Federal Judge Grants Powell Stay of Execution In '99 Manassas Killing

Paul Warner Powell, whose boastful letter detailing how he killed a Manassas teenager led to his second capital murder conviction, will not be executed in four days.

A federal judge has granted a stay of execution for Powell, who was scheduled to die Thursday.

Powell, 28, was twice convicted by a Prince William jury for the 1999 slaying of Stacie Reed, 16, and the rape of her sister, Kristie Reed, then 14. He stabbed Stacie Reed in the heart and then used the same blade to repeatedly slice her sister's throat.

The Virginia Supreme Court overturned Powell's first conviction in 2001, finding that it was not a capital case because there was no evidence that Powell had committed or attempted to commit a sexual assault against Reed before he killed her. A murder is considered a capital offense, with a maximum penalty of death, if it includes any of several factors, including a concurrent rape.

Powell would have surely faced a lesser charge had it not been for his next move.

After the high court ruling, Powell sent a profanity-filled letter to Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert in which he bragged about the crime.

"Since I have already been indicted on first degree murder and the Va. Supreme Court said that I can't be charged with capital murder again, I figured I would tell you the rest of what happened on Jan. 29, 1999 to show you how stupid all of y'all . . . are," he wrote.

He detailed how he tried to rape Stacie Reed and, when she resisted, stabbed her and stomped on her neck until she stopped breathing.

The letter was used in 2003 to support a conviction, and the Virginia Supreme Court upheld it.

After the second conviction, then-18-year-old Kristie Reed told The Washington Post that the case wouldn't be over until Powell gets his punishment.

"I'll be more happy when he's gone," she said.

Judge T.S. Ellis III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted the stay of execution Jan. 25.

The Virginia Attorney General's Office did not fight the stay because it had no legal basis to oppose it, said David Clementson, a spokesman for the office.

Powell has until March 9 to file a habeas corpus petition, and the Attorney General's Office has until April 10 to respond, Clementson said.

The court is scheduled to hear oral arguments May 4.