Entries tagged with “Mark Lawlor”
Issues
Mar 18, 2020
Virginia Death Row Shrinks to 2 as Prosecutor Drops Death Penalty Against Mark Lawlor
Virginia’s death row shrank to just two prisoners on March 12 as recently elected Fairfax County, Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve T. Descano agreed to a deal to resentence former death-row prisoner Mark Lawlor (pictured) to life without parole. Lawlor was sentenced to death in 2011 for the murder of Genevieve Orange. No one has been sentenced to death in Virginia since. A federal appeals court overturned Lawlor’s death sentence in 2018, holding that the trial judge had…
Issues
Dec 03, 2018
Unanimous Federal Appeals Court Orders New Sentencing for Virginia Death-Row Prisoner
A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has unanimously overturned the death sentence imposed on Virginia death-row prisoner Mark E. Lawlor in 2011, ruling that the trial court had unconstitutionally prevented Lawlor from presenting expert mental health testimony that he posed a low risk of violence in prison if the jury spared his life. On November 27, 2018, the court reversed a decision of a Virginia federal district court that had upheld Lawlor’s…