Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 20, 1991 TAG: 9104200294
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The ruling came in the case of Thomas David Strickler, convicted of capital murder in the abduction, robbery and slaying of a James Madison University student from Roanoke in January 1990.
The ruling clears up confusion about the state's capital murder law that has led to different interpretations by trial judges and has been a matter of life or death to some murder defendants.
"This broadens the range of conduct that can result in a capital murder conviction," said Richard J. Bonnie, a University of Virginia law professor.
Previously, a defendant had to "have engaged in conduct that in itself could be found to have caused the death of the victim," Bonnie said. "This case goes beyond that."
Strickler and Ronald Henderson both were convicted of killing Leann Whitlock, who died from blows to the head with a 69-pound rock.
Strickler was found guilty of capital murder and sentenced to death. In a trial before a different judge, Henderson was convicted of first-degree murder and received a jury sentence of life in prison.
Augusta County Circuit Judge Rudolph Bumgardner III said jurors could not convict Henderson of capital murder unless the prosecution proved he struck the fatal blows.
But in Strickler's case, Augusta Circuit Judge Thomas H. Wood said the defendant could be convicted of capital murder if he "jointly participated in the fatal beating."
The prosecution argued in both trials that one defendant held down Whitlock while the other dropped the rock on her head. It was not established which defendant dropped the rock.
Strickler's appeal argued that except in cases of murder for hire, Virginia law states that only the "trigger man" in a murder can be sentenced to death.
He cited a 1990 Northern Virginia case in which a man had his death sentence overturned because the prosecution established he was at the killing but could not prove he fired the fatal shots.
But the high court cited a 1980 case in which two people both were found guilty of capital murder for using their fists to fatally beat a Newport News woman.
"Where two or more persons take a direct part in inflicting fatal injuries, each joint participant is an `immediate perpetrator' for the purposes of the capital murder statutes," said the opinion written by Justice Charles Russell.
The court said one person could not have dropped or thrown the rock while simultaneously restraining Whitlock.
"The bloodstains on Henderson's jacket as well as on Strickler's clothing further tended to corroborate the commonwealth's theory that the two men had been in the immediate presence of the victim's body when the fatal blows were struck and, hence, had jointly participated in the killing," the court said.
Augusta County Commonwealth's Attorney A. Lee Ervin, who prosecuted Strickler and Henderson, said he was "very satisfied and happy" with the ruling.
"The law is now clear. If this situation comes up again here or in any other jurisdiction in the state of Virginia, now we have the Supreme Court's ruling on it," Ervin said.
by CNB