Virginia: Death Sentence Commuted

The life of a man who killed three people in November 1996 was spared by Gov. Tim Kaine, a day before the scheduled execution, on grounds that the inmate was mentally incompetent to understand his situation. In commuting the death sentence of Percy L. Walton, Governor Kaine said a new sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole “is now the only constitutionally appropriate court of action” in view of Mr. Walton’s continuing mental defectiveness. The defendant had just turned 18 when he shot three of his neighbors to death in Danville.

Source: The New York Times