ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, July 18, 1996                TAG: 9607180076
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-1  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: JARRATT 
                                             TYPE: NEWS OBIT 
SOURCE: Associated Press 

SAVINO DIES BY INJECTION - HIS FINAL APPEALS TO HIGH COURT FAIL NOTE: ABOVE

Joseph John Savino III, who pleaded guilty to killing his male lover, was executed Wednesday night after two final appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court were denied.

But the high court denied the last-minute petition for a writ of habeas corpus, said Supreme Court spokeswoman Toni House.

The execution, originally scheduled for 9 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center, was rescheduled for 11 p.m. to allow time for the new appeal, said David Botkins, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.

Earlier in the day, the high court, in a 7-2 ruling, rejected Savino's request for a stay. Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.

Gov. George Allen, in a statement released Wednesday night, said he had reviewed Savino's case and concluded that clemency was not warranted.

Savino's father, Joseph Savino Jr., and three opponents of capital punishment held candles outside the prison's main gate as the execution hour approached.

``I can't support violence for violence,'' said the Rev. John Dear of Richmond's Sacred Heart Center. ``This doesn't end the cycle of violence. It only continues it.''

The elder Savino said he spent two hours with his son earlier in the day. He said Savino was anxious but wasn't that concerned about himself.

``His concern is more for the family - what they're going through,'' the father said. ``He didn't want us to go through this. ... It's a hideous thing we do to people.''

The execution of Savino is the state's third execution this year.

Other than his father, Savino had several other visitors Wednesday. But Tammy Brown, prison operations officer, declined to identify them.

Savino, 37, a Mount Vernon, N.Y., native, pleaded guilty to capital murder in the killing of Thos McWaters, another New Yorker who moved to Virginia after buying a farm.

On Nov. 29, 1988, McWaters was found bludgeoned to death at the Bedford County home the men shared. The following day, police arrested Savino in Roanoke.

In April 1989, Savino pleaded guilty to capital murder and was sentenced to die. In subsequent appeals, he argued that police badgered him into confessing even though he repeatedly asked for a lawyer, and that he was high on cocaine at the time of the murder.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected petitions by Savino in 1990 and 1993.

Savino moved in with McWaters in 1988 when he was paroled to Virginia after serving six years in a New York prison for robbery.

Savino had known McWaters, 64, for seven years and worked for his construction firm. The two had ``a domestic relationship,'' according to court documents.

Savino said in an interview this week that McWaters supported him and gave him money but also hounded him for sex.

In 1994, Savino overdosed on heroin after getting the narcotic and a syringe into his cell on death row at the Mecklenburg Correctional Center. Officials said it was unclear whether the overdose was a suicide attempt.

LENGTH: Medium:   70 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Savino (headshot) color.