Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 20, 1993 TAG: 9308200243
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
But there is little, if any, chance they helped him.
The legislators, one from England and one from Ireland, presented Gov. Douglas Wilder's office with a petition signed by about 500 Britons, including royalty and celebrities.
Among the signers are playwright Harold Pinter; actor Stephen Rea, star of "The Crying Game"; Lord Jeffrey Archer, former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party; and John Mortimer, writer and creator of "Rumpole of the Bailey."
Giarratano's case, because of the worldwide publicity it received, has become a symbol in Europe of the dangers of America's use of the death penalty, said T.J. Maher, a European Parliament member from Ireland.
"We are pointing out that there is quite an inconsistency, a contradiction, in the United States on the one hand fighting to uphold human rights around the world and at the same time infringing them at home," Maher said. "This is damaging the image of the United States abroad and, in fact, is beginning to have an effect in trade relations."
Maher and Tom Megahy of England arrived in Richmond over the weekend on a trip sponsored by Amnesty International. Accompanied by prisoner advocate Marie Deans of the Virginia Coalition for Jails and Prisons, they traveled Monday to the Augusta Correctional Center in Staunton to visit Giarratano.
"I was tremendously impressed," Megahy said. "It just seemed to me that here you've got someone who's got a great deal to contribute and who should be able to contribute to society as a whole."
The men spent four hours discussing Giarratano's strategy for seeking a new trial. But a spokesman for state Attorney General Stephen Rosenthal, who received the petition and has authority to grant a new trial in the case, said the inmate's chances are nil.
"This attorney general is familiar with the record - he was involved with the review of the case back in '91 - and he doesn't believe anything has changed to warrant a new trial," said David Parsons, Rosenthal's press secretary.
Maher and Megahy met Tuesday with Walter McFarlane, Wilder's chief legal counsel and the man who advises the governor on such cases. A spokesman for the governor said Wilder would review information from the meeting, but that the case belongs with the attorney general's office.
Giarratano, 35, was convicted in Norfolk of the 1979 murders of Michelle Kline, 15, and her mother, Barbara, 44. Giarratano confessed to the crimes, but supporters have pointed to inconsistencies in his statements and to alleged new evidence to raise questions about his guilt.
After an international uproar spurred both by Hollywood liberals and conservative commentators, Wilder commuted Giarratano's sentence to life in prison three days before he was scheduled to be executed.
by CNB