THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 28, 1995 TAG: 9507280424
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LAURA LAFAY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
A state police inquiry into a gun found in the typewriter of executed inmate Willie Lloyd Turner is at a ``critical stage,'' and investigators ``have not received the full cooperation of several of the principals involved in the incident,'' Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore said in a press release Thursday.
The state police have ``written letters to those individuals to again ask for their full cooperation,'' Kilgore wrote.
``Their response will not only determine the next investigative step to be taken in this case, but will determine how much more time is needed to bring this case to its logical conclusion.''
Kilgore could not be reached for questions about the identity of the ``principals'' because he was in a meeting Thursday afternoon and then went home to attend his son's birthday party, according to his aide, Bill Cimino.
However, a highly placed official in the administration of Gov. George F. Allen called at least two newspapers last week with an anonymous tip: Turner's Washington lawyer, Walter Walvick, had refused to take a polygraph, the official said.
The official also claimed that another person, a former prison employee, had missed several scheduled polygraph appointments with the state police. But because the official would not allow his name to be used, The Virginian-Pilot did not publish the information.
The accusations angered Walvick's attorney, Justin Simon, who said Thursday that his client would be happy to take a polygraph under the condition that Corrections Department employees with access to Turner also submit to the test.
``We have never refused to take a polygraph, and it is misleading to suggest that we have,'' he said. ``We have had extensive contact with the state police, and I am not aware of any issue involving Mr. Walvick's credibility, nor has there been any suggestion of one.''
Walvick was also angry.
``The story here is not about me and it has never been about me,'' he said. ``The story here, as it has been since May 25, is how the Department of Corrections allowed a gun on death row. I have cooperated with the state police and answered every question fully and without reservation.
``The more cogent issue now is why does Mr. Kilgore continue to try to impugn my reputation and integrity when he knows full well there is no basis for doing so?''
A lawyer for the former prison employee said his client also has cooperated in the investigation. Although there have been problems scheduling a time because of his busy trial schedule, he said, his client has not missed any appointments with the state police.
KEYWORDS: DEATH ROW CAPITAL PUNISHMENT HANDGUNS
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