VA - Paul Warner Powell due to die in Va. electric chair 6/14/2009

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RICHMOND, Va. - Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert has sent more than a dozen criminals to death row, but Tuesday could be the first time he watches one take his last breath.

Unless the U.S. Supreme Court or Gov. Timothy M. Kaine step in, Ebert will witness the execution of Paul Warner Powell in Virginia's death chamber--the nation's second busiest thanks, in part, to Ebert.

Powell would be the ninth inmate Ebert has sent to his death. Four others he prosecuted, including Washington-area sniper John Muhammad, await execution.

"All of them are different and all are horrific because the only people who get the death penalty are the worst of the worst, but he sort of put himself at the top of that list," Ebert said of Powell, who chose to die by electrocution.

Powell, 31, was convicted in 2000 of fatally stabbing 16-year-old Stacie Reed and of raping her 14-year-old sister, Kristie, stabbing and choking her and slitting her throat. Kristie survived and testified against Powell.

Powell was sentenced to die for Stacie's murder, but the Virginia Supreme Court overturned the conviction, saying Ebert failed to prove Powell tried to rob or rape Stacie or commit other death-qualifying crimes.

Thinking he could no longer face the death penalty, Powell wrote a profanity-laced, taunting letter to Ebert graphically detailing Stacie's murder.

The self-avowed racist said he was upset that Stacie had a black boyfriend, so he went to her home, tried to rape her and then stabbed her when she fought back, then stomped on her throat. Afterward, he had a cigarette and some iced tea while waiting for Kristie to return from school.

"Do you just hate yourself for being so stupid and for (messing) up and saving me?" he wrote Ebert.

Ebert threw out Powell's earlier indictment and charged him with killing and attempting to rape Reed--which made him eligible for death. Powell was convicted again in 2003 and sentenced to death.

Ebert, who has faced off against cop killers, serial murderers and even penis-slicing Lorena Bobbitt since taking office in 1967, said Powell's was one of the worst cases he's prosecuted.

"I think a lot of people can relate to their children coming home from school and it's very horrible to have something like this happen," he said.

That's why he obliged when the family asked him to be with them for Powell's execution.

Powell also directed his rage-filled writings to the Reed family. He wrote three mocking letters to the girls' mother, Lorraine Whoberry, who now lives in Cincinnati.

Today she and Kristie, now 24 and preparing to enter the police academy in Texas, travel the country to speak to law enforcement officers about how they can be more sensitive to victims and their families.

"It's like I became Stacie's voice," Whoberry said.

Stacie, a high school freshman, dreamed of becoming the first female Navy SEAL, going so far as to cut her shoulder-length hair a few months before her death.

Whoberry said the family hopes the execution will close that chapter in their lives.

"I don't know if it can ever bring complete closure because it will not bring Stacie back or change what happened to Kristie," she said.

Powell's lawyers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the execution until it can decide whether his second capital murder charge violated the Fifth Amendment's protection against being tried twice for the same offense.

State and federal courts have repeatedly rejected Powell's double jeopardy argument, saying the original charge was different because he was not accused of attempting to rape Stacie. A divided three-justice federal appeals court panel denied Powell's claim in April.

If the Supreme Court rejects Powell's request for a stay, his last hope would be Kaine. Powell's lawyers have sent the governor a letter urging clemency.

If Powell is executed, he will be the 104th inmate put to death in Virginia since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. Virginia ranks second only to Texas in the number of executions since.

He would be the first U.S. inmate electrocuted since June 2008.

Attorney Jon Sheldon said Powell chose to die by electrocution because he felt there was less chance officials would make a mistake pushing a button than administering a lethal injection.
Copyright © 2009, Newport News, Va., Daily Press

http://www.dailypress.com/news/virginia/dp-va--virginiaexecution0711jul11,0,6465369.story
 
I love stupid criminals. Good riddance.
 
Exactly, good riddance. I only wish it had happened sooner.
 
I love stupid criminals. Good riddance.

I read a comment from an article about him from a gal who worked in the law office that handled his second trial. She said if there was anyone who deserved to die it was him. He is simply one awful and scary guy. xox
 
Think the prosecutor then wrote the criminal a taunting letter pointing out how the inmate had "messed up?"

There is no way to be satisfied in such a horrendous case, but this comes darn close to being a satisfactory ending....
 
Here is the whole letter he wrote




“Mr. Ebert,

“Since I have already been indicted on first degree murder and the Va. Supreme Court said that I can’t be charged with capital murder again, I figured I would tell you the rest of what happened on Jan. 29, 1999, to show you how stupid all of y’all mother ****ers are.

“Y’all should have known that there is more to the story than what I told by what I said. You had it in writing that I planned to kill the whole family. Since I planned to kill the whole family, why would I have fought with Stacie before killing her? She had no idea I was planning to kill everybody and talked and carried on like usual, so I could’ve stabbed her up at any time because she was unsuspecting.

“I had other plans for her before she died. You know I came back to the house after Bobby’s lunch break was over and he had went back to work. When I got back, she was on the phone so I went inside and I laid down on the couch. When the cab came to bring me my pager, I ran out of the house and she jumped and got off the phone and came off the porch to see why I ran out of the house like I did.

“When the cab left we went in the house. I laid on the couch again and she went to her room and got her clothes and went downstairs to do her laundry. When she went downstairs, I got up and shut and locked the back door and went downstairs. We talked while she put her clothes in the wash. We continued talking when she had everything in the wash and I reached over and touched her tit and asked if she wanted to ****. She said no, because she had a boyfriend.

“I started arguing with her because she had never turned anybody down because of having a boyfriend.

“We started walking upstairs, arguing the whole time. When we got upstairs we went to her room and she turned the radio off. After she turned the radio off I pushed her onto her bed and grabbed her wrists and pinned her hands down by her head and sat on top of her. I told her that all I wanted to do was **** her and then I would leave and that we could do it the easy way or the hard way.

