THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607170405
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 77 lines
Royale Stewart, who was 16 when he killed a man at a convenience store near Old Dominion University, was convicted of capital murder Tuesday and now faces a possible execution.
The jury reached its decision after deliberating nearly eight hours.
Stewart, now 18, showed no emotion as the jury convicted him of capital murder, attempted robbery and two firearms offenses for shooting Kevin Gallegos to death in front of a 7-Eleven store.
Stewart could be sentenced to death or to life in prison without parole.
The sentencing hearing will start today. It is expected to take three days.
A death sentence for a juvenile in Virginia is rare. Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstituted the death penalty 20 years ago, no one in Hampton Roads has been sentenced to death for a crime committed as a juvenile.
Both families cried and hugged as Circuit Judge John E. Clarkson read the verdict. The victim's widow, Malinda Gallegos, wiped away tears as the jury filed into the courtroom.
She said she was very sorry for Stewart's family, but justice was done.
``I was scared all day, but . . . I knew all the facts were there,'' she said from her home Tuesday evening. ``I knew that if they just looked at the facts they couldn't reach anything else.''
Though the wait for a verdict was long and tense, Malinda Gallegos said the jury was fair in taking its time to render a decision.
``It's hard, but there's a lot of healing in it,'' she said of the trial. ``There's a very big sense of relief.''
Kevin Gallegos was slain Feb. 10, 1995, at the 7-Eleven store at Hampton Boulevard and 40th Street, near Old Dominion University. He was talking on a pay phone outside the store when he was shot once with a semiautomatic handgun. He collapsed inside the store and later died at a hospital.
Stewart admitted that he shot and killed Gallegos, 29, after he rode to the store with Ocie Wilson and Gerald Crandle. In testimony last week, Stewart said he was confronting Gallegos because Gallegos owed him $1,200 for a pound of marijuana. He testified that the gun went off accidentally when he struggled with the man after an argument.
But at the time of his arrest, Stewart told police that he, Wilson and Crandle planned to rob Gallegos, after spotting him getting out of his delivery truck. He told police that Gallegos was shot during the botched attempt.
After the verdict, prosecutor Lisa McKeel said, ``The commonwealth is very pleased. (The jury) took the time and dissected our case.''
In the sentencing phase, prosecutors are expected to present at least 30 witnesses..
In pushing for the death penalty, McKeel said prosecutors consider Stewart a ``serious threat to society.'' She said they weighed several factors, including the murder last year of Crandle, who was also arrested originally for Gallegos' killing.
Stewart has been charged with orchestrating Crandle's murder while he was in jail. He has not yet been tried for that crime, and therefore it cannot be mentioned to the jury during sentencing in the Gallegos case.
A half-dozen of Stewart's relatives and close friends, some of whom have sat through the trial since it began last week, reacted to the verdict and the push for the death penalty with a mixture of grief and anger.
``I know my son didn't kill that man for no reason,'' Barbara Wilson, Stewart's mother, said through tears outside the courthouse.
Mary Stewart, Royale's great-grandmother, said Stewart's troubles began when he got mixed up with a ``bad crowd.''
``He would never hurt anybody intentionally,'' said Mary Stewart, who raised Royale from infancy until he was 12. ``He said, `Mama, I didn't mean to kill that man.' ''
Tonia Lankford, a cousin, argued that Stewart is too young to face death. ``It's not right,'' Lankford said. ``Give him some time to think about what he did. His life hasn't even started. He's not a cold-blooded murderer.'' ILLUSTRATION: ALBA BRAGOLI
The Virginian-Pilot
As Circuit Judge John E. Clarkson read the guilty verdict for Royale
Stewart on Tuesday, Stewart's family, left, and the parents and
widow of victim Kevin Gallegos cried and hugged.
KEYWORDS: GUILTY VERDICT MURDER TRIAL by CNB