Court adjourned for today
Posted Mar12, 2008 at 03:43 PM
After the defense announced that it had rested its case, Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs told jurors it would be a good time to let them go for the day. They were instructed to return at 8:45 a.m., when they will hear their instructions for the sentencing phase and closing statements from the prosecution and the defense.
Morva's mother, Elizabeth Morva, has had to stay outside the courtroom for the entire trial in case she was later called to testify. The defense did not call her and she was finally allowed in, just before court adjourned for the day.
Attendance today has been high, with several Montgomery County deputies in plainclothes sitting on the prosecution's side of the room and many of Morva's friends choosing to sit on the defense side after they had testified for him.
Several of Morva's supporters gasped today when they learned that he is kept locked up for 23 hours a day at the New River Valley Regional Jail.
Comments
[March 12, 2008 4:37 PM]
Other JohnI'm surprised that Morva supporter's were surprised that he was locked up for 23 hours a day. He killed a Sherriff and a security guard, so I think getting the one hour of not being locked up is pretty generous. And besides, how many supporters can there be for a now convicted double murderer? I can understand close friends and family, but who else would be supportive of this guy all things considered? I used to favor the death penalty pretty strongly for cases like this, but now I firmly beleive that life in prison without any chance of breathing free air again is a far more fitting punishment. Getting a lethal injection in 10 years or so is far too easy an escape, but a lifetime of being continually reminded that he killed 2 people and will never see what it's like outside prison walls again, that's a good start. He should just be thankful the officers who found him hiding near the Huckleberry didn't shoot first and then arrest him. He took 2 lives away from good men dedicated to serving the public and wrecked both of their families and devestated their friends and people who knew them, not to mention the toll he placed on his own family and friends. However this turns out, he's still getting off easy.
[March 12, 2008 4:44 PM]
JoeBut they didn't gasp to learn that he had murdered in cold blood not one, but two fathers? That he had taken two husbands, two sons and two great friends from the ones that loved them??? Instead they choose to defend this monster...How do people like this sleep at night???
[March 12, 2008 4:52 PM]
MattWilliam Morva confined 23 hours a day? Forgive me if I can't join his friends in gasping over the horror of it all.
That's still a total of 24 more hours a day more than either of Morva's victims have...
That's still a total of 24 more hours a day that Morva draws breath while the families and friends of the victims continue to mourn, suffer and agonize...
Does Morva feel sympathy or remorse for anyone other than himself?
[March 12, 2008 7:47 PM]
Jen23hrs of lock up per day sounds great. He should be happy that the officers who found him on the side of the Huckleberry had more restraint and didn't shoot him right where he stood. He doesn't deserve freedom. I'm not a big supporter of the death penalty, but I think he deserves it. He has yet to show any remorse for what he's done. I feel for the Sutphin and McFarland families. No one can know the agony they are going through. For them, I hope this comes to an end soon and that they can find some closure and peace in their lives.
[March 12, 2008 9:42 PM]
just meNo way that anyone should be surprised that he's locked up all day. But before we chim in on how much he deserves the death penalty - consider this: The R/T reporter that has taken us through this horrible et of circumstances has done an absolutely wonderful job. She has been unbiased, fair, consistent and full of quality information. In that, all of the above reference the pain and suffering of the families. Mr. Morva has a mom too. She's there and she too is about to lose a son through no fault of her own. Is the death penalty appropriate? Did all of this not start because he didn't like jail. Maybe that would be a better sentence, at least for mom.
[March 12, 2008 11:56 PM]
KyleI remember when William Morva used to protest the death penalty at Amnesty International vigils in high school. Now he is facing the death penalty. Oh the irony of it all... I would rather crawl 100 yards through broken glass then have to pay my tax dollars to keep this waste of oxygen alive until he is 80. The electric chair is an easy out for this creep.
[March 13, 2008 8:39 AM]
JoeI'll donate $$$ for the syringe - then he won't have any worries about being locked up all day
[March 13, 2008 9:40 AM]
HocheMorva is NOT mentally ill. He is evil, or more exact, he is or was under the influence and control of evil forces. I mean real evil, not some imagined power. Satan has power over us all. Until we recognize this power and learn to overcome it, people like young college co-eds, will die.