“She said she would **** me so I got up. After I got up, she got up and started fighting with me and clawed me face. We wrestled around a little and then I slammed her to the floor. When she hit the floor I sat on top of her and pinned her hands down again. She said she would **** me and I told her that if she tried fighting with me again, I would kill her.

“When I got up she stood up and kept asking me why I was doing this and all I kept saying is take your clothes off. Finally she undid her pants and pulled them down to her ankles. She was getting ready to take them the rest of the way off and the phone rang. When she heard the phone she pulled her pants back up and said she had to answer the phone. I pushed her back and said no. She said that she wouldn’t say anything about me being there and I told her no and to take her clothes off.

“She tried to get out of the room again and I pushed her back and pulled out my knife. I guess she thought I was just trying to scare her and that I wouldn’t really stab her because she tried to leave again.

“When she got to me and tried to squeeze between me and the door jam I stabbed her. When I stabbed her, she fell back against the door jam and just looked at me with a shocked look on her face.

“When I pulled the knife out she stumbled a couple steps and fell in her sister’s room. I walked over and looked at her. I saw that she was still breathing so I stepped over her body and into the bedroom. Then I put my foot on her throat and stepped up so she couldn’t breath. Then I stepped down and started stomping on her throat. Then I stepped back onto her throat and moved up and down putting more pressure to make it harder to breathe.

“When I didn’t see her breathing anymore, I left the room and got some iced tea and sat on the couch and smoked a cigarette. You know the rest of what happened after that point.

“I would like to thank you for saving my life. I know you’re probably wondering how you saved my life, so I’ll tell you.

“You saved my life by ****ing up. There were 2 main ****-ups you made that saved me. The first was the way you worded my capital murder indictment. The second was the comment you made in your closing argument when you said we won’t know because he won’t tell us.

“One more time, thank you! Now y’all know everything that happened in that house at 8023 McLean St. on Jan. 29, 1999.

“I guess I forgot to mention these events when I was being questioned. Ha Ha! Sike!

“I knew what y’all would be able to prove in court, so I told you what you already knew. Stacey was dead and no one else was in the house so I knew ya’ll would never know everything she went through unless she came back to life.

“Since the Supreme Court said I can’t be charged with capital murder again, I can tell you what I just told you because I no longer have to worry about the death penalty. And y’all are supposed to be so *advertiser censored* smart. I can’t believe that y’all thought I told you everything.

“Well, it’s too late now. Nothing you can do about it now so **** you you fat, cocksucking, cumguzzling, gutter *advertiser censored*. I guess I’ll see your ***** *advertiser censored* on Dec. 18 at trial because I’m not pleading to ****. Tell the family to be ready to testify and relive it all again because if I have to suffer for the next 50 or 60 years or however long then they can suffer the torment of reliving what happened for a couple of days.

“I’m gone. **** you and anyone like you or that associates with people like you. I almost forgot, **** your god, too. Jesus knows how to suck a dick real good. Did you teach him?

“Well, die a slow, painful, miserable death. See ya punk.

“Do you just hate yourself for being so stupid and for ****in’ up and saving me?

“Sincerely,

“Paul Powell.”

http://www.imsurroundedbyidiots.com/people-on-death-row-in-virginia/paul-warner-powell/
 
Tuesday cannot come fast enough. Good on the sister and mom for carrying forth. I hope this gives them some closure. Looks like the prosecutor got the last laugh on this . I hope he doesn't get a stay.
 
How horrible for the family if they read this letter:(
 
I must have been out of the loop - is there another kind?

Good point. I was thinking the letter he wrote put the capital S on Stupid. lol.
 
I bet this guy is going to be surprised what life is going to be like for him "on the other side". I sure hope he doesn't get a stay of execution. He deserves everything that can legally be done to him, and much, much, more; which I am confident will happen to him once he is dead. :furious:
 
The original post said he chose electrocution. Do they still do that? I hope so. I hope it doesn't quite work on the first go round and he has to sit there and wait a while before they can hook him up again. Then he can sit there and think about who is the stupid one.
 
The title of this thread states that he is suppose to be executed on 6/14/09, do you mean 7/14/09?
 
Sorry yes should of been july. I am still stuck in June. lol In Virgina you get to pick your weapon of death. I use to live down near the prision back in the 80's and everytime they had a exuction the lights would dem. lol Yes they have not used that chair in a while so it may be a little rusty. Most would pick injection but see how stupid he is.
 
What an idiot for writing that letter, and thank God the justice system is going to take care of his life. That is one of the most disturbing letters I have ever read, second only to the letter Trudy Darby's killer wrote. :mad:

I only wish he could suffer the way he made Stacie suffer.
 
Ohhh....he was never acquitted right? It was just overturned?

He was never acquitted-basically the appeals court found that the jury could not have considered aggravators when they sentenced him to death for Stacey's murder because at the time the state did not present evidence of aggravators in her murder. Thanks to his letter, and his improper understanding of the law, he detailed the fact that it was indeed a murder committed during a sex crime. The state threw out the original set of charges against him in Stacey's crime, convened a grand jury and indicted him on a new set of crimes for Stacey's death. This is how the prosecutor avoided double jeopardy-it was brilliant. A new jury convicted him of the first degree murder charges with the aggravators which then made him eligible for the DP...

Most of the rulings and appeals documents are out on the web-they make fascinating reading for sure...here is one which details the appeal process and why the decision was overturned initially:
http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opnscvwp/1042716.pdf
 
I would say, "Can't someone slip someone a carton of cigarettes and take care of this?" But, alas, no more smoking in state prisons. Anyone know what the high barter item is these days in prison?
 

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