McDonnell denies clemency for killer

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Gov. Bob McDonnell declined Friday to stop next week's execution of a man who killed his teen friend in 1999 and then bragged about it to prosecutors once he thought he couldn't face the death penalty.

McDonnell said he reviewed Paul Warner Powell's case and clemency request and found no reason to delay Thursday's execution.

That means only a court could stop the execution. After the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block the execution in January, Powell's attorneys said they were unlikely to file any new court challenges.

Powell, 31, was convicted of killing Stacie Reed of Manassas in 2000 and sentenced to death, but the Virginia Supreme Court overturned that verdict. Powell then wrote a taunting letter to prosecutors detailing the crime. He was convicted again in 2003.

Powell's attorneys had asked McDonnell to let someone else make the decision because McDonnell, as attorney general, opposed Powell's state and federal appeals. McDonnell resigned as attorney general last year to run for governor.

Powell's attorneys also argued that a mistake made by prosecutors during sentencing and upheld by McDonnell in appeals was at the very root of their claim that his case had been so faulted that Powell deserved to have his sentence commuted to life in prison.

In a Feb. 19 letter to McDonnell obtained by The Associated Press, attorney Jonathan Sheldon asked that Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, the Virginia Parole Board or someone appointed by McDonnell make the initial decision.

"Because you were an advocate opposing Powell's state and federal habeas petition, it creates both an actual and appearance of a conflict regarding your neutrality in deciding Powell's clemency request," Sheldon wrote.

The Constitution of Virginia gives the governor exclusive powers to grant clemency, and that decision is discretionary.

McDonnell said in a statement that Powell's arguments did not warrant clemency.

McDonnell also said it would be his policy to announce his clemency decisions no later than five days before a scheduled execution. Traditionally, governors have waited until the day of an execution or until all pending court action was determined.

McDonnell said that was fair to neither the condemned inmate nor the victim's family.

"After suffering the tragic loss of a loved one, the families and friends of the victims should not be required to wait with uncertainty until the day the execution is scheduled to take place to know if it will occur," McDonnell said.

Stacie's family knows that feeling. Her mother, Lorraine Whoberry, traveled from Cincinnati to Virginia last July when Powell was first scheduled to be executed. Her daughter, Kristie, traveled from Texas for the execution, which was stopped the day before by the U.S. Supreme Court while it considered whether to hear Powell's case.

"It's just a relief to know that they're not going to step in," Whoberry said after hearing about McDonnell's decision.

She and Kristie plan to come to Virginia again next week to witness the execution.

Powell also raped Kristie, then 14, stabbed and choked her, slit her throat and left her for dead. She survived and testified against Powell. The Associated Press doesn't usually identify victims of sexual assault, but Kristie gave permission for her name to be used.

Powell has chosen to die by electrocution when he is executed at 9 p.m. Thursday at Greensville Correction Center in Jarratt.

Virginia ranks second only to Texas in the number of executions since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Powell's would be the state's first under McDonnell, who took office seven weeks ago. He has chosen to die by electrocution when he is executed at 9 p.m. Thursday at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.