Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 12, 1993 TAG: 9306120049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Since he admitted killing his family of three as they packed to leave his Smyth County home in 1990, Davidson has asked for a speedy execution several times.
But as his execution dates have neared, Davidson has retracted his death wish each time and picked up his appeals where he dropped them.
The attorney general's office has used Davidson's indecision to argue that yet another stay "would only institutionalize deliberate delay and manipulation of the judicial process."
But in its decision Friday, the Supreme Court ruled a Smyth County judge was wrong when he refused in February to consider Davidson's latest request for a stay.
Davidson's case was watched closely by capital punishment experts, who say it will affect how much time other death row inmates have to challenge their sentences.
"It's pretty progressive, I think, for the Virginia Supreme Court to issue this type of an opinion," said Tony Anderson, a Roanoke lawyer who represents Davidson.
"They're saying that you have to at least give a petitioner the opportunity to present his case before he's rushed to the electric chair."
Had the Supreme Court not granted Davidson a stay just eight hours before a Feb. 3 execution date, he would have been the most swiftly executed death row inmate since Virginia resumed executions in 1982.
Other inmates have spent 10 years or longer on death row before exhausting their appeals.
The case will now go back to Smyth County, where Judge Charles Smith will decide if another stay is warranted while Davidson files a state habeas corpus petition.
A habeas claim does not focus on guilt or innocence but on procedural issues, such as whether a lawyer's performance jeopardized a client's right to a fair trial.
By the time Davidson stopped wavering on his death wish late last year and decided for good to pursue his appeals, Anderson had only a few days to work with. Anderson argued - and the Supreme Court agreed - that such a short deadline would not give him enough time to adequately prepare the next step of the appeal.
"In order for the prisoner to receive the intended protection . . . he must be allowed a reasonable time during which to consult with counsel and have counsel prepare his petition," the high court ruled.
The state had argued that Davidson lost his right to review when he gave up his appeals and missed a filing deadline.
In rejecting Davidson's request for a stay of execution, Smith ruled in February that he did not have jurisdiction, because more than 21 days had passed since the final order in the case.
An assistant attorney general supported Smith's decision, arguing to the Supreme Court that another stay would lead to situations "as ludicrous as an inmate waiting until the night of his execution" to file an appeal.
Davidson, 35, has never denied that he used a crowbar to beat his wife and two stepdaughters to death in his Saltville home. Doris Davidson, 36; Mamie Clatterbuck, 14; and Tammy Clatterbuck, 13; were killed as they packed to leave Davidson in August 1990.
Davidson pleaded guilty to three counts of capital murder and was sentenced to death in 1991.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.