Who’s been executed or on death row from Prince William
The following people convicted in Prince William County have been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976:
• Timothy Dale Bunch, 33, executed Dec. 10, 1992, for robbing and killing 40-year-old Su Cha Thomas. Bunch, who had an intimate relationship with Thomas, shot her in the head and hanged her with a scarf from her bedroom doorknob in her Dale City home. He then stole jewelry from her home.
• Michael Carl George, 39, executed Feb. 6, 1997, for killing 15-year-old Alexander Sztanko. George abducted Sztanko as he rode his dirt bike along a power line trail in Woodbridge on June 16, 1990. He sexually assaulted the teen before shooting him in the head.
• Roy Bruce Smith, 50, executed July 17, 1997, for killing Manassas police Sgt. John Conner, 37. He shot Conner during a standoff at his home on Laurelwood Court on July 24, 1988.
• Dawud Majid Mu'Min, 44, executed Nov. 13, 1997, for killing 42-year-old Gladys Nopwasky. Mu'Min escaped from a prison work detail in Dale City on Sept. 22, 1988, and shot Nopwasky, a carpet store owner, more than a dozen times.
• Tony Albert Mackall, 34, executed Feb. 10, 1998, for killing 31-year-old Mary Elizabeth Dahn during a robbery. Mackall shot Dahn in the head during a robbery at her family's Shell gas station on Va. 123 near Occoquan on Dec. 9, 1986. About 30 minutes later, Mackall shot another man, who survived, at a Woodbridge town house.
• Carl Hamilton Chichester, 36, executed April 13, 1999, for killing Manassas pizza store manager Timothy Rigney, 30, during a robbery. Chichester shot the Lake Ridge resident at a Little Caesars Pizza restaurant in the Manaport Plaza shopping center when he could not open the cash register during a robbery on Aug. 15, 1991.
• Lonnie Weeks, Jr., 27, executed March 16, 2000, for killing Virginia State Police Officer Jose Cavazos. Weeks shot the 50-year-old Cavazos six times during a traffic stop on the Dale City exit ramp off Interstate 95 on Feb. 24, 1993.
The following people convicted in Prince William County are currently on death row:
• Paul Powell, 31, sent to death row Sept. 15, 2000, for killing 16-year-old Stacie Reed. On Jan. 29, 1999, Powell stabbed Reed and stomped on her throat to kill her before raping and attempting to kill her 14-year-old sister Kristie.
• Justin Michael Wolfe, 27, sent to death row June 26, 2002, for hiring hiring Owen Merton Barber IV to kill Wolfe's marijuana supplier, 21-year-old Danny Petrole Jr. Wolfe is the youngest person currently on Virginia's death row.
• Larry Bill Elliot, 59, sent to death row May 22, 2003, for killing 25-year-old Dana Thrall at Robert Finch's Woodbridge town house on Jan. 2, 2001. Elliot also killed the 30-year-old Finch and was convicted of first-degree murder for that. Elliot is the oldest person currently on Virginia's death row.
• John Allen Muhammad, 48, sent to death row March 9, 2004, for the 2002 Beltway sniper shootings, a three-week shooting spree in October 2002 that resulted in 10 deaths. In Prince William, Muhammad was convicted of shooting 53-year-old Dean Meyers when he was was pumping gas at a Sunoco station near Interstate 66 on Oct. 9, 2002.
What it takes to get the death penalty:
In Virginia murders with certain aggravating factors are considered capital murder, punishable by the death penalty. In addition to those special factors, the killing has to be "willful, deliberate and premeditated" for it to be capital murder. According to the Virginia code, the following offenses qualify as capital murder:
• murder committed during an abductio
• murder for hire
• murder committed by an inmate in a correctional facility
• murder during a robbery or attempted robbery
• murder committed in the commission of rape, attempted rape, forcible sodomy, attempted forcible sodomy or object sexual penetratio
• murder of a law enforcement officer
• murder of more than one person as part of the same act
• murder of more than one person within a three-year period
• murder committed for the continuing of a criminal drug enterprise
• murder of a pregnant woma
• murder of a child under the age of 14 by an adult over the age of 21
• murder committed during an act of terrorism
• murder of a judge
• murder of a witness in a criminal case in order to prevent them from testifying.
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Reader Reactions
Sissy:
Your posting is a classic example of bigotry and hate.
Ebert did not prevail in the civil case (auto accident). (There was a big smile on the defense attorney’s face - probably felt he had beat Ebert).
I’ve been on 3 juries, and I can guarantee you I am a “tough guy” for those who want to convict and go home. In a federal jury I served on concerning a drug bust, another jurist, a dentist, from the start said “let’s convict, I need to get out of here - I’m losing money”. I held out against conviction, and we sat there for 2 days primarily to antagonize that dentist (I never thought the prosecution’s case was that great anyway.).
What would you have done sissy? I am extrememly fair, and I give the defendent a chance - innocent until proven guilty. Sorry that you consider that hate. You needc to get another God to give you advice.
“I once was on a jury where he was lawyer in a civil case. I get the feeling the jurors reflect the hate and bigotry that is obviously rampant in PWC”
Now that’s a HOOT! Uhhh and you did NOTHING! But of course the self proclaimed phdee is the only juror in PWC absent of hate and bigotry ... BY THE GRACE OF GOD ... got NEWS ... ‘IT’ is an examplar of HATE and BIGOTRY and the evidence is clear in every comment.
miss mannerless I have followed your link and read about Justin Wolfe and this concerns me greatly.
The death penalty should be reserved ‘only’ for the worst of the worst and ‘only’ if there is absolutely no doubt of guilt.
I do not feel this is the case with what I have read about Justin Wolfe. I can only pray that his lawyers can prove that he had nothing to do with the murder of Danny Petrole Jr.
Thanks you for providing the link, again I apologize for my mistake.
Thats why so many people voted for a ham sandwich in the last election. Is he trying to create new laws or follow the Constitution in regard to the law? Most of the rulings he has put forth i have agreed with, does this make me a Democrat, he is a Democrat after all. LOL Chris Cummings
Why is a list of executed “criminals” so newsworthy and deemed important?
Why does PWC have so many crimes for which executions are necessary?
The answer is it is the legal system.
Ebert is not that good an attorney. I once was on a jury where he was lawyer in a civil case. I get the feeling the jurors reflect the hate and bigotry that is obviously rampant in PWC. Makes it easy to stir up emotions for a “guilty” verdict.
vmj: If you wish, please log onto
Washingtonian.com and put in keyword
Justin Wolfe…..article “an innoncent
man on death row….
miss mannerless why don’t you tell me about this person that does not belong on death row…
I really don’t know this person story.
vm you sound like wonderful guy…However, what does this have to do wirh
someone on death row that should not be there?????????
do the right thing: You are so very very very RIGHT! The Anastacio Sanchez Miranda case is one that screams MAJOR FOUL!
Sorry miss mannerless just confused as you said. Reread it and got it all wrong. That’s what you get when your watching tv, cooking dinner and typing all at the same time. lol Be more attentive next time…
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