ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601050071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: JARRATT
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on Jan. 6.
Correction
Charles W. Bousman Jr., who was killed by Walter Correll Jr. in 1985,
was from Franklin County. An Associated Press story Friday incorrectly
reported Bousman's hometown. Correll was executed Thursday.
Walter Correll, convicted in the 1985 abduction, robbery and murder of a Roanoke man, died by lethal injection Thursday night in the state's death chamber.
Gov. George Allen denied a last-minute appeal for clemency shortly after 8 p.m., and Correll, 34, was pronounced dead at 9:13 p.m. Correll, who had an IQ of 68, had no final statement.
He met with clergy during the day. While in prison, he had converted to Catholicism, his lawyers said.
Correll was convicted of capital murder in the Aug. 11, 1985, slaying of Charles W. Bousman Jr.
Three men stole Bousman's car in Roanoke, stuffing him in the trunk. He was taken to a wooded area in Franklin County, robbed and stabbed to death.
The two other defendants, John Dalton and Richard Reynolds, testified that Correll killed Bousman by twice throwing a knife in his chest. But Correll's lawyers contend that Dalton and Reynolds, who were friends with above-average intelligence, blamed Correll for the killing to escape the death penalty for their own acts. Dalton and Reynolds entered plea agreements and both are serving prison terms.
Correll confessed to police that he stabbed Bousman, but his attorneys contend the confession was tainted because his request for a lawyer before questioning was denied.
The only way Correll could receive a death sentence was if the court found that he had struck the fatal blow. Last year, U.S. District Judge James C. Turk ordered a new trial for Correll, writing that ``this court cannot imagine a more deliberate and egregious violation of [the right to counsel] than exists in this case.''
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Turk's ruling, saying the outcome of Correll's trial would have been the same even if a constitutional error had occurred.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an emergency request to postpone the execution and denied a formal appeal.
Correll's execution was the 30th in Virginia since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood said Correll is the only person to be prosecuted for capital murder in Franklin County since that time. |- Staff writer Todd Jackson contributed to this report.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Correll (1985) KEYWORDS: EXECUTIONby CNB