Virginia is scheduled to carry out its
106th execution on March 18. It would be a miscarriage of justice for
Virginians to permit this to happen. There is no doubt that Paul Powell
committed a horrible crime — a crime for which he could have been given
a sentence of up to life imprisonment or, if aggravating factors were
found, the death penalty.
But in its zeal to prove the presence of aggravating factors, the
prosecution introduced false evidence that showed Powell guilty of two
prior crimes of murder when in fact Powell had been cleared of those
charges. Additionally, the prosecution also told the court that this
evidence had been “certified” when in fact it was uncertified.
It shakes the confidence of Virginians in our criminal justice
system when a jury’s death sentence rests on serious false evidence and
a false claim introduced by the government. Such action by the
prosecution should not be tolerated.
Unfortunately, the Virginia Supreme Court has never reviewed all of
the false evidences in this case. When four out of seven justices for
this case upheld the lower court when reviewing only partial evidence,
the other three justices wrote a vigorous dissent: “Such a serious
mistake in a capital case may well cause the public to question whether
our courts adequately ensure the fair application of the death penalty
statue.”
In view of the above, Powell’s sentence should be commuted to life in prison without parole.
As the case now stands, the only person having authority to commute
Powell’s sentence is the governor, who opposed Powell’s attempts to
correct the serious errors made by the prosecution.
Please contact Gov. Robert McDonnell and request him to commute Powell’s sentence to life in prison without parole.
Hunter Mabry
Waynesboro
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