Posted on 11/30/2005 8:30:01 AM PST by Former Military Chick
RICHMOND, Va. Nov 30, 2005 — A day before Robin Lovitt was to become the 1,000th person executed since capital punishment resumed in 1977, Virginia's governor spared his life.
Lovitt's sentence on Tuesday was commuted to life in prison without parole for stabbing a man to death with a pair of scissors during a 1988 pool hall robbery.
Gov. Mark R. Warner said evidence from Lovitt's trial had been improperly destroyed, depriving the defense of the opportunity to subject the material to the latest in DNA testing.
"The commonwealth must ensure that every time this ultimate sanction is carried out, it is done fairly," said Warner, who had never before granted clemency to a death row inmate.
The 1,000th execution is now scheduled for early Friday in North Carolina, where Kenneth Lee Boyd is slated to die for killing his estranged wife and her father.
"It certainly means the case will draw more media attention, and I hope that means that the governor will therefore take the clemency petition seriously but I hope that would be true regardless of whether this is case 999, 1,000 or 1,001," said Boyd's attorney, Thomas Maher.
North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley will treat the execution like others he has considered, spokeswoman Cari Boyce said.
Lovitt, 42, was convicted in 1999 of murdering Clayton Dicks at an Arlington, Va., pool hall. Prosecutors said Dicks caught Lovitt prying open a cash register with the scissors, which police found in the woods between the pool hall and the home of Lovitt's cousin.
Lovitt admitted grabbing the cash box but insisted someone else killed Dicks. Initial DNA tests on the scissors were inconclusive.
In 2001, a court clerk destroyed much of the evidence in the case, including the scissors, making additional DNA testing impossible.
Just a few weeks earlier, Virginia implemented a law requiring the preservation of DNA evidence in death row cases.
Lovitt's lawyers, who include former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr, argued that the more sophisticated DNA tests that are available today could have cleared their client.
"We believe this decision to be entirely proper, given the extraordinary circumstances of Mr. Lovitt's case," said Ashley Parrish, one of Lovitt's attorneys.
Michelle Dicks, the victim's niece, said the family was struggling to cope with Warner's decision.
"We're not too happy, but it doesn't make a difference, because it doesn't bring my uncle back," said Dicks, 35, of Washington, D.C.
The governor, who is considered a possible Democratic presidential contender in 2008, said he was "acutely aware of the tragic loss experienced by the Dicks family."
"However, evidence in Mr. Lovitt's trial was destroyed by a court employee" before post-conviction DNA tests could be done, he said. "The actions of an agent of the commonwealth, in a manner contrary to the express direction of the law, comes at the expense of a defendant facing society's most severe and final sanction."
Death penalty proponents were outraged.
"The governor has sided with a killer against the working people of America," said Michael Paranzino, president of Throw Away the Key, a group that supports the death penalty. "Lovitt's a cold-blooded killer and he's just been given an early Christmas gift by Warner."
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that state laws to reform capital punishment were valid, ending a 10-year moratorium on the death penalty. The first execution took place on Jan. 17, 1977, when Gary Gilmore, 36, was shot by a firing squad at Utah State Prison.
Associated Press writer Estes Thompson in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.
On the Net:
Death Penalty Information Center:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
Throw Away the Key:
http://www.throwawaythekey.org/
Innocence Project:
http://www.innocenceproject.org/
Warner sees himself in the running for the Dem nomination--That's all you need to know.
He might get it too... Strong contender
He'll be viable so long as he stays away from Ft. Marcy Park.
Sorry, I gotta side with the governor on this one ( god, does that statement make me sick to my stomach ) but, some imbicille destroyed evidence that was to be legally preserved until his expiration. The idiot that disposed of the evidence needs to serve time!!!
I hope no one destroyed Tookie's evidence...
at least wait until he has expired ( i miss the electric chair)
heh, I hope the dems go for it. Warner is a real lightweight with a grossly overblown resume. If Virginia had actually watched his debates with Mark Earley they never would have elected him.
1. Last Executive decision before Kaine steps in next year.
2. Don't want to have a Man's life on my hands when I leave and people remember me as a killer for the running in 2008. 3. Inconclusive evidence that could bring this man a guilty verdict, so with the reasonable doubt in murder, a stay is warranted.
I hate to say it, but Warner wasn't a bad Governor for us.
This will make Tookie's execution the 1000th.
Perhaps he considered that the State destroyed evidence in Violation of the
Law.
One of Lovitt's defense attorneys arguing for the Grant of Clemancy was former Independent Counsel Judge Kenneth Starr.
Puh-leeze.....the biggest tax increase in Virginia's history!!! The h### he's not a bad governor. Put down the glass and step away from the kool-aid. :)
His spin to the contrary, he's done NOTHING as governor except unnecessarily raise our taxes. NOT ONE of his agenda items got passed in the Gen. Assembly except raising taxes.
Exactly, taxes are going to increase anyway. It was a matter of time. Do you honestly think the personal property tax on cars was going to build revenue. Besides, the Governor doesn't raise our taxes, it's our legislature.. Warner certainly was better since he did do nothing...
In what way has he been a good gov?
I certainly am not happy about Kaine and the road situation. You think Warner has the highest, wait till the "last resort" is the only resort... raising taxes to fund the roads.
Well, for one, He was in the lead to stop the BRAC for this area. INcreased number of prisons. Redirected state lottery funds back to roads and schools.
Ken Starr Always Gets His Man!
Ok, aside from the inevitable tax increase, no matter who is governor, what made Mark Warner a BAD governor?
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