Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 20, 1995 TAG: 9507200024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
typewriter in which Turner's lawyer allegedly found a loaded .32-caliber revolver and extra ammunition about an hour after Turner's May 25 execution.
One source, whom the newspaper did not identify in its story Wednesday, said the hacksaw blade was found well after the Department of Corrections had completed its investigation in May. Prison investigators apparently missed it, he said.
Officials refused comment, citing the ongoing state police investigation.
``We can't confirm or deny that information. We ... don't want to get into the position of giving out evidence whether it was found or not found, at this juncture,'' Public Safety Secretary Jerry Kilgore said late Tuesday.
``Nothing that that man would ever do would surprise me,'' said Walter J. Walvick, Turner's lawyer. Some state officials suggested Walvick might have placed the gun he allegedly found there, a charge he has denied.
Walvick said he knew nothing about the blade inside the typewriter and had nothing to do with its getting there.
Walvick said he found the weapon and 12 extra bullets in a compartment built inside the typewriter. He had taken Turner's personal effects back to his hotel room after the execution. He opened the typewriter, which had been sealed by Corrections Department officials in packing tape, in the presence of two reporters.
Gov. George Allen and Ronald J. Angelone, head of the Department of Corrections, initially suggested the gun may have been planted inside the typewriter after it left the prison as part of a hoax.
A 36-hour investigation by Angelone's department concluded there was no evidence the gun had ever been inside the Greensville Correctional Facility. But a few days later, Allen ordered a state police investigation.
Corrections Department officials "don't have the ability, the know-how or the authority to do the investigation the state police could do," Allen said Wednesday in Montgomery County, as he was wrapping up a visit to the Elliston-Lafayette Industrial Park.
"I'd like to know what's going on here," he said.
Like Kilgore, Allen would not confirm or deny that a hacksaw blade had actually been found. "It's more complicated than people think," he said.
On July 11, Kilgore told the State Crime Commission that it might never be known who put the gun in the typewriter, or how it got there.
Turner had a history of crafting contraband. While at the Powhatan Correctional Center, he made keys and other items that might have been used in an escape. Turner was moved to Powhatan from death row at the Mecklenburg Correctional Center after his involvement in an escape and escape attempt there, including the 1984 breakout of six death row inmates. Turner helped plan that escape and manufactured weapons but did not flee.
His last months were spent at Greensville. He had access to the typewriter through bars in his cell.
He was convicted for the 1978 murder of a Franklin jewelry store owner.
Staff writer Brian Kelley provided some information for this story.
by CNB