Dennis Orbe was executed by the State of Virginia for the murder of Richard Burnette
According to court documents Dennis Orbe entered an Exxon store and would shoot and kill the clerk Richard Burnette through the course of a robbery
Dennis Orbe would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Dennis Orbe would be executed by lethal injection on March 31 2004
Dennis Orbe Photos
Dennis Orbe FAQ
When Was Dennis Orbe Executed
Dennis Orbe was executed on March 31 2004
Dennis Orbe Case
Convicted killer Dennis M. Orbe was executed by injection last night in Virginia’s death chamber for fatally shooting a York County convenience store clerk during a 1998 robbery. Orbe, 39, was pronounced dead at 9:13 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, said Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections. Orbe declined to make a final statement.
In final appeals and a petition for a reprieve filed with Gov. Mark R. Warner (D), Orbe’s attorneys unsuccessfully argued that Virginia’s method of lethal injection should be declared unconstitutional. They contended that the method Virginia uses to carry out executions could cause unnecessary pain because the first chemical, a fast-acting sedative, could wear off before two other chemicals are administered. Orbe’s legal team did not ask Warner to grant him clemency but asked only to delay the execution until the state changes its procedure for administering lethal injections. They stressed that the American Veterinary Medical Association finds similar methods unacceptable for animal euthanasia.
About 10 minutes before the execution, Warner announced that he would not intervene. In a statement, he said Orbe’s death sentence had been upheld by the Virginia Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
A York County jury sentenced Orbe to death for the Jan. 24, 1998, slaying of Richard Sterling Burnett, 39. A surveillance camera at the store showed that Orbe walked in about 3:38 a.m., went to the counter and pointed a gun at Burnett, according to court documents. After Burnett opened the cash register, Orbe shot him in the chest. Orbe then went around the counter and grabbed money from the cash register. Orbe expressed remorse for the killing and said the shooting was unintentional, his attorneys said. At his sentencing, he did not ask the judge to spare his life. “He felt so bad about it he wanted to alleviate the burden on the family of the man he killed,” said Brian J. Buckelew, one of Orbe’s attorneys. According to court records, Orbe committed the slaying in the midst of a series of crimes. Records show that he also robbed two elderly men and broke into two homes, on one occasion locking two cleaning women in a closet. A psychologist who examined Orbe said he had a drinking problem and an “impulse control dysfunction,” court records show.
The Virginia Supreme Court this week rejected Orbe’s argument that Virginia’s method of lethal injection is cruel and unusual. The court found that Orbe waived his right to challenge the state, ruling that by declining to choose a method of execution, he chose lethal injection by default. The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday declined to allow Orbe’s attorneys more time to bring their argument against Virginia’s method of lethal injection before that court. The high court also rejected Orbe’s argument that a Virginia rule limiting his post-conviction claim to 50 pages did not allow him to argue his case.
Orbe met with family members yesterday afternoon and then spent time with a spiritual counselor. Orbe is the second person executed in Virginia this year. On March 18, Brian Lee Cherrix, 30, of Accomack County was executed for the 1994 rape and murder of a Chincoteague Island woman.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40850-2004Mar31.html