Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 12, 1995 TAG: 9508140072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURA LaFAY and ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITERS/ below
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
A fingerprint and DNA test show that death row inmate Willie Lloyd Turner cut and molded his electric typewriter to accommodate the gun found inside the machine after he was executed, state police announced Friday.
But, they said, that evidence does not prove ``beyond a reasonable doubt'' that Turner had the gun while he was imprisoned at the Greensville Correctional Center.
``We cannot 100 percent guarantee you that the gun was in the prison,'' state police Superintendent M. Wayne Huggins told reporters Friday at a news conference in Richmond. ``But we will say to you that there is evidence - clear evidence - that certainly makes that suggestion.''
The investigation did not determine how the gun could have gotten into the prison, or who might have brought it in, Huggins said.
Huggins' agency was assigned to investigate the discovery of the gun after Corrections Director Ronald Angelone dismissed the incident as ``unfounded'' and said it raised questions about ``the possibility of an elaborate hoax'' by Turner's defense attorney. The attorney, Walter Walvick, found the gun in Turner's typewriter about an hour after Turner was executed. Walvick's wife and two Virginian-Pilot reporters also were present.
Although Turner's fingerprint was found on a lid of the compartment where the gun was concealed, and lab tests identified his DNA in the chewing gum used to glue the compartment shut, Huggins refused to discount the hoax allegations. He did say, however, that his agency has found no evidence implicating Walvick.
That wasn't good enough for Walvick.
``At one level, I am gratified ... that I have all but been exonerated,'' he said. ``I am incensed, however, at the clear political imprint on the report. One would have expected a less tentative conclusion.''
Unless he gets a ``gracious apology'' from Gov. George Allen, Walvick said, he plans to ``pursue all available remedies.''
Democratic state legislators likewise dismissed the ambiguities in the report, calling it damage control for the Allen administration.
``I think the conclusion is obvious: Willie Lloyd Turner had the gun, had access to the gun, and it was a very near miss that he didn't use the gun,'' said Del. Clifton ``Chip'' Woodrum, D-Roanoke, a member of a House subcommittee investigating the Department of Corrections.
"Doesn't it stand to reason that, if he altered the typewriter to conceal a gun, he put the gun in there?" asked Del. William Robinson, D-Norfolk, another member of the subcommittee.
Democratic leaders in the General Assembly have called for a probe of Allen's Department of Corrections. The House panel will hold investigative hearings starting Aug. 21.
For Republicans, the report could draw more political blood from prison issues - an already sensitive area in this fall's legislative elections.
A state police supervisor and 21 special agents worked for 21/2 months to come up with the findings announced Friday, Huggins said. Among those findings:
Officers at the Greensville Correctional Center violated security procedures by sleeping on duty, conducting inadequate searches and not recording log entries until the end of their shifts.
Two saw blades also were inside Turner's typewriter. The blades were sealed to the typewriter with chewing gum and covered with a dried paste made with nondairy coffee creamer and water.
Two holes - 11/2 inches deep each - were cut into a storage compartment of the typewriter. ``One had apparently been cut to accept the barrel of a handgun, and the other to accept the butt.''
A ``gummy adhesive substance'' used to glue a cover over the storage compartment turned out to be chewing gum. Tests showed that DNA in the gum ``is consistent with a mixture of the DNA profiles of Willie L. Turner and at least one other individual.'' This evidence of another ``individual,'' is what Huggins said prevents his agency from being able to state conclusively that the gun was inside the typewriter when it left the prison.
Balled-up tissue paper found stuffed around the gun ``was consistent with low-cost toilet paper found in Greensville Correctional Center, but [is] also available commercially.'' It did not match the paper at the Hampton Inn, where Walvick discovered the gun.
Smith & Wesson manufactured the gun after July 14, 1949, and sold it to a gun store in Roanoke. Records indicate another transaction at a Galax store in 1954. There are no more records after that.
The gun - and the bullets found with it - worked when test-fired.
In response to the security breaches uncovered by the state police, Corrections Director Angelone said Friday that he would take ``appropriate and swift administrative action,'' including disciplinary action, against employees identified as being responsible for violations. He also said he plans to form inspection teams to review operation of the state's prisons.
by CNB