Virginia executed their second inmate through Lethal Injection this year. William Morva suffers from a mental illness and was having delusions when he killed a sheriff’s deputy. The execution of Morva came after the last-minute efforts of the victim’s daughter to spare the killer from death.
According to WTVR, Morva was put to death at 9 15 p.m. on Thursday at the Greensville Correctional Center. Morva killed a hospital security guard and a sheriff’s deputy back in 2006.
Defense team explains Morva’s delusional disorder
NBC News reported that the lawyers of Morva claimed he was suffering from a delusional disorder when he killed hospital security guard Derrick McFarland and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Corporal Eric Sutphin.
Morva first killed the guard and used the security guard’s gun to kill Sutphin. His defense team also noted that he never had previous run-ins with the law before the killings.
His defense team added mental health experts evaluated their client and claimed that Morva was not made aware of his mental state before the killings. They noted that Morva was misdiagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder instead of delusional disorder.
The killings took place in 2006. Morva was at a hospital for treatment and was awaiting charges on burglary and attempted robbery. He was sentenced to death in 2008 for capital murder of a police officer.
Sheriff deputy’s daughter wanted to spare Morva from execution
Rachel, the daughter of Sutphin, wanted to spare Morva from execution. She did not directly say she believed Morva had a delusional disorder during the killings but she said she opposes capital punishment and that is why she sided with the defense team regarding their pleas to spare the life of their client.
NBC News quoted her as saying, "I have fought and will continue to fight for clemency for all death row inmates until Virginia declares the death penalty unconstitutional."
Rachel also said her religious and moral reasons prompted her to try and stop Morva’s execution.
Family talks about Morva’s mental illness
Mentally ill individuals are not exempt from death penalties except in cases when they are found to be insane or cannot comprehend what their punishment is.
In this case, the jury said that there was no evidence that he really suffered from a mental illness. His family and friends claimed otherwise noting that Morva sometimes ate raw meat and survived on weird diets like eating just nuts or pine cones. Morva also once claimed that he was chosen to save the indigenous people.
Morva’s condition reportedly worsened when he was detained for more than a year due to attempted theft charges. They said that when he called his mother once, he told her that somebody wanted him dead and someone deliberately wanted him inside the jail.
