ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 27, 1990                   TAG: 9006270420
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BEDFORD                                LENGTH: Short

BEDFORD JUDGE PERMITS STAY OF EXECUTION FOR SAVINO

A Circuit Court judge Tuesday agreed to stay the execution of convicted killer Joseph Savino while his attorneys appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Judge William Sweeney signed the stay order at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday - just three days before Savino had been scheduled to die in the electric chair.

Savino, who had earlier asked to be executed as quickly as possible, decided on Sunday to ask for a stay of execution after being pressured by his parents and attorneys.

But on Sunday, Savino changed his mind on the issue after being pressured by his parents and attorneys.

In requesting the stay, Richmond lawyer Gerald T. Zerkin did not say what element of Savino's case he would base the appeal on. Savino, a New York native, last year pleaded guilty to capital murder for killing and robbing his homosexual lover.

Savino moved to Thos "Tom" McWaters' Bedford County estate in the summer of 1988 after being paroled from a New York prison. Savino said he beat McWaters to death later that year because McWaters persisted in demanding sex. - 


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