 slayings of a young couple was allegedly given unconstitutional verdict forms. Attorney Michael A. Siem argued that the forms failed to provide [...]

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