24 April 2017 :

Governor Terry McAuliffe commuted the death sentence of Ivan Teleguz, whom the Commonwealth had scheduled to be executed on April 25. Teleguz, 38, White, will now serve a sentence of life without parole. It was the first death-penalty clemency ever issued by Gov. McAuliffe (D). Teleguz was sentenced to death on JULY 25, 2006 (see) after he was found guilty of ordering the July 23, 2001 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Sipe, because he was angry about child support payments. During trial, Michael Hetrick said he killed Sipe and testified that Teleguz paid him $2,500 for the job. His alleged accomplice, Edward L. Gilkes Jr., also testified against Teleguz. Gilkes was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The official statement released to the media in conjunction with the commutation outlined several of the factors that influenced the Governor's decision, including the prosecution's use of false evidence that tainted the jury's choice to sentence Teleguz to death. "During the trial, evidence was admitted implicating Mr. Teleguz in another murder in a small Pennsylvania town," McAuliffe said. "In arguing for the death penalty, the prosecutor made explicit reference to this evidence in arguing that Mr. Teleguz was so dangerous that he needed to be put to death. We now know that no such murder occurred, much less with any involvement by Mr. Teleguz. It was false information, plain and simple, and while I am sure that the evidence was admitted in a good-faith belief in its truthfulness at the time, we now know that to be incorrect." McAuliffe also cited the disproportionality of sentencing Teleguz to death when Michael Hetrick, the admitted killer, received a sentence of life without parole in exchange for his testimony against Teleguz. "To allow a sentence to stand based on false information and speculation is a violation of the very principles of justice our system holds dear," McAuliffe said. Teleguz maintains that he is innocent of the crime, and his clemency petition received support from numerous political, religious, and business leaders, including from billionaire Richard Branson, three former Virginia attorneys-general and former Maryland governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. This is the third death-penalty commutation issued in the U.S. in 2017. On January 17, 2017, President Barack Obama commuted the death sentences of Abelardo Arboleda Ortiz, a federal death row prisoner, and Dwight Loving, a military death row prisoner. The Virginia bishops said they "welcome with gratitude" the April 20 decision by Gov. Terry McAuliffe to commute the death sentence of Ivan Teleguz. "We are all children of the same merciful, loving God, and he alone has dominion over all life," said Bishop Francis DiLorenzo of Richmond and Michael Burbidge of Arlington in an April 20 statement released by the Virginia Catholic Conference.