In January 2004 I read an article in the Miami Herald which told of the life and times of death row inmate William Van Poyck.
I had read of Van Poyck and knew that he was the co-defendant in the murder of a police officer in Florida and also that he had testified in the beating to death of death row inmate Frank Valdes by prison guards at Florida State Prison.
I did not know that he was a death row writer until I read the article.
I researched the Internet to find a website for Van Poyck and, when I found nothing specific, I wrote him in Virginia ( he was moved to Virginia's death row for 'obvious' reasons ) to find out whether I could write something about him and his books and short stories.
He was not against the idea but did tell me he was expecting a site to go up for him in order to bring attention to his writings, amongst other things.
I made a webpage for him but have decided to redo it.
My reason is that we got to corresponding on an irregular basis and we have become friends.
I am very pleased that we have done so.
Because I have lost three prison penpals to state killings I have decided not to write death row prisoners on a regular basis any more.
I now follow up cases and make webpages for those defendants I believe are being set up or have other issues which, as far as I'm concerned, should deter the states from giving them the death sentence.
William van Poyck denies being the 'triggerman' in the shooting of the police officer and says DNA testing would definitely prove this.
who is due to be killed by the state on 9th Nov 2006, is one of the few friends he has made on Virginia's death row.
I found some info about the man's case and it seems the prosecution has, once again, obtained a death sentence by withholding information. His attorneys are petitioning for clemency.
####################
5th Dec 2006
For the past couple days I've noticed that many people are reading this page and when there is a sudden flow of traffic to webpages I know 'somethin' is a cookin'.
My next move was to seek an answer to the puzzle by asking Google and lo and behold..today the answer came!
Percy Walton is on the verge of being executed and this happening is causing a small controversy. The newspapers have been gathering info and my good buddy, Bill, was allowed to add his two cents worth.
I have collect articles about the case and placed them in a file labelled
Some time ago I wrote on this page that Bill Van Poyck had had the luck to have one of Florida's best defense attornies, Martin McClain, become involved in his case at this late stage. For some reason ( yeh..blame the webmistress..me ) this posting was wiped out so now I'm updating once again.
Sadly the courts have denied Bill's latest motion for post-conviction relief and so I know that he is expecting the worst.
In his latest letter to me he said that he believes in reincarnation and believes that he'll be given another chance 'to make positive contributions to society.'
Well, be that as it may, I will certainly miss hearing from him and just miss him as a person who has added to the good things in my life for a while.
I certainly believe in miracles and have not given up praying for the best result for him.
#######
Florida Supreme Court denies successive motion for post-conviction relief filed by death row inmate.
The motion relied on an affidavit from a former prison inmate who claimed that Van Poyck’s co-defendant had admitted that he had been the triggerman in the murder for which he and Van Poyck were both sentenced to death.
Under Florida law, in order to receive a new capital penalty phase based on newly discovered evidence, if the motion is filed more than one year after the judgment is final, the prisoner must show that the evidence could not have been discovered previously through the exercise of due diligence.
The prisoner must also establish that the newly discovered evidence probably would have produced a life sentence. The court first addressed the timeliness of the new information.
Because the State did not press untimeliness as a basis for affirming the lower court, the Florida Supreme Court accepted the representation by the affiant that he did not come forward sooner because he feared for his life.
The Florida Supreme Court next found it was bound by its earlier decision denying Van Poyck’s request for DNA testing, where it concluded that new evidence concerning who was the actual triggerman would not create a reasonable probability of a lesser sentence.
Given that the test applied in the DNA ruling presented a lower hurdle than the standard governing claims based on newly discovered evidence, Van Poyck could not succeed.
The court declined to reconsider its DNA ruling. It explained: “[T]he trial court in this case found that the death penalty was justified for Van Poyck independent of evidence regarding the identity of the triggerman.
The trial court noted that Van Poyck checked the guns to ensure that they were loaded while traveling to the location where the murder occurred, and concluded that ‘[b]y all evidence Mr. Van Poyck was a major participant in the murder.’
At most, non-triggerman status would have constituted nonstatutory mitigation which, considering the four aggravating factors and absence of other mitigation, would probably not have yielded a lesser sentence.”
The Florida Supreme Court did clarify that it was not taking the position that it was irrelevant to a capital sentencing process which of two co-defendants was the actual trigger person.
Quoting from its decision denying DNA testing, the court explained: “[W]e determine only that under the circumstances of this case involving a murder of a prison guard in a brutal armed attack planned by Van Poyck and carried out with Valdez, DNA evidence indicating that Van Poyck was not the triggerman would not have created a reasonable probability of a lesser sentence.”
Justice Anstead dissented, pointing out that the prosecutor argued to Van Poyck’s jury that he was the trigger person and placed importance on that assertion.
Justice Anstead stated: “On the face of this record how can we possibly now conclude that the identification of the triggerman is irrelevant to the determination of whether the death penalty should be imposed? The prosecutor has already answered that question for us. The majority has chosen to deal with a hypothetical situation: could the death penalty be imposed on a non-triggerman, rather than dealing with the actual situation presented here where the State sought the death penalty, asserting as grounds that the defendant was the triggerman, and the jury returned with a vote for the death penalty.”...
Source
##########################
3rd Nov 2007
Once again there have been quite many visits to Bill's webpages just lately and today I discovered the reason why.
It seems Bill was chosen to clean out Percy Walton's cell and was very shocked to find that this unfortunate man ( taking into account the state of his mind ) had been allowed to wallow in gallons of his own excrement and urine ( shit & piss for the less squeamish ) for days on end. ( Read his account...Death Row Diary )
Hopefully people fighting for human rights will take up this issue with the Virginia prison authorities before Percy Walton drowns in his own bodily waste.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Bill and hopefully you won't be severely hauled over the coals for doing so!
#####################
14th Nov 2008
Today I discovered that Bill has been transferred back to Florida's death row and quite possibly because of his activity in bringing to light Percy Walton's ill-treatment at the Virginia state facility to which he ( Bill ) had been transferred in 2000.
