Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507270063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: STUART LENGTH: Medium
Under the circumstances, Stockton's lawyers viewed the ruling as a victory.
His lawyers - Steven D. Rosenfield of Charlottesville and Anthony F. King of Washington, D.C. - blasted the state attorney general's office for attempting to set an earlier execution date. They say it's imperative that courts have time to review new evidence only recently made public, something they believe the attorney general's office isn't concerned about.
"We are astounded that the government has the audacity to ask the court to execute our client before the Supreme Court looks at the case," Rosenfield said. "Somebody should investigate the state and the morons that make these kind of decisions."
Acting on a request from the attorney general, Patrick County Commonwealth's Attorney Alan Black petitioned the court Wednesday to set Stockton's execution for Sept. 14, 12 days before a scheduled U.S. Supreme Court review of an appeal of the case.
Black, however, said the Sept. 26 Supreme Court review was set only because there is no execution date for Stockton - who was convicted of the 1978 murder of Kenneth Arnder, 18.
"It's a non-issue," Black said. "If an execution date is set, then the Supreme Court will move it up on their schedule. The Supreme Court is not in the business of letting death row appeals go by without a ruling. They will rule."
The attorney general's office sought an execution date after Stockton was denied his latest appeal by U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser last month, Black said.
Rosenfield countered that Black did not notify him and King in writing of the execution date, as required by state law.
So Judge Charles Stone continued the case until Monday, when he said he will set Stockton's execution for Sept. 27.
Stockton's lawyers said they now will move quickly to outline their options. They were to visit Stockon on death row at the Mecklenburg Correctional Center later Wednesday.
If the Supreme Court reviews the case Sept. 26 and denies the appeal, King said, the Sept. 27 execution date could leave him and Rosenfield with just hours to scramble to try to keep Stockton alive.
Rosenfield said the September date also is unfair to Gov. George Allen, who might be forced to review a considerable amount of new evidence in the case in a matter of hours before deciding whether to grant clemency to Stockton.
Stockton's lawyers must petition Allen to review the case before the governor can become involved.
In June, Kiser refused to review the case despite a new development: In April, the key witness in Stockton's 1983 trial recanted his testimony to a reporter for The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star of Norfolk.
The witness, Randy G. Bowman, testified in 1983 that he heard Stockton accept money to kill Arnder, whose body was found near Mount Airy, N.C. He had been shot in the head and his hands had been hacked off.
Prosecutors said Stockton killed Arnder in Patrick County and then moved his body to North Carolina. No physical evidence linked him to Arnder or the murder to Virginia, and no weapon was found.
Bowman told the newspapers this year that he never heard the money-for-hire deal.
But the attorney general's office later filed an affidavit in federal court in which Bowman claimed he never recanted.
In May, the supervising investigator in the capital murder case, Clifford Boyd, said in a statement filed in federal court that he believes Stockton is innocent. Boyd, who is now retired from the Patrick County Sheriff's Office, made the statement during an interview with a private investigator.
He said he believes evidence was withheld from Stockton's lawyers during the 1983 trial, according to the affidavit.
by CNB