Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990                   TAG: 9005170639
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                LENGTH: Medium

STOCKTON DESERVES TO LIVE, ATTORNEY TELLS JURY/ CONVICTED CONTRACT KILLER

"The Dennis Stockton we are asking you to pass judgment on is not the Dennis Stockton of '78 or '82," Lewis Bograd said Wednesday during opening arguments before a jury that will decide whether Stockton serves life in prison or goes to the electric chair.

The witnesses who provided the evidence that convicted Stockton were "a motley crew at best," Bograd said. He said that there is much good in Stockton.

The hearing proceeded Wednesday in Stockton's absence. He was removed from court Tuesday after an outburst in which he tried to fire his legal team and complained of illness and the conditions under which he is being held. Patrick County Circuit Judge Frank I. Richardson, who is presiding over the case, said Stockton can return when he agrees to control himself.

Patrick County Commonwealth's Attorney Anthony Giorno told the jury of ten women and two men that he would ask that Stockton be executed. He said that he would prove the crime was both vile and that Stockton represents a threat to society.

Giorno detailed evidence of a 1978 slaying in Patrick County, telling jurors they would learn that Stockton not only shot Kenneth Arnder, 18, between the eyes, but also cut off his hands and later bragged about the crime.

He said that he would show that Stockton murdered another man for "running his mouth" about the Arnder killing.

"I'm here to tell you," Giorno said. "When the commonwealth is done putting on its evidence, your decision will not be easy . . . but that there will be no alternative other than the defendant should be sentenced to death."

The Patrick County jury that convicted Stockton decided that he was paid $1,500 to kill Arnder over a drug deal gone bad.

That jury recommended that Stockton be executed, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that the decision was tainted by an inflammatory comment, and Stockton was removed from death row.

On Tuesday, a Newport News jury was selected to reconsider Stockton's sentence. The trial was moved to Newport News because of publicity about the case in Patrick County.

Stockton himself demanded the hearing. The state had not sought to reimpose his death penalty.

But Stockton, who contends he is innocent, demanded the new sentencing and said he would seek death rather than a life behind bars.

Stockton sent a message to the judge Wednesday afternoon. Two paragraphs were biblical quotations about God being the only real judge and about standing alone in adversity. The third paragraph stated that Stockton was praying for the judge "and all my enemies who stand against me."

Stockton, his lawyers said, was much calmer and quieter than on Tuesday and had been treated by a doctor for rawness on his ankles caused by his shackles.