Morva trial opens in Abingdon
Posted Mar04, 2008 at 08:53 AM
Proceedings in William Morva's capital murder trial were scheduled to get under way at 9 a.m. this morning in Washington County Circuit Court in Abingdon.
Morva is brought to the courthouse under tight security.
Morva, 26, is accused of fatally shooting Derrick McFarland, a security guard at Montgomery Regional Hospital, the morning of Aug. 20, 2006, as he escaped from a deputy's custody at the hospital and then fatally shooting Cpl. Eric Sutphin of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office the next morning.
Tech canceled classes on the first day of school because of the manhunt, which lasted about 37 hours. Blacksburg police captured Morva the afternoon of Aug. 21.
Morva faces a third capital murder charge because he is accused of killing more than one person in less than three years.
Montgomery County Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs decided to move the trial out of Montgomery County after three days of jury selection in September.After the required pool of potential jurors had been chosen, Grubbs said it was apparent to him that too many in the jury pool had ties to people involved with the case.
It is the first trial moved out of Montgomery County in nearly 30 years.
Morva is charged with three counts of capital murder, two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of capital murder, escape with force and assault and battery of a law enforcement officer.
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