Opinion ID: 1325306
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Refusal of Funds for an Investigator and Statistical Reports.

Text: Gray contends that the trial court erred in denying his request for a publicly paid investigator. The contention is without merit. See Watkins, 229 Va. at 478, 331 S.E.2d at 430; Stockton, 227 Va. at 140-41, 314 S.E.2d at 382; Quintana v. Commonwealth, 224 Va. 127, 135, 295 S.E.2d 643, 646 (1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1029, 103 S.Ct. 1280, 75 L.Ed.2d 501 (1983); Martin v. Commonwealth, 221 Va. 436, 445-46, 271 S.E.2d 123, 129-30 (1980). A publicly paid investigator for an indigent defendant is an act of judicial grace not constitutionally required. Quintana, 224 Va. at 135, 295 S.E.2d at 646. For the same reasons, we reject Gray's contention that he is entitled to public funds to secure statistical reports regarding the imposition of the death penalty upon blacks accused of murdering whites.
Commonwealth's Attorney's Election to Prosecute Gray Rather Than Melvin Tucker. Both Gray and Melvin Tucker were indicted for capital murder. Afterwards, the Commonwealth's Attorney elected to try only Gray on the charge of capital murder and entered into a plea bargain agreement with Tucker whereby he would be tried on a charge of first-degree murder. Gray contends that to vest a prosecutor with such unbridled discretion renders the imposition of the death sentence upon Gray cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Ample evidence of motive and means supports the Commonwealth's decision to try only Gray on the capital murder charge. Less than two months prior to the murder, McClelland, manager of a Murphy's Mart store, had fired Gray's wife, Melinda, from her job at the store. The day after McClelland terminated Melinda, Gray visited McClelland at the Murphy's Mart store and discussed her termination with him for about 15 minutes. Eleven days after McClelland discharged Melinda, Gray stole a .32-caliber pistol from a friend's home. The same gun was used to murder McClelland. Gray told one witness several times that he was going to get McClelland for firing his wife. In addition to Tucker's testimony that Gray was the actual perpetrator (the trigger man) of the capital murder, two witnesses testified that Gray had told them he killed McClelland, and another witness testified that he had overheard Gray admit to someone else that he was the killer. Gray told Melvin Tucker and two of the witnesses that he had to kill McClelland because McClelland knew him and could identify him. On the other hand, Melvin Tucker did not have any personal acquaintance with McClelland prior to the crime. The institution of criminal charges is a matter of prosecutorial discretion. Bradshaw v. Commonwealth, 228 Va. 484, 492, 323 S.E.2d 567, 572 (1984). Nothing in the record suggests that the Commonwealth's Attorney acted arbitrarily or abused his prosecutorial discretion. We reject the contention that in exercising his discretion he violated the constitutional proscription against cruel and unusual punishment.