Court Opinion

ID: 9581729
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:17:51.382847+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:12.475696
License: Public Domain

Holt, J.,
Concurring: I concur with the majority opinion wherein it holds that this case should be reversed.. The argument used by the attorney for the. Commonwealth, to the effect that the death penalty ought to be imposed because it was possible that some Governor of Virginia might improperly commute any prison sentence, is not warranted by the history of our State. No Governor of Virginia has ever abused that power. It was proper that counsel should ask that a verdict of first degree murder be returned, but the reasons which he assigned for the punishment sought *856were highly prejudicial. For this reason and for no other reason, I think that the case should be reversed.