Opinion ID: 1059433
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Evidence Adduced During the Penalty Phase

Text: During the penalty phase of the trial, the Commonwealth introduced the defendant's prior convictions for robbery, abduction, rape, and use of a firearm during the commission of robbery. The Commonwealth also relied upon evidence that it presented during the guilt phase of the trial. The defendant offered evidence in mitigation of his offense. The defendant called Michael Lenz to the witness stand. Lenz invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and refused to testify. The defendant was permitted to read to the jury portions of a transcript of prior testimony that Lenz had given under oath. According to Lenz's prior sworn testimony, Parker, Remington, and Lenz were members of the Ironwood Kindred, a group that practiced the Asatru religion. Lenz testified: [Parker and I had] been through a lot of times whenwhen it was close to fighting. . . . And things just kept building and building and building. And he had problems with me. And I had problems with him. I didn't like the way that he was portraying my religion to other people. During the inmates' meeting on January 16, 2000, Lenz called Parker up to the altar. Lenz stated, I askedand I said to him, `It's been a long, hard path between us.' And he said, `Yes, it is.' And I pulled the knife out of my pocket. And I said, `Are you trying to take it to the next step?' And he said, `Yes, I am.' And so I stabbed him. Lenz testified that when he started stabbing Parker, Jeffery attacked him. . . . Jeffery [Remington] attacked him as well. And [Parker] wasn't ready for it. [Parker] was surprised. Hehe was probably just as surprised as the people were at Pearl Harbor in 1941, though he shouldn't have been. And then the other guys jumped up andand tried toto jump on Jeffery Remington. In 1999, Remington received an excellent rating on his inmate job performance review. He also received his general education development certificate, commonly referred to as a G.E.D., issued by the Virginia Department of Education while he was incarcerated. Joel Sickler, a criminologist and sentence consultant, testified without objection from the Commonwealth. Sickler stated that Remington had a very troubled upbringing. His parents were divorced when he was five years old, and his biological father was a tyrant, . . . an alcoholic, [and] a very violent man. Remington was sexually molested as a child. Remington, who has a history of drug addiction, began to use drugs at age 14 or 15. The defendant testified during the penalty phase. He stated that he had been raped when he was an inmate in the Greensville Correctional Facility. On another occasion at the Powhatan Correctional Center, an inmate tried to rape him. Remington testified that several inmates at the Augusta Correctional Center had told him that they intended to rape him, and he believed that Parker was involved in those threats of rape. Remington also testified that Parker threatened [his] life. Remington informed Lenz about Parker's threats, and Lenz directed Remington to arm himself with a knife. Remington admitted that he intended to confront Parker at the meeting on January 16, 2000. When asked, [s]o you went there armed with a deadly weapon, for a confrontation with Mr. Parker, to find a solution to the situation?, Remington responded: I took the knife there for my protection. Remington testified that Parker was incarcerated at the Augusta Correctional Center because he had killed a man by stabbing him with an ice pick.