Condemned killer chooses electric chair
Paul Warner Powell
Published: July 1, 2009
Updated: July 1, 2009
Condemned killer Paul Warner Powell wants to be executed in Virginia’s electric chair.
He is scheduled to die July 14 for the 1999 rape and murder of a 16-year-old Yorkshire girl.
Since 1995, death row inmates in Virginia have had a choice of how they want to be executed by lethal injection or electrocution. Powell is the first inmate since 2006 to pick the electric chair.
The 29-year-old is sentenced to death for stabbing 16-year-old Stacie Reed and her 14-year-old sister, Kristie, in their Yorkshire home on Jan. 29, 1999.
Kristie’s throat was slashed, but she survived. Her sister, who suffered a stab wound to the heart, did not. Their stepfather came home from work to find Stacie dead in her bedroom and Kristie bleeding in the basement.
Despite life-threatening injuries, Kristie was able to tell police officers and paramedics that Powell was responsible. Police arrested Powell the next day at a friend’s house.
Powell was originally convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 2000, but the Supreme Court of Virginia tossed out the conviction, ruling that the attacks on the sisters were separate crimes and did not rise to capital murder.
After that ruling, Powell sent a letter laced with profanity to Prince William Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert, giving chilling details of Stacie’s death. In it, he wrote about attempting to rape the struggling girl before stabbing her to death. The letter gave prosecutors the evidence they needed to bring a new capital murder charge against him.
He was convicted in 2003, and the appeals began soon after. Through the years, state appeals courts and the Virginia Supreme Court have upheld his conviction.
Powell’s lawyers have filed a clemency petition with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and could still ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal. But last-minute clemency is unlikely.
Since the 1995 introduction of lethal injection, 75 killers have been executed by injection and four have opted for electrocution.
In all, 339 inmates have been executed in Virginia since the first electrocution in 1908.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down capital punishment, but it was reinstated in 1976. Since then, Virginia has executed 103 inmates.
Today, there are 15 inmates on death row.
Communities editor Kari Pugh can be reached at 703-878-8056.
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Reader Reactions
Justice is never truly served. Taking one life do not bring back those who were killed.
The purpose of ‘justice’ is to remove the individual from society where they are no longer able to harm the innocent. Death or permanent incarceration both have that same goal in mind.
As for where the execution will take place on July 14(from the Richmond Times Dispatch):
Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, said Powell has the right to change his mind. Executions, by electric chair or injection, are carried out at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.
Justice will be served with the execution of this criminal. Justice will not be served for the victims of the illegal alien,triple murderer Anastacio Sanchez Miranda, whom Mr. Ebert chose not to seek the death penalty for his triple homicide and 12 felony convictions.
Yes sirree Mr Powell, the time draws near. I wonder how brave you’ll be when they’re leading you down that hall to meet your maker. “DEAD MAN WALKIN!!!!!“
I wonder where this is going to take place.
BTW, if anyone’s curious about the letter he wrote to Ebert, you can read it here:
http://www.crimeshots.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5312
The funniest thing is that this dumba$$ thought he would taunt Ebert in the letter by bragging about what he did that didn’t come out in the trial. He actually THANKED Ebert for “saving his life” as he calls it. Guess you were wrong, douchebag! You’ve probably got some severe diarrhea worrying about what’s to come in the next few weeks. Let it all out now, so the executioners don’t have to clean much up after they fry your ugly a$$. Muhahahaha.
If I remember correctly, after the crime, either him or the cop that arrested him were talking about him “riding the lightning”.....meaning getting the electric chair. I wouldn’t mind getting a front row seat for this one. Can the public get into this?
This guy has been living in his mother’s basement playing video games and pleasuring himself to cosmopolitan magazine for the past 28 years, right? What a poor excuse for a human being! On the off chance that he didn’t draw that goofy mustache and beard on with a sharpie marker, I think he should have each individual hair plucked out from his fat pig face. Then, put him in a straight jacket, take him in a back room and let the family go to town on his fat a$$. I’m talking pliars, rusty spoons, and moistened hepatitis and HIV blood-soaked IV needles. Then, lock him in a cell somewhere. Feed him one hard-boiled egg a day and a glass of water for the rest of his pathetic life. Taxpayers can afford that. I’m sure we can find a doctor to castrate him for free. It’s for the benefit of humanity. The death penalty is too quick for this turd. Let’s make him pay for what he did in a timely manner.
How totally strange. I suppose he feels the need to feel pain. He should.
He deserves to fry.
“Posted by ( alfonso ) on July 01, 2009 at 5:41 pm
When they bury him they should leave the casket lid open a couple inches so the maggots can get to him quicker!“
I like your thinking but I have more respect for maggots then this guy, they (maggots) at least serve a useful purpose on earth. As a parent I can’t imagine my sadness were my child murdered or God forbid be the murderer. This guy has done nothing with his life but cause misery and sadness he deserves to suffer as much pain as he has inflicted on innocent people.
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