THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 10, 1995 TAG: 9507100046
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BOYDTON LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
A death row inmate with a history of declaring that he wants to die - then restarting his appeals - now says he's certain he wants to be executed and is frustrated by a system that keeps postponing it.
``I see no reason for them not to execute me,'' Mickey Wayne Davidson, 38, of Smyth County, said during a recent interview with The Roanoke Times at the Mecklenburg Correctional Center, where condemned prisoners await execution. ``I don't see how they have the right to keep me here against my wishes.''
Davidson was convicted of capital murder for killing his wife and two teenage stepdaughters with a crowbar at their Saltville home in 1990. He pleaded guilty.
Appeals by death row inmates can last a decade or longer, a situation that has prompted criticism by prosecutors and others who say prisoners are abusing the system.
But although Davidson pledges that he wants his appeals dropped, he has made the request before and then changed his mind.
Execution dates were set two previous times. Davidson was moved to within a few feet of the electric chair at Greensville Correctional Center, then changed his mind and restarted his appeals.
Davidson's attorney, Tony Anderson of Roanoke, said that before a new execution date can be set, a mental evaluation should be conducted to ensure that Davidson is competent to make such a decision.
Anderson has filed a motion with the Virginia Supreme Court, asking that a psychiatrist be appointed to conduct an evaluation. If a mental evaluation determines that Davidson is competent to drop his appeals, Anderson said, an execution could be scheduled by the end of the year.
The attorney general's office has yet to take a position on the request for a mental evaluation, but it has filed a motion asking the Supreme Court to dismiss Davidson's earlier appeal.
KEYWORDS: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT DEATH ROW MURDER by CNB