Amid mounting concerns that Virginia may execute an innocent man on April 25, a diverse group of religious, political, and business leaders are calling on Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to grant clemency to Ivan Teleguz (pictured). Their pleas for clemency stress that Teleguz was convicted based upon highly unreliable testimony and sentenced to death based upon false testimony that he had been involved in a fabricated Pennsylvania murder that had, in fact, never occurred. Teleguz was convicted and sentenced to death on charges that he had hired Michael Hetrick to kill Stephanie Sipe, Teleguz’s ex-girlfriend. But as a letter from more than two dozen prominent conservatives—including former Virginia Attorney General Mark Earley and former Republican Party of Virginia executive director Shaun Kenney—urging McAuliffe to spare Teleguz explains, the case against him “relied almost entirely on dubious testimony” from the confessed murderer and two other witnesses who “later admitted that they lied in court and swore under oath that Teleguz was not involved in Sipe’s murder.” Hetrick, they write, “had incentive to lie, since he received a deal sparing him from the death penalty in exchange for his testimony against Teleguz.” He is now serving a life sentence. The others “confessed to giving false testimony at trial because of threats from the prosecutor and promises she made to lessen the severity of their sentences.” Teleguz’s clemency petition is also supported by former Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich, the Virginia Council of Churches, Virgin CEO Richard Branson, and more than 100,000 signers of a Change.org petition. The Richmond Times-Dispatch also urged McAuliffe to grant clemency, writing that “McAuliffe does not have to decide whether Teleguz is guilty or not. He merely has to decide whether new information casts doubt on the conviction.” The paper wrote, “justice still will be served” by having Teleguz serve life in prison if he turns out to be guilty, but if the state executes an innocent man, “Virginia will have committed a great crime.” The editorial concluded: “Given those two alternatives, the governor seems to face an easy choice.” [UPDATE: On April 20, 2017, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe granted clemency to Ivan Teleguz.]
(C. Drinan, “Three Reasons Why Virginia May Execute an Innocent Man,” Huffington Post, April 13, 2017; Editorial, “Gov. McAuliffe should grant clemency for Ivan Teleguz,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 13, 2017; T. Wheatley, “McAuliffe should grant Teleguz clemency,” The Washington Post, April 14, 2017; “Conservatives Urge Virginia Governor to Spare Inmate’s Life,” Associated Press, April 11, 2017; V. Wood, “Ivan Teleguz’s attorneys react to widespread plea to halt his execution,” WHSV, April 13, 2017; “Press Release: Attorneys for Ivan Teleguz, who Virginia plans to execute on April 25 despite evidence of innocence, file petition with Governor McAuliffe requesting clemency,” April 7, 2017.) See Clemency and New Voices.
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