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

DATE: SATURDAY, February 9, 1991                   TAG: 9102090252
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

RESIDENTS TO ATTEND GIARRANTANO RALLY

More than 30 people from the Roanoke and New River valleys are expected to travel to Richmond today to attend a rally at the State Capitol to protest the scheduled execution of Joseph Giarrantano.

Danny Axsom, a state death penalty coordinator for Amnesty International, said the protesters have chartered a bus to take them to the 2 p.m. rally, which is being sponsored by a group working to get the 33-year-old Giarrantano a new trial.

Giarrantano, convicted of the 1979 rape-slaying of a teen-age girl and the stabbing death of her mother, is scheduled for execution Feb. 22.

An effort to get Giarrantano a new trial because of evidence discrepancies has drawn the support of a number of celebrities, including actor Jack Lemmon and conservative newspaper columnist James J. Kilpatrick.

by CNB