THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, July 18, 1996               TAG: 9607180369
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: JARRATT                           LENGTH:   48 lines

AFTER SHORT DELAY, MAN IS EXECUTED BY LETHAL INJECTION THE EXECUTION OF JOSEPH SAVINO III WAS DELAYED FOR TWO HOURS FOR A FINAL APPEAL.

Joseph John Savino III, who pleaded guilty to killing his male lover, was executed Wednesday night after two final appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court were denied.

Savino was pronounced dead from a lethal injection at 11:22 p.m., said Tammy Brown, a spokeswoman at the Greensville Correctional Center.

The execution, originally scheduled for 9 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center, was rescheduled for 11 p.m. to allow time for a new appeal, said David Botkins, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections.

But the high court denied the last-minute petition for a writ of habeas corpus, said Supreme Court spokeswoman Toni House.

Earlier in the day, the high court, in a 7-2 ruling, rejected Savino's request for a stay. Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.

Gov. George F. Allen, in a statement released Wednesday night, said he had reviewed Savino's case and concluded that clemency was not warranted.

Savino's father, Joseph J. Savino Jr., and three opponents of capital punishment held candles outside the prison's main gate as the execution hour approached.

``I can't support violence for violence,'' said the Rev. John Dear of Richmond's Sacred Heart Center. ``This doesn't end the cycle of violence. It only continues it.''

The elder Savino said he spent two hours with his son earlier in the day. He said Savino was anxious but wasn't that concerned about himself.

``His concern is more for the family - what they're going through,'' the father said. ``He didn't want us to go through this.''

The execution of Savino would be the state's third execution this year.

Other than his father, Savino had several other visitors Wednesday. But Brown declined to identify them.

Savino, 37, a Mount Vernon, N.Y., native, pleaded guilty to capital murder in the killing of Thomas McWaters, another New Yorker who moved to Virginia after buying a farm.

On Nov. 29, 1988, McWaters was found bludgeoned to death at the Bedford County home the men shared. The following day, police arrested Savino in nearby Roanoke.

KEYWORDS: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT VIRGINIA MURDER by CNB