U.S. Supreme Court stays execution of Virginia inmate

RICHMOND

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday stopped the execution of a Virginia man while it considers whether to hear his argument that he was unconstitutionally tried twice for killing a 16-year-old girl after describing the crime in a taunting letter to a prosecutor.

The court's order came a day before Paul Warner Powell, 31, was scheduled to die for killing Stacie Reed in her Manassas home in 1999. He had chosen to die by electrocution.

The execution will be pushed back until at least September, the first review conference in which the Supreme Court justices could consider the petition, said Jonathan Sheldon, Powell's attorney.

If the court decides not to take up the appeal, Powell will again face execution.

Powell was convicted of Reed's capital murder in 2000 and of raping and trying to kill her 14-year-old sister, Kristie. The Virginia Supreme Court overturned the capital murder verdict, saying prosecutors lacked evidence that he raped or robbed Stacie or committed other death-qualifying offenses.

Powell then wrote a taunting letter to Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert detailing how he tried to rape Stacie and then stabbed her in the heart. He said he went downstairs, had a cigarette and some iced tea and waited for her sister to come home from school.

(Editor's note: An edited version of Powell's letter is posted in the index of case coverage by the News & Messenger newspaper in Manassas. Warning: Even edited, the letter may be considered offensive by many readers.)

Ebert threw out the first-degree murder charge and charged Powell with capital murder for the killing and attempted rape of Stacie. Powell was convicted again in 2003 and sentenced to death.

His lawyers argue that the second capital murder charge amounted to double jeopardy.

State and federal courts have repeatedly rejected Powell's claim, saying the original charge was different because he was not accused of attempting to rape Stacie.

A panel of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Powell's claim in April in a 2-1 ruling, and the full court refused to take up the argument.

Appeals court Judge Roger L. Gregory offered the lone dissent in April's ruling.

"Given the explicit details revealed by Powell in his letter to the Commonwealth's Attorney, one understands the strong inclination to prosecute Powell for those heinous acts," he wrote. "Yet, it is in these very cases that we must be most vigilant in protecting our long-standing constitutional guarantees."

The Attorney General's Office will continue to defend the capital conviction, spokesman David Clementson said.

"The constitutional rights of individuals must always be protected, and this is greatly heightened in death penalty cases when it is truly a matter of life or death," said Beth Panilaitis, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Stacie and Kristie's mother, Lorraine Whoberry, said she had mixed emotions about the court's decision. She said she would withhold further comment until a news conference the family had planned for Tuesday.