Thursday, August 30, 2007
Attorneys get access to Morva's school files
Other matters discussed Wednesday included use of mental health experts.
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CHRISTIANSBURG -- The sealed school records of a man accused of killing a sheriff's officer and a security guard while escaping from custody did not suggest he was a danger to commit such a crime, Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs said Wednesday in a hearing in the capital murder case against William Morva.
Defense attorneys had sought to quash the prosecution's subpoena of those records or possible use in the trial due to start Sept. 17. But Morva's attorneys agreed that copies of the records could be provided to the prosecution, provided that their client also gets copies and the documents are not to be released to the public.
The decision was part of several pretrial matters discussed. Morva's attorneys announced they just filed a motion challenging lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment, to which the prosecution has until Friday to respond. Prosecutors asked to be allowed to call a mental health expert in response should the defense field such an expert, which the defense has indicated it will do for the penalty phase of the trial if there is a conviction.
Morva is accused of killing two men -- Cpl. Eric Sutphin of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and Derrick McFarland, a security guard at Montgomery Regional Hospital -- but Morva also faces a third count of capital murder for being charged with killing two people in less than three years.
Morva is considered a high-risk prisoner. Eleven uniformed sheriffs were on hand in the courtroom during the hearing, along with at least one armed law-enforcement officer in plainclothes.
