DATE: Saturday, July 19, 1997               TAG: 9707190245

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: ROME                              LENGTH:   43 lines

ITALIAN PRESIDENT ASKS ALLEN TO SPARE O'DELL

The president of Italy has appealed to the governor of Virginia to spare the life of condemned killer Joseph Roger O'Dell III.

President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro said he was appealing to Gov. George F. Allen ``as a man and as a believer, in the name of a natural law based on the eternal values of mankind, the first among them the respect for life,'' Scalfaro's office said Friday.

Meanwhile, lawyers for O'Dell have sent a 26-page petition to Allen, asking him to spare their client's life because, they say, he was unfairly sentenced to death.

``Our petition for clemency appeals to Governor Allen to make good on his often stated desire to ensure `honesty' and `integrity' in the Virginia criminal justice system,'' the lawyers said in the petition sent Friday.

O'Dell was convicted in 1986 and sentenced to death by a Virginia Beach jury for the 1985 rape and murder of Helen Schartner. He is scheduled to die by injection Wednesday.

O'Dell's supporters have argued that the jury should have been told that O'Dell was ineligible for parole and would have spent the remainder of his life in prison if spared the death sentence.

His case has attracted international attention, especially in Italy. Pope John Paul II also has asked Allen to stop the execution.

Allen has rejected a request from O'Dell for further DNA tests, which his attorneys say could prove that O'Dell did not commit the rape, sodomy and murder of Helen Schartner in 1985. Allen said the evidence against O'Dell was overwhelming.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge James Spencer ruled after a 30-minute hearing that he has no jurisdiction to interfere with the governor's decision.

Scalfaro's office said the request for a commutation of the sentence was made through the Italian ambassador in Washington.

In the appeal, he asked Allen to ``understand the motives why it is necessary for me to join my voice with those of many other citizens of my country.'' KEYWORDS: DEATH PENALTY CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

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