Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 14, 1995 TAG: 9510160042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short
U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer issued the order Thursday without comment. The duration of the stay, along with other procedural issues, will be determined at an Oct. 24 hearing.
Beavers, 24, was convicted of the May 1, 1990, rape and murder of a neighbor, 61-year-old Marguerite E. Lowery of Hampton.
Beavers suffocated Lowery, a retired school cafeteria manager who lived alone, with a pillow. He told authorities he was trying to stifle her screams, not kill her.
During the sentencing phase of his trial, Beavers' attorneys portrayed him as a young man who turned to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain of a difficult childhood that included his mother's attempt to kill him when he was a baby.
Commonwealth's Attorney Christopher W. Hutton called Beavers' life ``a road map to the electric chair'' and said Beavers told authorities he probably would rape again if released.
- Associated Press
by CNB