Paul Warner Powell

Other details

Paul Warner Powell was an imprisoned Virginia capital defendant.

Background

In January 1999, Robert Culver and his fiancée, Lorraine Reed, lived together in a small brick home in Manassas, Virginia, with Reed's two daughters: Stacey Lynn Reed and Kristie Erin Reed.

Powell went to the Reeds' home and remained there alone with Kristie while Stacey was not at home.

Powell was aware that Stacey was dating a black classmate, Sean Wilkerson.

Powell was described as a self-avowed racist and white supremacist, and he objected to Stacey dating Wilkerson.

Timeline

• January 28, 1999 — Powell went to the Reeds' home; Stacey left home to go to work and Powell remained there alone with Kristie.
• January 29, 1999 — Kristie called her mother by telephone and informed her that Powell refused to leave the home; Kristie arrived home from school and found Powell in her house; Stacey's body was later found in her sister's room and Kristie was later found in the basement.
• January 30, 1999 — Police officers arrested Powell at the home of a friend and located items in a blue sports bag that belonged to Powell.
• November 2, 2001 — Powell made a statement to a police officer describing Stacey's murder.
• October 21, 2001 — Powell wrote an obscenity-laced letter to the Commonwealth's Attorney that described his actions before and during Stacey's murder.
• August 2000 — Powell was sentenced to death.
• 2001 — The Virginia Supreme Court overturned Powell's death sentence.
• April 2002 — Powell filed a motion to dismiss the December 3, 2001 indictment.
• May 6, 2002 — The trial court overruled Powell's motion to dismiss the indictment.
• May 17, 2002 — Powell filed a second motion to dismiss the indictment.
• June 5, 2002 — The trial court held a hearing on Powell's second motion to dismiss.
• July 3, 2002 — The trial court entered an order overruling Powell's second motion to dismiss.
• January 13, 2003 — Powell's second trial commenced.
• 2003 — A jury convicted Powell of capital murder and fixed his punishment at death; Powell was sentenced to death after the penalty determination phase.
• May 8, 2003 — The trial court held a sentencing hearing and received a pre-sentence report and victim impact evidence from Stacey's mother.
• Nov. 8, 2005 — The Virginia Supreme Court rejected Powell's habeas corpus claims in a previously entered order.
• 2006 — The Virginia Supreme Court granted rehearing limited to a claim about counsel's failure to object to an NCIC form entry, and later dismissed the petition.
• Apr 15, 2009 — A federal panel denied Powell's appeal.
• July 11, 2007 — The execution was stayed by U.S. Eastern District Judge T.S. Ellis III until further order.
• March 18, 2010 — Powell was executed by electrocution in Virginia.

The offence

Stacey Lynn Reed was murdered in her home on January 29, 1999. Stacey was found dead after being stabbed in the heart.

The autopsy described a single entrance wound and two exit wounds indicating that the knife had been withdrawn, at least partially, and then reinserted into the heart. Stacey's death was caused by a stab wound to her chest, and the wound pattern indicated the blade pierced her heart and was twisted upon withdrawal. Her injuries included bruises on her head, chest, abdomen, back, arms, and legs; abrasions on her face; a stab wound to the back; and cuts and scrapes on the left forearm. The autopsy also revealed that Stacey had been struck on the head with sufficient force to cause bleeding inside her scalp and in the membranes surrounding her brain prior to death. These injuries were not consistent with Stacey merely having fallen during a struggle.

Kristie Erin Reed was raped and then attacked. Kristie was 14 years old. Powell forced Kristie to go to the basement, ordered her to remove her clothes, and then raped her on the floor.

After raping Kristie, Powell tied her feet together with shoelaces taken from Kristie's shoes and tied her arms behind her back. Someone knocked on the door to the house while Powell was upstairs, leaving Kristie naked and bound on the basement floor. Kristie was able to free her hands, tried to scoot across the floor and hide beneath the basement steps, and Powell returned to the basement, removed her eyeglasses, and strangled her until she was unconscious. Powell stabbed Kristie in the stomach, and the knife stopped within a centimeter of her aorta. He slashed her in her neck numerous times, requiring 61 sutures to repair the knife wounds. Kristie had multiple stab wounds to her neck and abdomen, and wounds on her wrists.

Kristie was able to tell police officers and paramedics that Paul Powell was her assailant.

Investigation

After police reached Kristie, an officer asked who had done this to her, and Kristie mouthed two words: "Paul Powell."

During the initial investigation, Powell consented to several interviews with police officers.

