Death Watch Begins for Virginia Murderer

RICHMOND, Va. — Condemned killer Willie Turner was placed under a death watch Wednesday night by corrections officials anticipating that the U.S. Supreme Court would not halt his scheduled execution in Virginia’s electric chair.

Turner, a self-educated hair stylist who invented a pair of patented hair-cutting shears while in prison, was sentenced to death for the 1978 murder and robbery of a Franklin, Va., jeweler.

Although the Supreme Court had not yet acted on a state request to lift a temporary stay by a federal appeals court, corrections personnel were confident the 39-year-old killer would be executed as scheduled tonight.

Meanwhile, Virginia State Penitentiary officials talked to convicts Wednesday in hopes of avoiding a repeat of a riot that preceded the April 18 execution of James Briley.