William Morva’s retrial begins today

Richmond Times Dispatch
Published: March 4, 2008

The capital-murder trial of former Chesterfield County resident William Morva, charged with killing two men during a jail escape, is set to begin today in Abingdon.

Defense attorneys think this time they’ll be able to seat a jury.

The previous attempt to try Morva, 26, ended in September when a Montgomery County judge ruled that any verdict delivered by a jury would be suspect because of all the local publicity surrounding the killings and Morva’s escape.

Judge Ray Grubbs moved the case to Abingdon for a second trial after three days of trying to find a suitably unbiased jury in Montgomery.

Morva is charged with capital murder in the 2006 shooting deaths of unarmed hospital guard Derrick McFarland, 32, and Montgomery sheriff’s Cpl. Eric Sutphin, 40.

Morva, who grew up in the Midlothian area before his father moved the family to Blacksburg, was in the Montgomery County Jail in August 2006 awaiting trial on robbery charges when he made his escape.

A massive, 36-hour manhunt for Morva prompted Virginia Tech to shut down on the first day of fall semester classes and resulted in students fleeing in a panic from one campus building after someone reported seeing Morva inside.