THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 12, 1995 TAG: 9508120078
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LAURA LAFAY
AND ROBERT LITTLE
STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
DNA tests and a fingerprint show that death-row inmate Willie Lloyd Turner apparently cut and molded his electric typewriter to accommodate the gun found inside the machine after he was executed, state police announced Friday.
But, they said, that does not prove ``beyond a reasonable doubt'' that Turner had the gun while he was imprisoned at the Greensville Correctional Center.
DNA samples were taken from chewing gum that was used to glue a cover onto a storage area in the typewriter. The DNA came from Turner and at least one other person, according to the state police report.
The evidence of another unidentified person prevents the state police from conclusively stating that the gun was inside the typewriter when it left the prison, State Police Superintendent M. Wayne Huggins said at a news conference in Richmond on Friday.
``We cannot 100 percent guarantee you that the gun was in the prison,'' Huggins said. ``But we will say to you that there is evidence, clear evidence, that certainly makes that suggestion.''
The 2 1/2-month investigation did not determine how the gun could have gotten into the prison, or who might have brought it in, Huggins said.
Huggins' agency was assigned to investigate the discovery of the gun after Corrections Director Ronald Angelone dismissed the allegations as ``unfounded'' and said they raised questions about ``the possibility of an elaborate hoax'' by Turner's defense attorney. The attorney, Walter Walvick, discovered the gun in Turner's typewriter about an hour after Turner was executed on May 25. Walvick's wife and two Virginian-Pilot reporters also were present when the gun was found.
Although Turner's fingerprint was found on a lid of the compartment where the gun was concealed, and lab tests identified his DNA in the chewing gum used to glue the compartment shut, Huggins refused to discount the allegations of a hoax. He did say, however, that his agency has found no evidence implicating Walvick.
That didn't satisfy Walvick.
``At one level, I am gratified . . . that I have all but been exonerated,'' he said Friday in a statement from his Washington office. ``I am incensed, however, at the clear political imprint on the report. One would have expected a less tentative conclusion.''
Unless a ``gracious apology'' from Gov. George F. Allen is forthcoming, said Walvick, he plans to ``pursue all available remedies.'' He did not elaborate.
Democratic state legislators likewise dismissed the ambiguities in the report, calling it damage control for the Allen administration.
``I think the conclusion is obvious: Willie Lloyd Turner had the gun, had access to the gun, and it was a very near miss that he didn't use the gun,'' said Del. Clifton A. ``Chip'' Woodrum, D-Roanoke, member of a House subcommittee investigating the Department of Corrections.
The House panel will hold investigative hearings starting Aug. 21. Democratic leaders had called for a probe of the Corrections Department.
Del. William P. Robinson Jr., D-Norfolk, another member of the subcommittee, said, ``Doesn't it stand to reason that, if he altered the typewriter to conceal a gun, he put the gun in there?''
For Republicans, the report could draw more political blood from prison issues - an already sensitive area in this fall's legislative elections.
A state police supervisor and 21 special agents came up with the findings announced Friday, Huggins said. Among those findings:
Officers at the Greensville Correctional Center violated security procedures by sleeping on duty, conducting inadequate searches and not recording log entries until the end of their shifts.
Two saw blades were also inside Turner's typewriter. The blades were sealed to the typewriter with chewing gum and covered with a dried paste made with nondairy coffee creamer and water.
Two holes - each 1 1/2 inches deep - were cut into a storage compartment of the typewriter. ``One had apparently been cut to accept the barrel of a handgun, and the other to accept the butt.``
Balled-up tissue paper found stuffed around the gun ``was consistent with low-cost toilet paper found in Greensville Correctional Center, but (is) also available commercially.'' It did not match the paper used in rooms at the Emporia Hampton Inn, where Walvick discovered the gun.
Smith & Wesson manufactured the gun after July 14, 1949, and sold it to a gun store in Roanoke. Records indicate the gun was purchased at a store in Galax, Va., in 1954. There are no more records after that.
When test-fired, the gun and the bullets found with it were operational.
State police interviewed 45 corrections employees and several inmates. One corrections officer who claimed to have searched the storage compartment of the typewriter when it was moved to the death house refused to take a polygraph examination. Two inmates who were interviewed about their knowledge of the gun took polygraph exams but failed, and two others refused to take the exam, according to the report.
In response to the security breaches uncovered by the state police, Corrections Director Angelone said Friday he would take ``appropriate and swift administrative action,'' including disciplinary action against employees identified as being responsible for violations. He also said he plans to form ``inspection teams'' to review operations of the state's prisons. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
An hour after the May 25 execution of Willie Lloyd Turner, his
lawyer opened Turner's typewriter and found a handgun. The discovery
led to a state police investigation.
Chewing gum was used to secure a cover onto a storage area in the
typewriter. DNA found in the gum came from Turner - and at least one
other person.
Willie Lloyd Turner
by CNB