Warner Weighing Inmate's Plea For Clemency

Political Impact Shadows Decision on Capital Case

Convicted murderer Robin Lovitt is scheduled to die by injection at Virginia's Greensville Correctional Center on Wednesday night. Only Gov. Mark R. Warner can save his life.

Warner (D) has not yet granted clemency to a condemned killer since he took office in 2002. The state has executed 11 men in that time. But now, as Warner is considering a run for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, he must make a decision on the most controversial death penalty case of his four-year term.

Lovitt's attorneys argue that their client -- who has maintained his innocence -- should be spared because an Arlington Circuit Court clerk mistakenly threw away DNA evidence that could have proved his claim. Lovitt's legal team, which includes former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, says that if Warner doesn't intervene, faith in Virginia's criminal justice system would be eroded permanently because of the possibility of an innocent man's execution.

"Clemency will help ensure that the death penalty retains the support of Virginia's citizenry," Lovitt's attorneys wrote in their petition for clemency. "Indeed, commuting Mr. Lovitt's sentence to life in prison is vital to demonstrating that, in Virginia, society's ultimate sanction will be used only when every precaution has been taken to ensure that innocent persons are never executed."

Lovitt's attorneys are asking that their client's sentence be commuted to life in prison, not that he be pardoned or set free. In an interview last week, Starr said that, as a result of the clerk's mistake, Lovitt has been "deprived of a very important remedy."

Starr also said that Lovitt has been steadfast in his claims of innocence. "He looked me in the eye and stated very firmly and forthrightly that he did not take that life," Starr said.

Lovitt, 41, was convicted and sentenced to death in the November 1998 stabbing of Clayton Dicks, 45, during a robbery at an Arlington pool hall.

Emily Lucier, spokeswoman for Virginia Attorney General Judith W. Jagdmann, last week declined to comment on the clemency request, saying it rested in the governor's hands. In an earlier interview, Lucier said the case did not hinge on DNA evidence and that other evidence, including eyewitness testimony, "overwhelmingly implicated" Lovitt.

The destroyed evidence has caused several academics, law students and religious officials to support Lovitt's appeal for clemency. His case also has attracted nationwide attention because Lovitt is in line to become the 1,000th prisoner executed in the United States since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

If the execution proceeds, he will become the first person executed this year in Virginia, which has executed more inmates than any state but Texas.

Kevin Hall, Warner's spokesman, said the governor, who supports the death penalty, has twice heard presentations by his counsel and other outside attorneys about the clemency petition and the views of the victim's family and others involved in the case.

"The governor is giving it thorough and prayerful consideration," Hall said.