THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 16, 1994 TAG: 9409160599
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: BRIEFS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 27 lines
A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld the death sentence given to Willie Lloyd Turner for the slaying of a Franklin jewelry store owner in 1978.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Turner's arguments that the murder was not sufficiently vile to warrant the death penalty and that his lawyers were ineffective.
Turner, 48, was sentenced to death for killing W. Jack Smith Jr. during a robbery of his jewelry store on July 12, 1978. Turner's sentence was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1986 because the trial court had not questioned prospective jurors about possible racial bias. Turner is black and his victim was white.
Another jury resentenced Turner to death in 1987.
KEYWORDS: APPEAL DEATH SENTENCE MURDER by CNB