Kaine considers fate of condemned killer

The life of condemned killer Edward Nathaniel Bell is in the hands of Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who has been asked to stop tonight's scheduled execution.

Bell, 43, a Jamaican national, is set to die by injection at 9 p.m. for the Oct. 29, 1999, capital murder of Winchester police Sgt. Ricky L. Timbrook, 32, who was shot once in the head while pursuing Bell on foot.

At the time Timbrook was killed, his wife was pregnant with their first child. In 2002, Winchester's public-safety center was named in his honor.

Kaine, who personally opposes capital punishment, has let eight executions proceed and commuted one death sentence since taking office. Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said yesterday that there would be no comment on Bell's clemency petition.

J. Tucker Martin, spokesman for Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell, said that, "without exception, every court to review Bell's claims has rejected his assertions of innocence and mental retardation."

"The jury's decision that Bell should receive the death penalty for his senseless murder of . . . Timbrook also has been upheld by all the courts. We continue to offer our thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of this brave law-enforcement officer who was killed in the line of duty," Martin said.

In the clemency petition filed with Kaine last month, Bell's lawyers contend that evidence available now -- and not considered by jurors or the appeals courts -- shows that his guilt is not established beyond a reasonable doubt.

They point out that a federal judge ruled that Bell's trial lawyers performed so poorly during the sentencing part of Bell's trial that their performance did not meet minimal constitutional standards.

The same federal judge, however, ruled that the Virginia Supreme Court reasonably held that even had Bell's lawyers performed adequately, it was still probable Bell would have been sentenced to death.

Lawyers also ask Kaine to spare Bell's life because he is mentally disabled and point out that no court has given Bell a hearing to prove his disability. The U.S. Supreme Court has barred the execution of the mentally disabled.

Beth Panilaitis, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, says, "There are too many issues within this case regarding Bell's mental capacity, deficient performance by his counsel, and doubts about his guilt to carry out the execution."

Others asking that Bell's life be spared include Amnesty International.

The execution is set to be carried out in the death house at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. It would be the 103rd in the state since executions resumed in the U.S. in 1977. Only Texas, with 431, has executed more.

An execution protest has been set for 4 to 6 p.m. outside the governor's office at Broad and 11th streets in Richmond. Vigils have been set at various locations across the state and this evening outside the prison in Jarratt.

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or .