RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Attorneys for a Virginia inmate convicted of killing two people during an escape in 2006 are asking Gov. Terry McAuliffe to spare his life.
William Morva’s attorneys said Tuesday that they have filed a clemency petition urging the Democratic governor to stop the man’s execution scheduled for July 6. His attorneys say jurors didn’t know that Morva suffers from a severe mental illness that they say led to his crimes.
They’re asking McAuliffe to commute his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Morva was in jail, awaiting trial, when he overpowered a deputy sheriff during a trip to the hospital. Authorities say he used the deputy’s pistol to fatally shoot an unarmed security guard and killed another deputy during a manhunt the next day.
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