THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601050497
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: JARRATT LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Walter M. Correll Jr., convicted in the 1985 abduction, robbery and murder of a Roanoke man, died by lethal injection Thursday night in the state's death chamber.
A last-minute appeal for clemency to Gov. George F. Allen was denied shortly after 8 p.m., and Correll, 34, was pronounced dead at 9:13 p.m.
Correll, who had an IQ of 68, had no final statement.
He met with clergy during the day.
While in prison, Correll had converted to Catholicism, his lawyers said.
Correll was convicted of capital murder for the Aug. 11, 1985, slaying of Charles W. Bousman Jr.
Three men stole Bousman's car in Roanoke, stuffing him in the trunk.
He was taken to a wooded area in nearby Franklin County, robbed and stabbed to death.
The two other defendants, John Dalton and Richard Reynolds, testified that Correll killed Bousman by twice throwing a knife in his chest. But Correll's lawyers contend that Dalton and Reynolds, who were friends of above-average intelligence, blamed Correll for the killing to escape the death penalty for their own acts.
The only way Correll could receive a death sentence was if the court found that he struck the fatal blow.
Correll confessed to police that he stabbed Bousman, but his attorneys contend the confession was tainted because his request for a lawyer before questioning was denied.
Last year, U.S. District Judge James C. Turk ordered a new trial for Correll, writing that ``this court cannot imagine a more deliberate and egregious violation of (the right to counsel) than exists in this case.''
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Turk's ruling, saying the outcome of Correll's trial would have been the same even if a constitutional error occurred.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an emergency request to postpone the execution and denied a formal appeal.
Correll's execution was the 30th in Virginia since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
Dalton and Reynolds entered plea agreements and are both are serving prison terms. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Walter M. Correll Jr. was convicted of stabbing a Roanoke man to
death during a 1985 robbery. Correll, who had an IQ of 68, had no
final statement.
KEYWORDS: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT by CNB