25 Facts About William Morva

William Charles Morva was an American-Hungarian man convicted of the 2006 shooting deaths of Sheriff's Deputy Corporal Eric Sutphin, 40, and hospital security guard Derrick McFarland, 32, in the town of Blacksburg, Virginia.

William Morva was sentenced to death for the crime and was executed on July 6,2017.

On June 4,2009, an appeal for William Morva was made to the Virginia Supreme Court.

Since William Morva's lawyers filed his clemency petition, several local and international groups and 28 Virginia lawmakers called on Governor McAuliffe to halt the execution of William Morva.

The daughter of sheriff's deputy Sutphin, one of the two men slain by William Morva, expressed her support for his clemency petition and asked the Governor to spare his life.

William Morva was being held at the Greensville Correctional Center, in Jarratt, Virginia.

William Morva lived near Midlothian, Virginia, until his father, Charles, retired and moved the family to Blacksburg.

Charles William Morva worked as a substitute teacher at Blacksburg High School and barista at a local coffee shop until moving back to the Richmond area with his wife Elizabeth.

Christina Gardner, who attended high school with William Morva, reported that he had a difficult relationship with his father.

The Blacksburg police later that night arrested William Morva for attempted armed robbery.

William Morva took the deputy's gun and shot Derrick McFarland, a hospital security guard running to the deputy's aid.

William Morva was survived by his wife Tamara and his nine-year-old twin daughters.

William Morva was found hiding in a briar patch about 150 yards from where Sutphin was fatally shot.

The trial was to be held at Montgomery County Circuit Court, but William Morva's attorneys argued it would be impossible to find an impartial jury in Montgomery County due to the publicity William Morva received since his escape and the subsequent murders.

On March 13,2008, William Morva was sentenced to death in an Abingdon, Virginia, court.

William Morva made an appeal in June 2009 to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

On July 24,2009, he was called to appear in Christiansburg by video conferencing to testify for the defense in a trial for his brother Michael William Morva, who was charged with helping him escape from the Montgomery County Jail nearly three years before.

On June 20,2017, William Morva's lawyers filed his clemency request with Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe.

NAMI highlighted the fact that William Morva had been diagnosed with a long-standing mental illness that was initially misdiagnosed and that the jury did not hear that William Morva's delusions led to his crimes.

William Morva asked the Governor to fully review evidence of Morva's delusions at the time he committed the crimes until the present.

On July 3,2017, Virginia delegate Mark Levine wrote that the execution of William Morva would be a grave injustice.

William Morva's case raises ethical questions about executing those with serious mental illnesses.

Michael denied any connection with William Morva's escape in August 2006 from police custody but was convicted on August 3,2010, and sentenced to three years in prison.

At Michael William Morva's sentencing in 2010, jurors asked the judge to recommend he receive mental health treatment.

Michael William Morva received treatment for his mental illness in prison and was released on May 27,2016, after serving his sentence.