In one interview, Powell stated that he had been at the Reeds' home on January 29, 1999 and that Stacey was dead because "she was stupid." Powell told police officers that he and Stacey had an argument because she had a black boyfriend and that Powell "didn't agree with interracial dating." Powell claimed that during the argument Stacey attacked him and scratched his face, and then he pushed her to the floor. He claimed Stacey attacked him again and that she "got stuck" on his knife.

Powell initially denied raping Kristie, and in a second statement he admitted that he raped Kristie. The detective who interviewed Powell testified that Powell stated he had to kill Kristie because "she was the only witness and he would have to go to jail."

Police officers arrested Powell on January 30, 1999 at the home of a friend and located a blue sports bag that belonged to Powell.

A nine-millimeter semiautomatic pistol with a full magazine containing 10 Winchester nine-millimeter cartridges was in the bag. The bag also contained a survival knife with a five and one-half inch blade inside a black sheath and a butterfly knife with a five-inch blade.

The survival knife sheath contained a dark reddish-brown stain. The DNA profile obtained from the stain on the sheath was consistent with the DNA profile of Stacey Reed and different from the DNA profile of Kristie Reed and Paul Powell. The probability of selecting an unrelated individual with a matching DNA profile at the Powerplex loci was approximately one in 1.1 billion in the Caucasian population.

Arrest

Police officers arrested Powell on January 30, 1999 at the home of a friend.

Trial

Powell's first capital murder conviction was overturned on appeal. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove that Powell had attempted to rape Stacey as required for capital murder.

Powell was convicted again and sentenced to death.

During the second trial, voir dire occurred in panels of five potential jurors. The trial court asked whether any juror had acquired information about the alleged offense or the accused from news media or other sources in this matter, and the five panel members indicated they had not. The Commonwealth further asked whether jurors could set aside information that jogged their memory and render a verdict based solely on what they heard in the courtroom; the five panel members indicated they could do so.

Powell was twenty years old at the time of the crimes.

During the guilt-determination phase, Powell moved to strike evidence based on the argument that the Commonwealth had not presented sufficient evidence to corroborate Powell's confession in an October 21, 2001 letter about the attempted rape of Stacey. The trial court denied the motion to strike, and Powell elected not to offer any evidence. After two hours of deliberation, the jury found Powell guilty of capital murder and confirmed unanimity after a poll of the jury.

Sentencing

In the penalty determination phase, the Commonwealth presented evidence of Powell's criminal record, including three convictions for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, two larceny convictions, and convictions for the abduction, rape, and attempted capital murder of Kristie.

The Commonwealth also presented evidence of Powell's extreme racist views, including testimony and other evidence that Powell had tortured cats when he was younger, and evidence that he told an investigator he wanted to purchase a gun to "Kill somebody. Kill a lot of somebodies.... Just for something to do." The Commonwealth also presented evidence that Powell admired Charles Manson and Adolf Hitler, saying that "[t]hey were cool."

The Commonwealth also presented evidence that Powell wrote an abusive letter to Stacey's mother in which he included a pornographic picture of a woman who resembled Stacey.

Powell presented evidence from his parents and younger brother, a social worker, a psychologist, and a probation officer, addressing his upbringing and transfer of custody from his mother to the Department of Youth and Family Services following his juvenile offenses.

A psychologist testified that Powell's home environment was "toxic." The psychologist testified that after his incarceration Powell had received medication to help stabilize his mood and that while medicated Powell "[m]edication to help stabilize his mood," and that while medicated Powell "has not had any serious disciplinary infractions." The psychologist did not offer a specific diagnosis but testified that Powell's clinical history suggested an "anti-social personality disorder" and that his behavior as a child suggested an "under controlled temperament." The psychologist testified that the medication Powell had received in the past was used for "manic depressive illness which is now called bi-polar disorder and for certain forms of serious depression."

After ninety minutes of deliberation, the jury returned a unanimous verdict sentencing Powell to death, finding the sentence was predicated on both future dangerousness and vileness aggravating factors.

The jury was also instructed during sentencing and indicated in its verdict that it found, beyond a reasonable doubt after consideration of Powell's history and background, that there was a probability he would commit criminal acts of violence constituting a continuing serious threat to society, and that Powell's conduct was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman involving "depravity of mind" and "aggravated battery to the victim beyond the minimum necessary to accomplish the act of murder."

The trial court held a sentencing hearing on May 8, 2003 and received a pre-sentence report and victim impact evidence from Stacey's mother. Powell's counsel argued that imposition of the death sentence was not appropriate and that a life sentence without possibility of parole was adequate punishment. The Commonwealth responded that Powell had shown no remorse following his conviction in the first trial. The trial court then confirmed the jury's sentence of death.

