Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 26, 1990 TAG: 9005260165
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found no constitutional errors in the sentence Peterson received for the February 1982 robbery and fatal shooting of Howard Kauffman, a Hampton supermarket manager.
Joe Gray Lawrence Jr., a Norfolk attorney who argued for Peterson, said he may ask the full appeals court to review the case before going to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Peterson, 27, has lost U.S. Supreme Court appeals twice, Lawrence said.
Peterson said the jury's finding that he should be sentenced to death because he would be dangerous in the future was unconstitutionally arbitrary.
He also said his rights were violated when a probation officer revealed his juvenile crime record in court.
He said the jury should have been told that he would be ineligible for parole for 20 years if he were sentenced to life in prison.
He argued that the Virginia Supreme Court violated his rights by only reviewing other death penalty cases in deciding whether his sentence was excessive.
Peterson further contended that his attorney was ineffective during the trial and sentencing hearing because he failed to object to two jury instructions.
Peterson was one of six inmates who escaped from death row at the Mecklenburg Correctional Center in May 1984. He was captured in North Carolina within a few days.
by CNB