THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 18, 1995 TAG: 9505170264
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
A witness whose testimony led to Dennis W. Stockton's death sentence has changed his story a second time.
In 1983 Stockton was sentenced to death for the murder of a teenager in Southside Virginia. Randy G. Bowman testified at Stockton's trial that he had heard Stockton agree to commit the murder for money. Murder for pay is a capital offense.
In an interview on April 20 in Bowman's apartment in Mount Airy, N.C., Bowman told Virginian-Pilot staff writer Joe Jackson that he, in fact, did not hear Stockton discuss the murder. In a story that ran April 26, Jackson wrote that Bowman had recanted his testimony against Stockton.
Jackson has been a methodical and dependable investigative reporter for many years and has won numerous journalism awards.
But in a sworn statement signed on May 8 and made public this week, Bowman said, ``I didn't tell the reporter I was changing my testimony. I did not tell the reporter that I didn't hear Stockton say `I will do it; I need the money.' ''
Stockton said, ``The law's gotten to him and threatened him. . . . They've told him they'll give him X number of years for perjury if he sticks by what he said'' on April 20.
We are not dealing here with nuns. Stockton and Bowman both have ample reasons to lie - Stockton for his life and Bowman to avoid a perjury charge.
Despite the increasing murkiness of the picture, it remains clear that a Virginia law stinks - the one requiring that new evidence of innocence be introduced within 21 days of conviction, even when the prosecutors have suppressed evidence. Three weeks is a laughably short time when lives are at stake. No other state has such a Draconian requirement. In cases carrying a penalty of death, provisions should exist for open hearings to consider new evidence whenever new evidence arises.
Partly because the 21-day restriction kept other possibly exculpatory evidence from being presented, Stockton probably will be executed this summer. It is no longer clear beyond a reasonable doubt that he deserves to die. by CNB