Opinion ID: 1330634
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Excessiveness or Disproportionality.

Text: In Stamper v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. 260, 283-84, 257 S.E.2d 808, 824 (1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 972, 100 S.Ct. 1666, 64 L.Ed.2d 249 (1980), we said that the test is whether penalty juries in this jurisdiction impose the death sentence for conduct similar to that of the defendant and at the same time, in Coppola v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. at 256, 257 S.E.2d at 806, we said our consideration of similar cases should be limited generally to cases arising in Virginia under our revised death penalty statutes. We have reviewed five previous death penalties imposed for murder during the commission of, or subsequent to, rape. [5] Considering the ghastly conduct of Justus, the condition of the victim at the time, and the vicious nature of the crime, we conclude that the sentence was neither excessive nor disproportionate.