ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 4, 1996 TAG: 9601040047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
The U.S. Supreme Court refused Wednesday to block the execution of Walter Correll Jr., leaving his hopes to live in the hands of Gov. George Allen.
Correll, a 32-year-old Roanoke native, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 9 tonight at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.
A team of Washington, D.C.-area lawyers representing Correll filed a 32-page appeal with the Supreme Court on Friday. One of those lawyers, Bob Pokusa, said he was notified Wednesday afternoon that the appeal had been denied.
The lawyers filed a petition for clemency with the governor's office on Wednesday, and Pokusa said a meeting has been scheduled today between the attorneys and members of Allen's staff.
An eleventh-hour reprieve from Allen is Correll's last hope, Pokusa said. He has exhausted his other appeals.
Correll has been on death row for close to 10 years.
He was convicted and sentenced in the spring of 1986 for the capital murder and robbery of C.W. Bousman Jr., 24, of Wirtz.
Correll and his court-appointed lawyer, current Franklin County Juvenile Judge David Melesco, chose to put the case in the hands of Circuit Judge B.A. Davis III instead of seeking a jury trial.
Davis found Correll guilty on both counts and sentenced him to death on the murder conviction and to life in prison for the robbery.
Two accomplices in the crime told investigators that Correll directed the murder and stabbed Bousman - evidence prosecutors used to seek the capital charge against him.
According to testimony, the three men kidnapped Bousman around midnight on Aug. 10, 1985. He was stuffed into the trunk of his car and driven to a remote spot on the Franklin County side of Smith Mountain Lake, where investigators said he was beaten and stabbed.
The accomplices, Richard E. Reynolds and John M. Dalton, both of Roanoke, pleaded guilty to Bousman's murder.
Reynolds, 17 at the time of the killing, is serving a 60-year prison sentence.
Dalton, 18 at the time, is serving a 40-year sentence.
U.S. District Judge James Turk overturned Correll's murder conviction in August 1994. Turk ordered that Correll be released or that a new trial be granted, based on appeal arguments that investigators had ignored Correll's request for an attorney before confessing.
But Turk's ruling was overturned by the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
In November, Davis set a Dec. 28 execution date for Correll, but the date later was changed to today.
A reason for the change has not been officially disclosed, although Franklin County officials believe it was done to push the execution beyond the New Year's holiday.
In the appeal denied by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, it was argued that Correll's IQ level of 68 - borderline retarded according to state guidelines - hindered his ability to be interrogated and to provide accurate answers to investigator's questions.
Franklin County investigators and prosecutors maintain their belief that Correll played the lead role in Bousman's killing.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Correll (1985).by CNB