ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 9, 1996 TAG: 9611110041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Joseph Payne was just hours from death, waiting for a lethal injection at Greensville Correctional Center. But a group of people was rooting for him to live - his friends on death row.
``Everything was real tense,'' said Lem Tuggle, a convicted murderer who is scheduled to be executed Dec.12. ``People were real concerned about him.''
Three hours before Payne was scheduled die Thursday night, Gov. George Allen commuted the death penalty, reducing Payne's sentence to life in prison without parole
``We first found out through TV,'' said Tuggle by telephone Friday from death row at Mecklenburg Correctional Center. ``Everybody started cheering and clapping. It became sort of a festive type of atmosphere. Joe Payne is a really good friend of mine, and I was really glad he was spared. I was really pulling for him, and so were all of us here on the row.''
On Friday, Payne signed an agreement accepting the commutation. In return for being spared, Payne agreed to accept life without parole, that he would not seek a new trial and that he would not profit from his story, said his lawyer, Paul Khoury.
``He could sign this or the stay of execution would be lifted,'' Khoury said. ``He was disappointed that he's got life without parole. But he was aware that through the clemency process that was the best he could hope for. Clearly, this result is preferable to the alternative.''
Payne was convicted a decade ago of killing a fellow inmate by dousing him with paint thinner and setting him on fire.
Payne, who was already serving a life term for a 1981 robbery and murder, was convicted largely on the testimony of another inmate, Robert Francis Smith. Fifteen years were deducted from Smith's 40-year armed robbery sentence after he testified.
Several other inmates fingered Smith as the killer, but only one was allowed to testify.
Smith backtracked on his testimony a year after the trial, but then recanted his recantation.
When Allen commuted the death sentence, he said he was basing his decision in part on the results of a polygraph test taken by Smith. He did not reveal the results of the test.
A member of Allen's staff told The Washington Post the polygraph test indicated Smith was being truthful when he denied being the killer. The staffer, whom the paper did not identify, said the test, however, also suggested that Smith may have been lying about other important parts of his testimony.
Smith was paroled to Newport News last September. However, he violated his parole and was rearrested earlier this week.
Payne was still at the Greensville Correctional Center on Friday, the site of Virginia's death chamber.
Department of Correction spokesman David Botkins said the department would spend about a week reclassifying Payne and deciding where to send him.
``We will have to determine where we will be placing the inmate now that he is leaving death row where he has spent years as a segregated inmate,'' Botkins said.
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