Virginia
Biden death sentence commutation ‘reprehensible,' says Virginia victim's father
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Monday he’s commuting the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates, reclassifying their sentences to life without the possibility of parole.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden said in a statement released pre-dawn on Monday, “but guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President, and now President, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.”
While many cheered the move – one Biden defended as in keeping with his administration’s moratorium on federal executions — a local family whose daughter’s killer was among those granted clemency called the decision “reprehensible.”
Speaking to News4 Monday, Paul White said he has waited years for Thomas Hager to be put to death for the brutal slaying of Barbara White.
He learned Sunday from the U.S. Attorney’s office that now won’t happen.
“It’s a disappointment and a loss of confidence in the government to do something like this,” he said, adding the decision “reopens old wounds.”
White said his 19-year-old daughter had fallen into the wrong crowd but was getting her life together when the young mother was murdered in an Alexandria apartment in November 1993.
At the time of the killing, Hager – a local drug dealer with a violent history – was reportedly in hiding and nervous that White, who was friends with his girlfriend, would reveal his location.
“She had visited a friend and saw something she shouldn’t have seen,” Paul White recounted to News4.
That’s why prosecutors say Hager and two others beat, electrocuted, repeatedly stabbed and drowned Barbara in a bathtub. The killers left her 13-month-old daughter with her mother’s body, along with jars of opened baby food for the toddler.
It was Paul White who found them both.
“There’s a constant void,” he told News4.
Hager was convicted in federal court 14 years after White’s murder and was sentenced to death. The jury determined the murder was “especially heinous, cruel or depraved.” Hager has been on federal death row ever since.
Reached by phone, his mother declined to discuss Biden’s decision with News4. His original trial lawyer says he was surprised, but pleased, by the decision.
White’s father said the news was especially hard to take so close to Christmas and called it “reprehensible.” Paul White added the family has waited 18 years for the death sentence to be carried out, adding his family hoped that would provide “final closure.”
Two other men convicted in the killing did not face the death penalty and, according to Bureau of Prisons records, are expected to be released in 2025.
Biden’s move comes with just weeks left in his administration and years after Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a moratorium on federal executions in 2021. No federal inmates have been executed during Biden’s presidency.
The three men who remain on federal death row are Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh in 2018; Dylann Roof, who killed nine people in a shooting at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombers in 2013.
Barbara White’s father said he doesn’t understand how they are any different than his daughter’s killer.
“They’re all murderers,” he told News4.
Virginia
Netflix casting Central Virginia singles for “Love on the Spectrum” after Danville man joins show
DANVILLE, Va. (WSET) — Netflix is searching for singles in Central Virginia to appear on its documentary-style dating series “Love on the Spectrum,” after a Danville man was cast for an upcoming season and producers are now looking to find his match.
The series follows adults on the autism spectrum as they navigate dating.
Monica Karavanic, executive director of The Arc of Southside in Danville, said the person cast has ties to her organization.
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“This show has been loved by millions internationally and so for it to come to Danville is pretty awesome and we’re just really excited and hoping to make it work,” Karavanic said.
Casting is focused on singles ages 25 to 40, of any gender, who live near Danville or Lynchburg and would be interested in going on a date with a man on the spectrum. Producers say the time commitment could be as little as half a day.
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For more information on how to apply, you’re asked to email: production@northernpictures.com.au
RICHMOND, Va. — Friday will be sunny and seasonably warm, with highs in the upper 70s and low 80s.
The pattern of cool nights and mild afternoons will continue through the weekend and through much of next week as upper-level flow continues to bring reinforcing mild and dry air out of eastern Canada.
Rain chances will be very limited over the next week, with only a slim chance with a frontal passage on Monday.
Stay With CBS 6, The Weather Authority.
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PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. (WSET) — Ressie Keen, a 107-year-old Pittsylvania County woman, is safe after escaping a house fire that destroyed her more than 100-year-old home, leaving behind a yard filled with charred debris and scattered belongings.
Keen said she has no special secret to her longevity.
“I ain’t got no secret, just thanking the Lord to let me stay here to see 107,” she said.
Keen said she moved to the home decades ago and built a life there.
“I’ve moved there in 1969, our first crop was made in 1970, and I been living there ever since,” she said.
The fire broke out in Keen’s bedroom on Thursday afternoon. Keen said she and her sitter got out as the fire grew.
“I don’t know what happened, only thing I knew to do was to get out of there. So me and my sitter we got out. She tried to put it out but she couldn’t,” Keen said.
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Pittsylvania County Fire Marshal Scott Hutcherson said investigators believe the fire started with an electrical issue.
“We think we had an electric outlet failure, more or less; an adaptor on the outlet probably failed,” Hutcherson said. He said the fire spread quickly once it ignited nearby items. “It set the bed on fire and the clothes that was on top of it, the material on top of it, what’s pretty much what got the fire going. And then it easily spread to the second story.”
Keen’s son, Ronnie Keen, said the loss has been painful for the family.
“It was devastating real devastating, lot of memories lost. But I know those memories and emotions the things that were sentimental were still right here,” he said.
A family photo album was among the few items recovered. Pointing to one image, Ronnie Keen said, “That’s a picture of the house.”
He added that the album was badly damaged. “It’s so charred it’s kinda hard to open,” he said.
Keen also held onto her favorite cast-iron pan.
“I knew this wasn’t going to get burnt up,” she said.
The home was considered a total loss, but the family said the most important thing is that Ressie Keen survived. She is now living with her son.
“I’m overjoyed that she’s here with us and she’s safe,” Ronnie Keen said.
Hutcherson said to prevent this, make sure that there is a smoke alarm in your home. He says you can reach out to the Pittsylvania County Public Safety office for a free installation of a smoke alarm.
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