Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994 TAG: 9406090050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
U.S. District Judge James Turk ruled that the conviction was "inherently unreliable" because Tuggle's constitutional rights were violated several times during his original trial.
Turk ordered the state to release Tuggle, 42, or grant him a new trial within six months.
Tuggle was sentenced to death in January 1984 for the rape and capital murder of Jessie G. Havens, a 52-year-old Marion woman.
In overturning the Virginia Supreme Court, Turk ruled that there was insufficient evidence to convict Tuggle of Havens' rape because no semen was found in her vagina, just small bruises outside the vagina.
"With such evidence, no rational fact-finder could have found proof beyond a reasonable doubt," Turk wrote in his 42-page opinion.
In order to find Tuggle guilty of capital murder, the prosecution had to prove the rape charge.
The federal judge also ruled that Tuggle's rights were violated because the Smyth County court failed to appoint an independent psychiatrist and an expert pathologist to help in his defense.
Roy Evans, Smyth County's commonwealth's attorney, was stunned to learn of Turk's decision.
"Oh, give me a break," he said, followed by a long pause. "Are you serious? Unbelievable."
And Evans didn't even prosecute the case; that was handled by former Commonwealth's Attorney Danny Lowe.
Evans said he needed to consult with the state attorney general's office on a possible appeal of Turk's ruling. If a new trial is needed, he said, he assumes it would be in Smyth County Circuit Court.
Calls to the the attorney general's office in Richmond were not returned.
John Tate, Tuggle's original court-appointed attorney, said he wasn't surprised the conviction was finally overturned.
"But that's not saying I expected it," he said.
Tuggle's trial probably is the most publicized case in Smyth County history. A copy of his death warrant is framed on the wall of the Smith County courtroom, according to the judge's order.
Turk said the Smyth County court erred when it failed to let Tuggle's attorneys question potential jurors individually before the trial, resulting in a jury that was biased against the defendant.
The federal judge also said the conviction should be overturned because the instructions given to the jury before it went into deliberations were unconstitutionally vague.
Witnesses at Tuggle's 1984 trial said he met Havens at a dance and that she was seen in his car afterward. She never returned.
Nearly a week later, Tuggle - who had been convicted of second-degree murder in 1972 - was stopped by a state trooper and admitted to robbing a service station. A gun in his possession subsequently was proved to be the weapon used in Havens' murder.
Tuggle is best known around the state for his 1984 prison escape, when he and five others broke out of Mecklenburg by posing as prison guards disposing of a fake bomb. Tuggle, who was on the run a week before he was captured in Vermont, is the only member of the group who hasn't been executed.
His escape attempts didn't end there.
In 1985, he and three other inmates were caught trying to break out by brandishing a fake pistol made of cardboard and exploding a homemade matchstick bomb.
In 1987, Tuggle and another inmate tried unsuccessfully to break out of prison by cutting through metal screens and hiding their work with shoe polish.
by CNB