DATE: Monday, July 14, 1997                 TAG: 9707140033

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: LES COMBES, ITALY                 LENGTH:   43 lines

POPE PRAYS FOR CONDEMNED KILLER O'DELL, CONDEMNS DEATH PENALTY

Pope John Paul II is praying for a condemned killer in Virginia who faces execution next week, a Vatican spokesman said Sunday.

The pontiff is an outspoken foe of the death penalty and has appealed for clemency in numerous cases, including that of Joseph Roger O'Dell III.

``The pope wants to point out to the governor of Virginia and anybody else that the power to decide on life is a decision that only God can make,'' Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

O'Dell's case has captured the attention of the Italian public and media, and the parliament has appealed for clemency. He faces death by injection July 23 for the 1985 rape and murder of Helen Schartner of Virginia Beach.

In a letter the newspaper La Repubblica published Sunday, O'Dell again claimed to be innocent. But, he added, ``I will die not as a saint, but a sinner.

``I've committed awful acts in my wretched life, I've hurt the people who loved me, and I've done things for which I had to do just time behind bars,'' he wrote.

The letter, however, did not originate with O'Dell. Vittorio Zucconi, the U.S. bureau chief of La Repubblica and managing director of Capital Radio in Italy, said he sent ``ideas'' for the letter to one of O'Dell's lawyers, who then contacted O'Dell for his approval. Changes were made, and the letter was faxed to La Repubblica in Rome.

O'Dell's criminal career started in 1958 at 16. He had 13 felony convictions, including murder, attempted robbery and kidnapping, at the time of Schartner's death.

Lawyers for O'Dell filed suit in federal court Friday asking a judge to order new DNA tests and to stay the execution. Gov. George Allen had refused to order the new tests. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pope John Paul II waves after praying at a cottage in the Italian

Alps where he is on vacation. A Vatican spokeman said the Pope is

praying for Joseph O'Dell, who faces execution in Virginia July 23. KEYWORDS: JOSEPH O'DELL CAPITAL PUNISHMENT DEATH ROW

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