Powell granted stay of execution
By Tara Donaldson
The day before he was sentenced to die, Paul Warner Powell was granted a stay of execution by the U.S. Supreme Court.Powell had been sentenced to death for the 1999 murder of his friend, 16-year-old Stacie Reed of Manassas.
On Jan. 29, 1999, Powell, who was 22 at the time, confronted Reed in her home, angry because her boyfriend was black. The two scuffled and Powell stabbed and killed her.
He then waited for her 14-year-old sister, Kristie, to arrive home and when she did, he raped her, stabbed her and slit her throat.
Kristie Reed survived and identified Powell as the murderer.
He was convicted and sentenced to death but the Virginia Supreme Court overturned that ruling.
However, in 2001, Powell wrote a taunting letter to Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert, bragging about his crime.
In the letter, Powell said he had tried to rape Stacie Reed before he killed her and that rape confession allowed Ebert to retry Powell.
He was again sentenced to death and this time, the state's high court upheld the ruling.
Virginia law allows prisoners to choose between lethal injection and the electric chair and Powell opted for the electric chair.
His execution was scheduled for 9 p.m. Tuesday, July 14, but on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a temporary stay of execution.
The stay will give Powell's attorneys a chance to argue that the second trial amounted to double jeopardy and was therefore unconstitutional. The justices will then decide whether or not to hear the appeal. If they do not, the execution will be rescheduled.