ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607080095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
A Huddleston man scheduled to die Wednesday for killing his wife and 5-month-old son has had his execution stayed by a federal judge.
U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne issued the stay last Wednesday. Attorney General Jim Gilmore's office said it will appeal the ruling.
Kenneth Manuel Stewart Jr., convicted of shooting his wife, Cynthia, and son each twice in the head, has fluctuated on whether to pursue appeals of the death sentence, according to court papers. He has at times refused to see lawyers and investigators from the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center.
At other times, he has energetically and enthusiastically supported an appeal, a lawyer from the center said in sworn statements.
Lawyers for the center sought the stay based on a sworn statement from Stewart's mother that he is not competent to decide whether to pursue the appeals. They noted that a state court ruled last year that Stewart was so incapacitated by mental illness that he could not make such a decision.
A spokeswoman for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the state was to file its appeal of the stay Friday. The appellate court probably will not decide the case until it hears from Stewart's lawyers, probably Monday.
Stewart told authorities he snapped when he lost his job and his wife asked him for a divorce. The killings took place on Mother's Day, 1991.
LENGTH: Short : 36 linesby CNB