The execution of William Morva, the man who shot two people and has a history of mental illness, will not be stayed, said Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Thursday, July 6.
Morva is scheduled to die from lethal injection the same day, for the murder of a security guard and deputy. Supporters of the 35-year-old said he suffers from delusions and believed he was going to be killed.
In a video posted in May, seeking clemency, family and friends of Morva recount a likeable teenager who developed clear signs of mental illness after dropping out of high school just weeks before graduating.
Morva attended his father’s funeral barefoot, began eating raw buffalo meat, and unsettled friends and family with claims of mystical knowledge and a belief that he was a Jesus-type figure.
In 2005, Morva was was jailed on accusations that he tried to rob a convenience store when three men ran up to the automatic door, which did not open, and then ran away.
During a year in jail awaiting trial, Morva told his mother in a telephone call that he believed that he was being denied needed medical treatment and would die.
“Look, don’t you understand that they are trying to keep me in here? Somebody wants me to die, and I don’t know who it is,” Morva told his mother in a call from jail.
Morva was later taken to a hospital to treat an injury, and attacked a sheriff’s deputy. He then stole the deputy’s gun and shot unarmed security guard Derrick McFarland.
While on the run for approximately 36 hours, Morva shot and killed deputy Eric Sutphin before being found in a ditch with the deputy’s gun nearby.
“William is mentally ill. He has never understood, completely, exactly what he did, the ramifications of what he did, the lives he has upset,” the man’s mother, Elizabeth Morva, said in the video.
Morva’s supporters urged Gov. McAuliffe to commute his sentence to life without parole. McAuliffe said Thursday that the execution would proceed.
They claimed that jurors were not aware of the severity of Morva’s mental illness and were told he suffered from a personality disorder that resulted in “odd beliefs,” but not delusions.
Morva has since been diagnosed with delusional disorder, a schizophrenia-like condition that makes it impossible to distinguish between delusions and reality, his attorneys said.
Prosecutors have dismissed those claims, saying it was “highly inaccurate” to suggest that jurors didn’t have a full picture of Morva’s mental health.
