ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996 TAG: 9601190073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HARRISONBURG
A Rockingham County judge on Thursday sentenced a convicted murderer to life in prison without parole, despite the man's insistence that he wanted to be executed.
Circuit Judge Porter R. Graves Jr. accepted the plea agreement of Anthony S. May in the killing and rape of a 75-year-old neighbor, Mary C. Miller, last April. May's lawyers and the state filed the agreement in November, but May later wrote several letters to a local newspaper and the judge asking for the death sentence.
``I'm in jail for a harsh crime and I also think that I should get death for this crime if I have to I will request it from Mr. Graves,'' May wrote in a letter to the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg.
May's lawyers asked for a delay in the sentencing, saying the competency of their client was in question.
May told the judge Wednesday that he agreed to the sentence because his lawyers told him he wouldn't be able to get anything else. He earlier told his attorneys that he wanted to cancel the agreement and seek the death penalty.
Graves ruled May, 23, was competent at the time the agreement was filed, and had no say in his sentencing.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 33 linesby CNB