ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 1997 TAG: 9704090072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: JARRATT
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
The justices still must decide whether to hear an appeal based on evidence about his upbringing that was barred from the trial.
The U.S. Supreme Court stopped Tuesday's scheduled execution of Douglas M. Buchanan, granting a stay until it can hear his appeal.
Buchanan, 29, was to have died by injection at 9 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center for the 1987 murders of his father, stepmother and two stepbrothers.
In an appeal to the high court, Buchanan's lawyers contend the trial judge should have allowed more testimony about Buchanan's upbringing. They also argued that the jury should have received more detailed instructions on mitigating circumstances before it deliberated whether to sentence Buchanan to life or death.
The stay request had been filed with Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who referred it to the full court. The court unanimously agreed to grant the stay.
The stay will remain in place until the court decides whether to hear his appeal. If the appeal is denied, the stay will end; but if the court should agree to hear his appeal, the stay would remain in place until a decision was issued.
Buchanan's lawyers did not file a petition for clemency with Gov. George Allen. But Allen said Tuesday he had reviewed the case and had no reason to intervene, adding ``his guilt is clear.''
Buchanan told police there was no particular thing that set off the killings.
When investigators questioned him as to the motive, he replied, ``They never treated me like a son, they treated me like an outsider all the time. I mean, I don't think they cared ... they never talked to me when I was living there.''
Amherst County police discovered the bodies of Buchanan's family at their Naola home near the Blue Ridge Parkway on Sept. 15, 1987.
Prosecutors at Buchanan's trial said he drove to the home of his father, Douglas Buchanan Sr., with a rifle. The two began arguing over a remark the older man made about Buchanan's natural mother, who had died of cancer when the boy was 10.
The father had married his second wife, Geraldine Patterson Buchanan, six months after his first wife died. Buchanan was never allowed to visit his mother's grave.
As the father turned to go inside, Buchanan shot him twice in the head and dragged him inside. Soon after, his stepbrothers Joel, 13, and Donnie, 10, came home from school. He shot Donnie in the face and shot Joel in the back as he tried to flee.
Last to return home, and last to die, was his stepmother. Buchanan shot her with his father's handgun, stabbed her in the chest and slit her throat.
Buchanan and his wife, who was waiting in the car, fled to New Mexico after the killings; they were captured 17 days later.
Christianne Buchanan is serving four life terms for helping to plan the murders.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB