
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 2, 1990                   TAG: 9004020378
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

CONDEMNED KILLER'S APPEAL IS REJECTED

The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear the appeal of Virginia death row inmate Ronald Watkins.

Watkins, 27, was convicted in Danville Circuit Court on Nov. 2, 1988, of the murder and robbery of William McCauley, 29, in May 1988 at a shipping and packaging company owned by the victim. McCauley was stabbed seven times and his throat was slit.

Watkins told police he held the victim at gunpoint and bound McCauley's hands with tape before stealing $1,200, according to trial testimony. When Watkins untied McCauley, a struggle ensued and the businessman was slain.

The high court's action in Watkins' case was taken without comment, except for dissenting statements by Justices William J. Brennan and Thurgood Marshall, who oppose capital punishment under all circumstances.

by CNB