THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 21, 1995 TAG: 9507210526
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOE JACKSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
The Patrick County commonwealth's attorney has asked the state to execute death-row inmate Dennis Stockton 12 days before the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to rule on his final appeal.
On Sept. 26, the high court will rule on a series of cases, among them Stockton's appeal for a review of the records to determine whether there have been any constitutional violations in his case. The order for a review will be issued if at least four of the nine justices votes in favor.
But Patrick County Commonwealth's Attorney Alan H. Black has asked a judge to set Stockton's execution date for Sept. 14. The motion, filed July 11, will be argued in Patrick County next Wednesday.
``This is unheard of,'' said Steve Rosenfield, one of Stockton's lawyers. ``The state wants to kill Stockton before his claims are considered by the Supreme Court. The state usually waits to set an execution date until after the Supreme Court decides. That is the morally high road.
``If your top priority is to make sure Dennis Stockton is dead, you file this motion,'' said Anthony King, Stockton's other lawyer. ``If your top priority is to let justice be done, you wait until after the hearing.''
Stockton's lawyers have said since 1990 that Stockton deserves a new hearing because the state failed to disclose evidence that could have helped Stockton during his trial, including details of an alleged deal that prosecutors made with a key prosecution witness in exchange for his testimony. Then, in April, that witness - Randy Bowman - recanted his testimony to a reporter with The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star. Bowman later denied recanting.
The state has refused to let Stockton's lawyers give him a polygraph test before the Supreme Court hearing, a procedure that has been allowed other condemned inmates approaching their final appeals, Rosenfield said. Stockton has said a polygraph test would show he was innocent.
Stockton was convicted in 1983 for the 1978 murder of Kenneth Wayne Arnder, 18, whose body was found near Mount Airy, N.C. Arnder was shot in the head and his hands were hacked off above the wrists. Stockton steadfastly has maintained his innocence since his conviction.
``We think the real reason is that the state is afraid of the truth,'' Rosenfield said. ``They have fought tooth and nail to block Dennis' avenues of relief by imposing prodecural obstacles rather than allow the evidence to come forward.''
Black, the Patrick County prosecutor, said Thursday that he believes the Sept. 14 execution date will help speed up the Supreme Court's review. ``I am confident the Supreme Court will review the matter before the 14th,'' he said.
Black said that on June 28 or 29 he received a call from Assistant Attorney General John H. McLees Jr. outlining the proposed order. ``There was no issue of why,'' Black said. ``They suggested the date and that's what I did.''
McLees could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.
On Monday, a federal judge in Roanoke denied Stockton's plea for a review of his case, ruling that it did not meet the test of ``actual innocence'' necessary for a new trial.
If the Supreme Court denies his appeal, Stockton's last recourse to avoid the death chamber and his choice of lethal injection would be clemency from Gov. George F. Allen.
The state's newest move comes three months after Bowman, in a newspaper interview, said he did not hear Stockton agree to a murder-for-hire deal that led to Stockton's conviction and sent him to death row.
During the trial, Bowman testified that he heard Stockton accept $1,500 from another felon to kill Arnder over a soured drug deal. Prosecutors were able to seek the death penalty because Bowman claimed it was a contract killing. Bowman was the only witness who said he had heard the deal.
Prosecutors say Stockton killed Arnder in Patrick County, Va., then moved his body to North Carolina. No physical evidence linked Stockton to Arnder or the murder to Virginia, and no weapon was found. But Bowman testified that he was at the house of Tommy Lee McBride in Mount Airy when he heard Stockton agree to kill Arnder for $1,500.
But on April 20, Bowman told a reporter for The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star that he never heard the deal take place. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Dennis Stockton's attorneys say the state is not taking the moral
high road with an early date.
KEYWORDS: DEATH ROW CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MURDER by CNB