Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 16, 1995 TAG: 9508160089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In a letter to the Roanoke judge who spared his life, convicted mass murderer Robert M. May wrote, "I honestly have to admit I wanted the death penalty."
May, who was sentenced by Judge Clifford Weckstein to five life sentences Aug. 4 for killing five people during a drunken party before dawn on New Year's Day, seemed to express both relief and disappointment with the verdict.
"Maybe the day will come when I will thank you for your decision," he wrote to Weckstein. "For now, I simply exist with life sentences - but I'm far from living. Again, tomorrow is uncertain."
The letter, mailed from the Roanoke City Jail one week after May was sentenced, was filed Tuesday in Roanoke Circuit Court.
"I may never be able to fully grasp the magnitude of my case," the letter began, as May recalled sitting in Weckstein's courtroom and facing the relatives of his victims.
"I would have forfeited my own life in front of them if it would satisfy them," May said in the two-page, handwritten letter. "That wasn't my option.
"I honestly have to admit I wanted the death penalty, to please them as well as myself, a short suffering compared to a lengthy one. What happened that night will haunt me, as well it should."
Later in the letter, May seemed to be struggling with the reality of spending the rest of his life in prison. He will not be eligible for parole under tough new laws that went into effect with the new year, just three hours before his crimes.
"I have many wishes that will never come true now," he wrote, "but just as the events of New Year's night were unpredictable, so, too, is the rest of my future. Which, thanks to your open mindedness, fairness and ability to remain impartial, I still have.
"I respect you as a judge and your decision, though I do wish you would let me know how you came to decide it was the appropriate punishment.
"I hope my actions in the many years to come will not ever make you regret your decision," the letter continued. "Where death would have been an easy cop-out, I must now learn to make do with what I have and try to survive as best as possible."
May - the first person Weckstein had been asked to sentence to death in his eight years on the bench - also apologized for any burden he might have caused. "I realize no crime means no job for you, but I'm sorry for any inconvenience and unpleasantness my case has caused you," he wrote.
Weckstein was out of the office Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.
May was sentenced to five life terms plus 28 years after pleading no contest to the murders of Dale Arnold, Susan Hutchinson, Cynthia LaPrade, Daniel Mason and Carl Stroop during a New Year's Eve party at an Old Southwest apartment. May said he shot in self defense after a gun was pulled him during an argument about which branch of the military, the Navy or the Marines, was tougher.
In writing a letter that praised and questioned the judge's decision, May seemed to be exhibiting the same borderline personality disorder that his lawyers said explained many aspects of the crime - from his inconsistent statements about what happened that night to his changing emotions about what should happen to him as a result.
Assistant Public Defender Roger Dalton said Tuesday that May never indicated before the trial that he wanted to be sentenced to death. "But the other alternative [life in prison] didn't look that good for him, either," Dalton said.
Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell discounted the role that May's borderline personality disorder had on his actions. "When he attacked those people, that was the conduct of a coward," he said.
Prosecutors have disputed May's account that he shot in self-defense. May's self-serving story, his plea of no contest, and his letter all demonstrated the same thing, Caldwell said - "the conduct of a coward."
Nearly two weeks after Weckstein announced his decision, there has been little public outcry in a city where only one person has been sentenced to death since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977.
The only written reaction included in May's court file is a letter from a Roanoke doctor, expressing his "shock and disappointment" at the judge's leniency. Court records indicate that two other people called the judge's office before a decision was made.
One, a woman who was a friend of the victims and who identified two of their bodies, called to say that while she did not condone May's actions, she did not believe he should be executed.
The other, who identified himself only as a "plain ol' ordinary citizen" called to say: "Mr. May intentionally killed five people, and if they don't fry his butt, then that's just a license to go out and have a few beers and kill someone."
Caldwell said he has received a number of letters and calls from people, expressing "not outrage, but disappointment" at the life sentences. Dalton said his office has received no such calls.
Also in his letter, May apologized for muttering "F--- you" to prosecutors as he was led from the courtroom after Weckstein's decision.
"They took some cheap shots throughout the week," May wrote. "I apologize to you for not being able to resist returning the same."
Caldwell responded: "I'm glad he didn't have a 9mm [handgun] when he took that cheap shot at me."
Keywords:
RAONOKE MURDER
by CNB