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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 5, 1991                   TAG: 9102050416
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

`LET ME OUT, I'LL FIGHT IRAQ'

Lem Tuggle Jr., who broke out of Virginia's death row in 1984 and was recaptured, has another plan to gain his freedom:

Tuggle has volunteered to fight against Saddam Hussein's army.

In letters to President Bush and Gov. Douglas Wilder, Tuggle said he is willing to "perform duties as directed and lay down my life if necessary for the United States of America."

Tuggle said he has "prior military experience in the infantry" and is qualified with machine guns, grenade launchers and land mines. "I also have experience with C4 and other plastic explosives, and can drive any size or make of car or truck."

Tuggle wrote that many of the more than 2,000 people on death row across the United States could be trusted to help in the war on Iraq. Volunteers from death row "could be sent on risk missions and if killed, it would not matter."

Tuggle does not specifically mention freedom or commutation of his death sentence as the reward for military service.

But he cited the 1967 film "The Dirty Dozen" as the model for his proposal. In the movie, starring Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson, 12 convicts were recruited for a suicide mission during World War II. The survivors were rewarded with parole from their life sentences.

Corrections officials declined to comment publicly on Tuggle's letter. However, one official said privately that "I wouldn't imagine anybody would take him up on his offer."

Tuggle was sentenced to 20 years for murdering a 17-year-old girl in 1971. Four months after being paroled in 1983, he raped and murdered a 52-year-old woman in Smyth County. A jury sentenced him to death.

In May 1984, he was one of six men who broke out of Mecklenburg Correctional Center in the largest death row escape in U.S. history. They escaped by posing as guards disposing of a fake bomb. All were recaptured. Tuggle gave himself up to a village constable in Vermont.

Tuggle tried to escape twice more, in 1985 and 1987, but was unsuccessful.

In his letter, Tuggle also volunteered the services of James Payne, an inmate who tried to escape with him in 1987.

"Neither of us expect to gain anything except rather than being executed, having a second chance at life by serving our country and military," Tuggle wrote. "We are willing to be trained and accept any assignment or mission necessary to serve the U.S. government, and die with honor and dignity."

by CNB