Davida Runyon News Today

Army veteran David A. Runyon, convicted of being the hit man in a 2007 murder-for-hire slaying of a young Navy officer in Newport News. A jury in U.S. District Court in Norfolk sentenced Runyon to death in 2009. But in December 2020, a panel for the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that the case be sent back to Norfolk for a hearing on whether one of Runyon’s trial attorneys was “ineffective” when he failed to fully explore Runyon’s brain damage at trial.

A new sentencing hearing could result in Runyon walking off federal death row and getting several life sentences instead.

FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA Correctional officers stand at the entrance to the Greensville Correctional Center Nov. 10, 2009 near Jarratt, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images/TNS) Since 1608, Virginia has executed more people than any other state. It may now abolish the death penalty. But after more than 400 years, the state’s days of capital punishment may be numbered. Though Virginia has executed more people than any other state since Colonial times, it’s been nearly four years since its l...

The first recorded public execution in Virginia took place at Jamestown in 1608, but legislation to end capital punishment recently passed two key Senate committees and stands a good chance at ultimate passage.

Man gets new hearing 11 years after conviction in murder-for-hire of Navy officer The Associated Press (rclassenlayouts/Getty Images) NORFOLK, Va. — A Virginia man who was convicted in the murder-for-hire of a Navy officer in Newport News has gotten a new court hearing. The Daily Press reported Sunday that the hearing for David A. Runyon will focus on whether his trial lawyers should have better investigated evidence that he was suffering from brain damage. A Norfolk federal jury co...

A Virginia man who was convicted in the murder-for-hire of a Naval officer in Newport News has gotten a new court hearing.

It was more than 11 years ago that David A. Runyon was convicted in the murder-for-hire of Ensign Cory Allen Voss.