Appeals

Powell v. Commonwealth, 552 S.E.2d 344 (Va. 2001) (Direct Appeal-Reversed): The Virginia Supreme Court reversed Powell's first capital murder conviction based on insufficiency of evidence to prove attempted rape of Stacey.

Powell v. Commonwealth, 590 S.E.2d 537 (Va. 2004) (Direct Appeal): The Virginia Supreme Court affirmed Powell's second capital murder conviction and death sentence.

Powell v. Warden of Sussex I State Prison, 634 S.E.2d 289 (Va. 2006) (State Habeas): The Virginia Supreme Court dismissed Powell's habeas petition.

Powell v. Kelly, 562 F.3d 656 (4th Cir. 2009) (Federal Habeas): A federal panel affirmed the denial of Powell's habeas petition.

Other details

Powell wrote letters while incarcerated, including a letter to Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert dated October 21, 2001. The letter included the following verbatim text:

"Mr. Ebert,
Since I have already been indicted on first degree murder and the Va. Supreme Court said that I can't be charged with capital murder again, I figured I would tell you the rest of what happened on Jan. 29, 1999, to show you how stupid all y'all mother fckers are. Y'all should have known that there is more to the story than what I told by what I said. You had it in writing that I planned to kill the whole family. Since I planned to kill the whole family, why would I have fought with Stacie before killing her? She had no idea I was planning to kill everybody and talked and carried on like usual, so I could've stabbed her up at any time because she was unsuspecting.
I had other plans for her before she died. You know I came back to the house after Bobby's lunch break was over and he had went back to work. When I got back, she was on the phone so I went inside and I laid down on the couch. When the cab came to bring me my pager, I ran out of the house and she jumped and got off the phone and came off the porch to see why I ran out of the house like I did. When the cab left we went in the house. I laid on the couch again and she went to her room and got her clothes and went downstairs to do her laundry. When she went downstairs, I got up and shut and locked the back door and went downstairs. We talked while she put her clothes in the wash. We continued talking when she had everything in the wash and I reached over and touched her ti+ and asked if she wanted to fck. She said no, because she had a boyfriend.
I started arguing with her because she had never turned anybody down because of having a boyfriend. We started walking upstairs, arguing the whole time. When we got upstairs we went to her room and she turned the radio off. After she turned the radio off I pushed her onto her bed and grabbed her wrists and pinned her hands down by her head and sat on top of her. I told her that all I wanted to do was fck her and then I would leave and that we could do it the easy way or the hard way.
She said she would fck me so I got up. After I got up, she got up and started fighting with me and clawed me face. We wrestled around a little and then I slammed her to the floor. When she hit the floor I sat on top of her and pinned her hands down again. She said she would fck me and I told her that if she tried fighting with me again, I would kill her.
When I got up she stood up and kept asking me why I was doing this and all I kept saying is take your clothes off. Finally she undid her pants and pulled them down to her ankles. She was getting ready to take them the rest of the way off and the phone rang. When she heard the phone she pulled her pants back up and said she had to answer the phone. I pushed her back and said no. She said that she wouldn't say anything about me being there and I told her no and to take her clothes off.
She tried to get out of the room again and I pushed her back and pulled out my knife. I guess she thought I was just trying to scare her and that I wouldn't really stab her because she tried to leave again. When she got to me and tried to squeeze between me and the door jam I stabbed her. When I stabbed her, she fell back against the door jam and just looked at me with a shocked look on her face.
When I pulled the knife out she stumbled a couple steps and fell in her sister's room. I walked over and looked at her. I saw that she was still breathing so I stepped over her body and into the bedroom. Then I put my foot on her throat and stepped up so she couldn't breath. Then I stepped down and started stomping on her throat. Then I stepped back onto her throat and moved up and down putting more pressure to make it harder to breathe.
When I didn't see her breathing anymore, I left the room and got some iced tea and sat on the couch and smoked a cigarette. You know the rest of what happened after that point.
I would like to thank you for saving my life. I know you're probably wondering how you saved my life, so I'll tell you. You saved my life by fcking up. There were 2 main fck-ups you made that saved me. The first was the way you worded my capital murder indictment. The second was the comment you made in your closing argument when you said we won't know because he won't tell us.
One more time, thank you! Now y'all know everything that happened in that house at 8023 McLean St. on Jan. 29, 1999.
I guess I forgot to mention these events when I was being questioned. Ha Ha! Sike! I knew what y'all would be able to prove in court, so I told you what you already knew. Stacey was dead and no one else was in the house so I knew ya'll would never know everything she went through unless she came back to life.
Since the Supreme Court said I can't be charged with capital murder again, I can tell you what I just told you because I no longer have to worry about the death penalty. And y'all are supposed to be so goddamn smart. I can't believe that y'all thought I told you everything.
Well, it's too late now. Nothing you can do about it now so fck you you fat, ccksucking, cm guzzling, gutter slut. I guess I'll see your bi+ch a$$ on Dec. 18 at trial because I'm not pleading to shi+. Tell the family to be ready to testify and relive it all again because if I have to suffer for the next 50 or 60 years or however long then they can suffer the torment of reliving what happened for a couple of days. I'm gone. Fck you and anyone like you or that associates with people like you. I almost forgot, fck your god, too. Jesus knows how to suck a dck real good. Did you teach him? Well, die a slow, painful, miserable death. See ya punk.
Do you just hate yourself for being so stupid and for fckin' up and saving me?
Sincerely, “Paul Powell.”
"

