THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, April 22, 1995               TAG: 9504220289
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY LAURA LAFAY, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   53 lines

``DEAN'' OF DEATH ROW TO BE EXECUTED WILLIE LLOYD TURNER, A CONVICTED KILLER, IS SLATED TO DIE MAY 25.

Willie Lloyd Turner, a convicted murderer who has spent 14 years on death row - more than any other inmate in the history of Virginia - will be executed May 25, a judge ruled this week.

Turner, known as the ``dean'' of Virginia's death row, was sentenced to death in 1980 for the 1978 murder of Franklin jewelry store owner Jack Smith. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned that sentence in 1986 because the trial judge had refused to allow Turner's lawyers to question jurors about possible racial bias. Turner is black. Smith was white.

At a second sentencing hearing in 1987, Turner was again sentenced to death after his lawyer, Charlottesville attorney Lloyd Snook, decided not to present any evidence to the jury.

Turner petitioned to appeal his new sentence with a new lawyer, claiming that Snook's representation was ineffective. His petitions also challenged a Virginia law that defines as ``vile'' any crime involving ``an aggravated battery to the victim.''

Before imposing the death penalty in Virginia, a jury must find that the crime at issue was ``outrageously or wantonly vile'' or that a defendant is a future danger to society.

One by one, the Virginia Supreme Court, the Federal District Court and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have denied Turner's petitions. In March, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case.

``I think what happened is the (Supreme) Court has simply turned their back on this business of the death penalty,'' Turner's lawyer, Walter Walvick, said Friday.

``They have made it clear that it is the state's business. That is a radical departure from the way things were 10 to 15 years ago.''

Turner was one of five children who grew up working in the fields in and near Franklin. He never finished the fifth grade and learned to read and write when he was in his 20s in prison. His court record began when he was 18 and includes weapons charges, assaults and two murders.

He gained notoriety in 1984 when he and nine other inmates planned an escape from Mecklenburg's death row. Only six of the inmates went. Turner and fellow inmate Joe Giarratano stayed behind, releasing 15 prison employees taken hostage during the breakout. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Turner

KEYWORDS: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT by CNB