143:. He was the only employee there from 3 a.m. onwards. Casel Lucas, an inmate who befriended Lovitt in prison testified that Lovitt told him that he hid in a bathroom until he knew there would be no other people in the pool hall. He then went to jimmy open the cash register but was disturbed by Dicks. Lovitt had previously worked as a cook at the pool hall. The manager, Amy Hudon, said that he had helped her pry open the cash register with scissors a few months before the murder. Lovitt ceased working there about two months before the murder.
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Dicks. Lovitt's cousin testified that Lovitt had come to his house on the night of 18 November carrying a metal box, which they opened with a screwdriver and split the money. Lovitt told police that he had seen a
Hispanic man stabbing Dicks, and then took the cash box, which was lying on the floor of the pool hall. A forensic scientist testified that the cash box that was at the cousin's house came from the cash register at the pool hall.
234:... the death penalty has to be administered with the utmost caution and reserved for the gravest offenses. This is not that kind of case. Robin Lovitt maintains his innocence, and evidence that might prove his innocence has been destroyed. I'm very distressed by that. ... Society had better be absolutely certain before they put someone to death who is maintaining his innocence. I feel very passionately about that.
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and the testimony of witnesses, one of whom was a prisoner. Jose
Alverado was only 80% certain that the man he saw fighting behind the counter was Lovitt. Witness testimony was contradictory and according to Lovitt and his lawyers, the evidence in the case just as easily points to Jose Alverado and
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Police found that the cash register had been broken into and one of its money boxes was missing. A canine unit located a pair of bloodied, orange-handled scissors nearby that were identified as being a pair that were kept next to the cash register. DNA testing showed that the blood on them was from
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Jose
Alverado and Carlos Clavell entered the pool hall at 3:25 a.m. and witnessed two men fighting behind the counter. One of the men fighting proceeded to stab the other with a silver-colored weapon and then kicked him as he lay on the ground. Alverado and Clavell said that they ran from the
268:... The actions of an agent of the Commonwealth, in a manner contrary to the express direction of the law, comes at the expense of a defendant facing society's most severe and final sanction. ... The commonwealth must ensure that every time this ultimate sanction is carried out, it is done fairly.
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had the evidence in the Lovitt case destroyed. Two other clerks said they told McCarthy not to order the destruction of the evidence because it was a capital case. McCarthy told them that he thought he was authorized to destroy the trial exhibits after Lovitt's convictions were affirmed by the
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On May 2, 2001, a new law came into effect in
Virginia that required all biological evidence in capital cases to be sent to a state laboratory for safe-keeping. But less than three weeks later, Robert C. McCarthy, Chief Deputy Clerk of the
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have all denied his appeals for overturning his conviction since the evidence has been destroyed. The 4th
Circuit Court of Appeals said they would only overturn if it could be shown that McCarthy acted in "bad faith."
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Robin Lovitt would have been the first person executed by the
Commonwealth of Virginia since James Edward Reid on September 9, 2004. It would have been the 1000th execution in the United States since the
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It was revealed during the penalty phase of the trial that Lovitt had been charged with assault and placed in protective supervision at age of 11 in
October 1975. Then in August 1979 he was charged with
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214:'s Washington Semester Program in pursuing Lovitt's appeals. Lovitt was also represented by the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center. When Kirkland began representing Lovitt,
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to give themselves more time to consider his appeal. They decided not to hear the case again, resulting in a new execution date of
November 30, 2005 being set.
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As of
December 2022, Robin Lovitt is incarcerated at the Buckingham Correctional Center. His Virginia inmate identification number is 1171821.
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Lovitt appealed his conviction on the basis that there is no physical evidence linking him to the crime. He claims the entire case is based on
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Lovitt was arrested on
November 24, 1998, and convicted by a jury of capital murder during the commission of a robbery on September 20, 1999.
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commuted Lovitt's sentence to life in prison without parole. He said that the destruction of evidence was improper and:
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In October 2000, Lovitt's case was taken up on a pro bono basis by the law firm of
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His execution was originally scheduled for July 11, 2005, but was stayed by the
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It was the first time Warner had granted clemency during his governorship.
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on November 29, 2005, the day before he was scheduled to be executed by
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https://vadoc.virginia.gov/general-public/offender-locator/
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U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
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United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
378:"Death comes to Virginia--but we could turn it away"
97:. Lovitt was granted clemency by Virginia Governor
348:National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
257:Little more than 24 hours before the execution
441:Recipients of American gubernatorial clemency
364:. Richmond Times-Dispatch. November 22, 2005.
178:Casel Lucas, the prisoner who testified is a
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372:. Richmond Times-Dispatch. November 4, 2005.
354:"Va. gov. grants clemency for condemned man"
135:Clayton Dicks was a manager at an Arlington
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66:Learn how and when to remove this message
436:Prisoners sentenced to death by Virginia
147:pool hall to a service station and rang
29:This article includes a list of general
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314:Capital punishment in the United States
81:(born November 6, 1963) is a convicted
431:People convicted of murder by Virginia
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123:that new capital punishment laws were
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380:. The Free Lance-Star. July 3, 2005.
182:, who had been convicted of a dozen
175:Carlos Clavell being the murderers.
416:American people convicted of murder
238:The Supreme Court of Virginia, the
224:Pepperdine University School of Law
252:Supreme Court of the United States
35:it lacks sufficient corresponding
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370:"Jailhouse witness scrutinized"
228:United States Solicitor General
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362:"Warner facing tough decision"
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