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

DATE: SATURDAY, January 18, 1992                   TAG: 9201180303
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

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LAWYERS DROP ELECTRIC CHAIR CRUELTY REVIEW

Lawyers for a death-row inmate scheduled to die this month dropped their argument Friday that the state's electric chair violates the Eighth Amendment bar on cruel and unusual punishment.

Attorney William Wright Jr. said the lawyers decided to drop the argument because winning it would have only stayed the Jan. 23 execution date of inmate Herbert Bassette.

Bassette, 46, was condemned to die for the 1979 abduction, robbery and murder of 16-year-old Albert Burwell Jr., a Henrico County gas station attendant.

Bassette's lawyers had argued the chair delivers an excruciating death. Wright said the problem is exacerbated in Virginia by the use of poorly trained personnel and an antiquated electric chair.

Associated Press

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