ABINGDON, Va. – A jury recommended that a 26-year-old inmate who murdered a sheriff’s deputy and a hospital security officer after escaping custody two years ago should receive the death penalty March 13.
In August 2006, William Morva, now 26, was a jail inmate who had been taken to a Blacksburg hospital to treat an injury. While there, Morva overpowered a sheriff’s deputy from Montgomery County. He then used the deputy’s pistol and shot security officer Derrick McFarland who was unarmed.
The following day, Morva shot Sheriff’s Cpl. Eric Sutphin, who had been searching for the escapee on a walking trial near Virginia Tech.
During the trial, jurors listened to testimonies about the victims’ lives. The defense argued that Morva was simply eccentric with a personality disorder.
It took the jury around three hours to conclude that the assailant should receive the death penalty as opposed to life in prison.
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