Powell made a statement to a police officer on November 2, 2001 describing Stacey's murder. The statement included the following verbatim text:

"She walked over to and uh I pushed her back. And then she walked over to me again I think and then I pulled my knife out and you know, and she looked at me you know. I guess she thought I wouldn't stab her or whatever. So she tried to leave and go to answer the phone. That's that. . . . .
[After she got stabbed,] [s] he just looked at me for a minute you know and then you know, she ... she was surprised and them um, I pulled the knife out, you know she stumbled a few steps, fell down in Christy's doorway. I just walked over and looked at her. And I stepped over top of her and stepped on her throat and then stood on her throat and then stomped on her throat . . . then I stood on her throat until I didn't see her breathing no more. . . . .What I'm saying I was stepping on her. I'm saying I put all my weight on her. I'm saying that I put my foot there you know and then I lifted myself up to where I was standing on top of her. Started stomping on her throat. And then man, I just stood on her throat again until I didn't see her breathe no more."

Powell sent a letter to Lorraine Reed with an enclosed photograph of a partially nude woman that resembled Stacey. Powell wrote:

"Lorraine,
I was wondering if you might be able to help me think of something. I found this picture in a magazine and it kinda looks like someone I know or used to know, but I can't think of the persons name. I think you know the person too, so I was wondering if you could tell me the name of the person this picture resembles so I can quit racking my brain trying to think of it? I would appreciate it. If you don't know the person I'm talking about, ask Kristie or Kelly Welch because I know they know who I'm thinking of. If you talk to the person I'm talking about, please give her my address and tell her to write me."

Powell sent a letter to a friend stating:

"About when you asked me why I wouldn't do to you what I did to Stacie, I couldn't ever hurt you because you mean to much to me. See Stacie didn't mean anything to me. She was a n i**er lover and some of her wannabe skin head friends were supposed to kill me. That's part of the reason why she died. Almost everything that happened in that house was planned. The only thing that wasn't planned was trying to f*ck Kristie. What was supposed to happen was, Stacie was supposed to die, and did, Kristie was supposed to die and then I was going to wait for their mom and stepdad to get home and I was going to kill them and then I was going to take their moms truck and then I was gonna go to North Carolina and knock this dude off that stole all of my clothes and everything else I owned. I had been thinking about doing it for along time but I could never bring myself to do it. I don't know what happened to make me finally do it. I feel bad for doing it. Stacie was a good kid."

Powell also sent the following letter to the Commonwealth's Attorney of Prince William County:

"Fat Ebert,
What's up you fat head fcker? I'm just writing to tell you, since you want to kill me so Goddamn bad for killing your n ier loving whore, set up a court date closer than Oct. 25 so I can go ahead and get this bullshi+ over with and plead guilty so you can kill me and get it over with, unless you want to let me out so I can kill the rest of the n ier lovers and all the n i**ers, Jews, Spcs and everybody else in this fcked up country that's not white. That includes you because you are a n i**er loving Jewish fcking fa**ot. I will see you in hell bi+ch. your buddy, Paul Powell - P.S. Watch your back!"

Powell was also described as having told police officers he wanted to purchase a gun to "Kill somebody. Kill a lot of somebodies . . . just for something to do." He also told police officers:

"[e]verybody that ain't white shouldn't-he needs to die."

During Powell's execution, he declined to make a last statement. He was pronounced dead at 9:09 p.m.

Witnesses to Powell's execution included Lorraine Reed Whoberry and Kristie.

Outcome

Powell executed by electrocution in Virginia on March 18, 2010.