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

DATE: SATURDAY, February 5, 1994                   TAG: 9402050145
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Staff report
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

HOUSE PASSES BILL TO LET FAMILIES VIEW EXECUTIONS

A second day of gruesome debate preceded House of Delegates passage Friday of a bill allowing the families of murder victims to watch the electrocution of the perpetrator.

By a 59-40 vote, the House sent the Senate the measure, which would allow viewings of executions for the first time since public hangings in Virginia.

Several Democratic delegates argued against the measure sponsored by Del. Robert McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, as demeaning.

"Who among us would want to watch another die?" asked Del. William Robinson, D-Norfolk. "To hear him or her scream out in pain . . . to smell the flesh burning?"

McDonnell countered that once appeals are over and a murderer faces state-sanctioned killing, "the scales tilt toward the views and feelings of the families of the victims."

The bill would allow up to three members of a victim's family to enter the death chamber. In cases with several victims, up to six relatives could\ \ YEA OR NAY ON ALLOWING MURDER VICTIMS' RELATIVES TO WITNESS THE KILLER'S EXECUTION:\ IN FAVOR: Tommy Baker, R-Radford; Joyce Crouch, R-Lynchburg; Allen Dudley, R-Rocky Mount; Barnes Lee Kidd, R-Tazewell; Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg; Lacey Putney, I-Bedford; Jackie Stump, D-Buchanan County.\ OPPOSED: Ward Armstrong, D-Martinsville; Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County; Creigh Deeds, D-Warm Springs; Joseph Johnson, D-Abingdon; Roscoe Reynolds, D-Martinsville (10); Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg; Victor Thomas, D-Roanoke; Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke. witness the execution. A state Department of Corrections policy now bars families from attending.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994

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