THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 10, 1995 TAG: 9506100354
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Briefs
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Short : 31 lines
The Virginia Supreme Court Friday upheld the death sentence of Thomas Lee Royal Jr., who killed a Hampton police officer.
Royal, sentenced to death for killing Officer Kenneth Earl Wallace, contended on appeal that the state failed to prove he would be a future danger to society.
On Feb. 21, 1994, Royal recruited three accomplices to help him kill another Hampton officer, Curtis Cooper. They couldn't find Cooper, but they saw Wallace sitting in his squad car. Royal shot him with a .38-caliber handgun.
Royal contended on appeal that only his previous criminal record, not the circumstances of the Wallace killing, should have been considered in determining future dangerousness. The court disagreed.
``He proceeded to murder Officer Wallace, not because of any acrimony toward Officer Wallace, but apparently because Officer Wallace was there and Officer Cooper was not,'' Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy wrote. ``Killing a person under these circumstances shows clear disregard for human life.''
KEYWORDS: DEATH PENALTY VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT by CNB