Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 29, 1995 TAG: 9508010040
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Robert Michael May put his life in the hands of a Roanoke Circuit Court judge Friday when he pleaded no contest to gunning down five people on New Year's Day.
The plea seemed more a relief than a burden to the 27-year-old house painter, who confessed to shooting five people as they partied in their Southwest Roanoke carriage house early Jan. 1.
As his hearing began Friday, May winked at his girlfriend, who was seated in the gallery. Then he breezed through an hour-long questioning by Roanoke Circuit Judge Clifford Weckstein, sometimes smiling as the judge asked whether he understood what he was pleading to and the consequences.
When Weckstein asked whether May expected prosecutors to ask for the death penalty, May cleared his throat and said, "That's their job, yes."
May pleaded no contest to capital and first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Dale Arnold, 36; Susan Hutchinson, 44; Cynthia LaPrade, 43; Daniel Mason, 47, and Carl Stroop, 42. He also is charged with five counts of using a firearm and one count of possessing a handgun as a convicted felon.
May had been convicted in Roanoke County of grand larceny and statutory burglary.
In pleading no contest, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a conviction.
Weckstein has two choices of punishment - life in prison or the death penalty.
May's plea was a hope to spare his life.
"Our plea is based on the fact that we think Robert May should live," Public Defender Ray Leven said. "Rob took this position that if he was successful he would never walk out of the penitentiary again. Life without parole is as serious as the death penalty. He knows it's a serious case and that he will suffer a serious punishment."
By pleading no contest, May gave up his right to a state court of appeals review of his case. But if he is sentenced to death, the Supreme Court of Virginia can review Weckstein's sentence, affirming the death penalty, commuting the sentence to life in prison or remanding the case to the trial court for a new sentence.
Weckstein cautioned May on Friday that the Supreme Court of Virginia has never commuted a death sentence to life for anything less than error by a trial judge. And he said it has never found a death sentence to be excessive or disproportionate to the crime.
For May, the plea will likely be the easiest part of next week's court proceedings, where prosecutors are expected to detail the bloody crime scene. Friday, Caldwell requested that the court be allowed to walk through the small second-floor apartment where the homicides occurred.
"Part of the sense of what went on can only be felt standing in that kitchen," he said after Friday's proceedings.
The three men were found shot to death in the kitchen. The two women were discovered seated in the living room, shot in the head. Given the evidence, Caldwell said, the death penalty is appropriate.
"Three people were gunned down and two people were executed as they sat in their chair," he said.
The New Year's Day slayings were the most deaths since 1973, when a locksmith shot his wife, four children and himself in a Northwest Roanoke home.
Keywords:
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by CNB