Skip to main content

February 9, 1982 - William Morva

Morva's case sits at a difficult intersection of violent crime and severe mental illness — a post-trial diagnosis of delusional disorder shaped years of legal appeals without ultimately altering the outcome. The two men he killed in Blacksburg in 2006, a sheriff's deputy and a hospital security guard, died in the course of what began as an escape from custody while he awaited trial on an unrelated charge. The proximity to Virginia Tech's campus, still a year before the university's far larger tragedy, gave the case particular local weight.

From Wikipedia

William Charles Morva (February 9, 1982 – July 6, 2017) was an American-Hungarian man convicted of the 2006 shooting deaths of Sheriff's Deputy Corporal Eric Sutphin, 40, and hospital security guard Derrick McFarland, 32, in the town of Blacksburg, Virginia. He was sentenced to death for the crime and was executed on July 6, 2017. Morva was the last inmate to be executed by the Commonwealth of Virginia before capital punishment in the state was abolished on March 24, 2021.

The shooting deaths occurred near the university campus of Virginia Tech while he awaited trial for attempted armed robbery. A jury sentenced him to death on June 23, 2008, but he was diagnosed after the trial as having serious mental illnesses, a delusional disorder that caused him to kill. Judge Ray Grubbs initially set the execution date for October 21, 2008. On June 4, 2009, an appeal for William Morva was made to the Virginia Supreme Court. However, the capital murder conviction and death sentence were confirmed on September 18, 2009.

⚠ Report a problem with this article

  • Last updated on .