THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 30, 1996 TAG: 9607300292
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 35 lines
The last survivor of a six-inmate gang that pulled off the largest death-row escape in U.S. history has appealed his death sentence to the U.S. Supreme Court, his lawyer said Monday.
Timothy Kaine of Richmond said Lem Tuggle's appeal was filed late Friday.
In the appeal, Kaine said the state had Tuggle evaluated by a psychiatrist without notifying defense attorneys.
The doctor testified that Tuggle had a ``high probability of future dangerousness,'' which is one of the standards for imposing the death penalty.
Kaine claims in the appeal that the trial judge erred in denying Tuggle's request for a second evaluation by a psychiatrist of his choosing. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in April ruled the denial amounted to harmless error.
``It's the kind of thing that can never be harmless,'' Kaine said Monday.
He also claims on appeal that Tuggle did not get to fully present his defense.
In 1984, Tuggle and five other inmates escaped from the Mecklenburg Correctional Center by posing as guards. All six were recaptured within a month, and the other five have been executed.
Tuggle was convicted of capital murder for the 1983 rape and killing of Jessie Geneva Havens, 52, in Smyth County. Havens and Tuggle had met at a dance. She was shot in the chest and thrown down an embankment.
The crime occurred four months after Tuggle was paroled from a sentence he was serving for the 1971 murder of a 17-year-old girl.
KEYWORDS: DEATH ROW APPEAL U.S. SUPREME COURT by CNB