Virginia Execution Tonight - Stayed
Update: Execution stay granted. Among those fighting for the stay of execution: Former Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr - whose involvement is detailed in this WaPo article. [link via Sentencing Law and Policy]
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Robin Lovitt, 41, is scheduled for execution tonight in Virginia.
Virginia prepared Monday to execute a man convicted of stabbing a pool hall manager to death with a pair of scissors, a case that has attracted national attention because the murder weapon and DNA evidence were destroyed after the trial.
"It boggles the mind that Virginia is even proceeding with this and that the governor hasn't intervened before now to stop it," said Jack Payden-Travers, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "We are going to be the laughingstock of the justice system if Virginia proceeds with this execution."
Initial DNA tests of the bloody scissors could not conclusively link Lovitt to the 1998 slaying. A court clerk later destroyed most of the evidence, including the scissors, making additional DNA testing impossible.
Details of the case are available here.
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