THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996 TAG: 9606210542
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: 53 lines
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to throw out the death sentence of a Suffolk killer who said prosecutors ``ambushed'' him by producing surprise evidence linking him to two other murders.
By a 5-4 vote, the court said Coleman Wayne Gray could not raise that claim in a federal appeal of his state court conviction. The court also rejected Gray's argument that prosecutors withheld evidence that could have helped his defense.
But the justices told a federal appeals court to restudy an issue related to Gray's surprise evidence: whether prosecutors misled him about the evidence they planned to use at his sentencing trial.
The net result of Thursday's ruling, therefore, is that Gray's fight against his death sentence lives on.
``The bottom line is that we won,'' said Don Lee, a Richmond lawyer who is assisting in Gray's appeals. ``The judgment was vacated and remanded to the Fourth Circuit. The Supreme Court was concerned about the actions of the prosecutor, and they want the Fourth Circuit to take another look at that.''
Gray was convicted of killing Richard McClelland in Suffolk during a 1985 kidnapping and robbery. His co-defendant pleaded guilty and testified against him.
Prosecutors had told Gray's lawyer that if he were convicted, they would present witnesses to testify that Gray said he killed a woman and her young daughter in 1984.
The day before the sentencing phase of Gray's trial was to begin, prosecutors said they also planned to introduce physical evidence of similarities between the McClelland killing and the 1984 crimes.
The state trial judge allowed the jury to hear such evidence over objections by Gray's lawyer that he did not have enough time to prepare a rebuttal.
The jury sentenced Gray to death.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist today wrote for the court that Gray's main claim - that prosecutors violated his due-process rights by giving him only one day's notice about evidence they intended to use at his sentencing trial - was asking the court for ``a new rule of federal constitutional law.''
Such requests cannot be raised for the first time in a state prisoner's appeal for federal court help, Rehnquist noted.
He was joined by Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter and Stephen G. Breyer dissented. ILLUSTRATION: Coleman Wayne Gray was convicted of murder after a
kidnapping and robbery in Suffolk.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SUPREME COURT DEATH SENTENCE by CNB