Leon Jermain Winston 

Date of Birth: July 7, 1980

Sex: Male

Race: Black

Entered the Row: January 29, 2004

District: Lynchburg City

Conviction: Capitol Murder

Virginia DOC Inmate Number: 329099

In the early morning of April 19, 2002, Anthony Robinson and his pregnant wife Ronda, were shot in their home on Sussex Street while their two daughters hid in the closet. 

The 8-year old daughter, Niesha Whitehead, testified in court that she saw two black intruders outside her second-floor bedroom she shared with her younger sister and then saw one of the men take her stepfather downstairs.  She noticed the man had a tattoo that looked like a “big dog” and heard shots from below.  She also testified that the man later came upstairs; she saw him shoot her mom.[i]

A cab driver testified that on the night of the murders, he drove two black men to several homes in the area and saw them check the windows; he identified one of the men as Kevin Eugene Brown and one of the homes on Sussex Street.

Brown was charged with capital murder but was only convicted of second-degree murder and formally sentenced to 43 years in prison on November 8, 2003. 

In June 2003, however, a jury not only convicted Winston of capital murder but during the penalty phase, recommended that he be sentenced to death.  Winston’s attorneys presented extensive mitigating evidence; his mother had abused alcohol and drugs while pregnant with him.[ii]

On Jan. 29, 2004, Circuit Judge Mosby Perrow III followed the jury’s recommendation and formally sentenced Winston to death.  The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the capital murder conviction and sentencing on Nov. 5, 2004.[iii]  

Almost a year later, a review of DNA by  the Virginia Department of Forensic Science ordered by then-Gov. Mark Warner found an error in the testing of a glove presented as evidence during trial.  DNA evidence for the murder weapon, however, was free of any errors.[iv]