Powell, 31, was sentenced to death in the 1999 slaying of 16-year-old Stacie Reed. He also raped and attempted to kill her 14-year-old sister Kristie the same day.
After his conviction in 2000, the Virginia State Supreme Court overturned that decision, saying prosecutors could not prove Powell intended to rob or rape Stacie before he killed her.
Afterward Powell wrote a taunting letter to prosecutors admitting that he attempted to rape Stacie before he killed her, and was indicted again, this time on the charge of murder in the commission of an attempted rape.
He was found guilty in 2003 and was again sentenced to death.
Since then state and federal courts have repeatedly rejected his double jeopardy claims that he was tried twice for the same crime.
A fascinating case if ever there were one. Paul Powell is the kind of killer who would test the resolve of many a death penalty abolitionist. But apparently what happened in the courts is a bit unusual. First he was convicted of rape and murder, which was overturned, then he was convicted of murder and rape. No double jeopardy there, huh?
I'm opposed to the death penalty and I'm especially opposed to it when the government has to circumvent their own rules in order to achieve it.
What's your opinion? Do you think Paul Powell deserves to die? What do you think about the letters? After writing the most vile and taunting admissions of his wrongdoing to the prosecutor, seemingly remorseless, he more recently wrote quite moving things to the family of the victims expressing what sounds like sincere remorse. Does all that have anything to do with whether he deserves to die or not?
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