ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 10, 1996 TAG: 9607100075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
note: below
A MONTGOMERY COUNTY JUDGE noted the ``immeasurable depth of humanity'' expressed by Sheila Ann Stafford's family toward her estranged husband as the judge sentenced Scotty Wayne Overby to prison, not the electric chair.
Swayed by the compassion and forgiveness of some of the victim's family, a judge Tuesday spared Scotty Wayne Overby the death penalty for the brutal slaying of Overby's estranged wife.
Overby, who was released from a psychiatric center the month before the murder after his insurance coverage ran out, was ``a victim of the health care system'' and insurance industry, Montgomery County Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs said.
He sentenced Overby, 28, to two life terms without parole plus 30 years. The life terms were for the capital murder and rape of Sheila Ann Stafford. Of the additional 30 years, 25 were for sexual penetration by object and five years for defiling a corpse.
Stafford, 27, was found dead Aug. 13 in a Shawsville trailer where Overby was staying. He was found guilty in May of capital murder, rape and sexual penetration by object after he entered no-contest pleas. He pleaded guilty to defiling a corpse before his trial got under way.
"These cases have drawn [on] ... the widest spectrum of human emotion," said Grubbs, who was handling his first potential death-penalty case in his two years on the bench.
He called the trial an example of humanity at both its worst and its best. He was particularly struck by members of Stafford's family who said they could forgive Overby. Testifying in May, the victim's father, Harry Stafford Sr., looked across the courtroom and told Overby he forgave him and that he was sorry Overby didn't get the psychiatric help he needed.
Grubbs said Stafford's family demonstrated an ``immeasurable depth of humanity'' and ``incomprehensible forgiveness,'' as witnessed by a letter that Sheila Stafford's brother, Harry Stafford Jr., sent to the judge after the trial. In it, he said he believed the insurance and hospital industries were more at fault than Overby.
Sheila Stafford had left Overby in June to force him to get treatment for his alcoholism, but visited him several times and was open to a reconciliation, according to testimony.
Overby, who was in and out of treatment centers and hospitals during the separation, told investigators he flew into a rage after Stafford told him she had been seeing another man and might be pregnant.
After Overby's release in July 1995, one of his doctors called Stafford to warn her that Overby had thoughts of killing her. Overby continued to attend outpatient therapy. A week later, after he attempted suicide, mental health workers said Overby didn't meet the criteria for commitment.
Overby, who sat throughout the trial with his chin on his chest, sat erect through most of Tuesday's short sentencing and waved a peace sign-like goodbye to his family as he was taken from the courtroom.
Outside the courtroom, Harry Stafford Jr. said he was satisfied with the judge's ruling.
``I know that [health care] professionals ... have a responsibility to their patients and everybody concerned that if a problem comes in [such as Overby's] they should have never let Scotty go," Stafford said.
``I know that [health care] professionals ... have a responsibility to their patients and everybody concerned'' to keep some patients under care. ``... They should have never let Scotty go,'' Stafford said.
Doctors should have sent Overby to a state hospital if treatment couldn't be had at regular hospitals, Stafford said. ``That kind of system shouldn't operate.''
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Peggy Frank, who prosecuted Overby and had asked for the death penalty, said she was not surprised by Grubbs' decision.
But she said, ``I know at least two of her brothers wanted the death penalty. The medical part I thought was stretched some.''
Frank said Overby still had outpatient services available to him, and there was no evidence he was suicidal or drinking before he killed his wife.
The last person sentenced to death in the county was Buddy Earl Justus, executed in 1990 for the 1978 slaying of Ida Mae Moses, an Ironto nurse who was 81/2 months pregnant when she was killed.
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: FILE 1996 Scotty Wayne Overby received two life termsby CNBplus 30 years Tuesday for killing his wife. color.