Man sentenced to death for 2002 double-murder

It’s been close to eight years since Joshua Wayne Andrews shot Rutherford Berry, Romanno Head and Robert Morrison during a robbery at a Dumfries area apartment.

On Monday, Berry, the sole survivor, told Prince William Circuit Court Judge Lon E. Faris, how his life has changed since that day, Jan. 2, 2002.

“It’s unimaginable how many worlds shattered that day,” Berry said. “Whatever justice you can give, give it.”

After the day-long hearing, Faris sentenced Andrews to death.

In 2007, a jury convicted Andrews of 20 felonies — including four counts of capital murder — and recommended the death penalty.

Faris sentenced Andrews to death for the capital murder charges and to a total of 133 years in prison for one count each of attempted robbery and malicious wounding, two counts of robbery, three counts of abduction and eight counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

During Andrews’ trial, witnesses testified that Andrews and another man, Jamel Crawford, went to the Dumfries area apartment looking for marijuana.

Crawford testified that they planned a robbery but did not plan to hurt anyone.

Crawford said he waited outside of the apartment while Andrews went inside and told the three men in the apartment to go into the bathroom, take off their clothes and kneel in the bathtub.

Then Andrews shot the men, killing Morrison and Head, both 22, and injuring Berry, who survived.

Crawford is set to stand trial Nov. 2.

Crawford and Andrews were also convicted of shooting one man in Stafford County and two in New York during robberies in the days that followed the Prince William shootings. All of the other victims survived.

Last month, Andrews was sentenced to 126 years in prison for the Stafford shooting.

Last week, he was sentenced in Stafford to another five years in prison for possessing tools of escape while being transferred from Prince William to Stafford for his trial there, according to court records.

At Monday’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors argued that Andrews should be sentenced to death because of the violence of his crimes and the likelihood that he could be a danger to others in the future.

“How many people does he have to shoot before the death penalty becomes appropriate?” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney James Willett said in his closing argument. “He represents a profound and singular danger to people, no matter the environment.”

Defense attorneys Mark Petrovich and Tom Walsh presented expert testimony to show that Andrews has fetal alcohol syndrome, which experts said affects how he’s dealt with things his whole life.

Andrews’ mother, Imani Taymullah, drank heavily while she was pregnant with Andrew, witnesses said.

In his closing argument, Petrovich detailed Andrews’ childhood, which included abuse, neglect and other trauma.

“I ask you to consider the entire picture, find mercy . . . and impose a sentence of life in prison without parole,” Petrovich said.

Faris set Andrew’s execution date for Dec. 14, 2009, but said that when Andrews files his first appeal, that execution date will be stayed.

In addition to Andrews, there are currently 15 inmates on death row in Virginia, including four others who were sentenced in Prince William.

Two executions are currently scheduled in Virginia. John Allen Muhammad, convicted of capital murder for killing Dean Meyers at a Manassas area gas station during the 2002 sniper shootings, is scheduled to die Nov. 10.

Larry Bill Elliot, convicted of capital murder for killing Dana Thrall, and first degree murder for killing Robert Finch in Woodbridge, is scheduled to be executed Nov. 17.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.