Roanoke Times
         Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 15, 1995      TAG: 9506150035 SECTION: CURRENT
PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH
CONVICTED MURDERER APPEALS TO PUBLIC ON INTERNET
Advocates for a convicted murderer turned to the Internet to win
sympathy and support before a resentencing hearing in which he could
receive the death penalty.
Private investigators for Joseph R. O'Dell III, 49, on Monday posted a
public appeal for him on the World Wide Web, part of the global
network of interconnected computers known as the Internet.
The ``home page'' features a color photo of O'Dell and claims that
evidence clearing him of the 1985 murder of a Virginia Beach secretary
is so strong that his supporters were willing to debate prosecutors on
national television.
O'Dell was convicted in 1986 of killing 44-year-old Helen C.
Schartner. Prosecutors used circumstantial evidence to link O'Dell to
the Feb. 5, 1985, murder. A Virginia Beach Circuit Court jury
sentenced O'Dell to death.
In September 1994, U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer in Richmond
overturned O'Dell's death sentence and ordered a new sentencing.
Spencer ruled that O'Dell's rights were violated because the jury was
never told O'Dell would not have been eligible for parole if he
received a life sentence.
O'Dell is in the Mecklenburg Correctional Center inmate awaiting a new
sentencing date.
The private investigators wrote in their on-line argument that later
DNA tests proved that the blood found on O'Dell's clothing by state
forensics experts did not come from Schartner. O'Dell maintains the
blood came from an unrelated barroom brawl. DNA testing was not
available at the time of O'Dell's trial.
``Due to the rule of law in Virginia ...evidence discovered after 21
days cannot be used to prove the innocence of a convicted person, ''
explains investigator Lauri Urs. ``The same laboratory, the same
witnesses, who testified to the DNA testing that sent serial killer
Timothy Spencer to the electric chair in Virginia, testified in the
O'Dell case that the blood used to convict O'Dell did not come from
the murder victim.''
Spencer was the first person convicted in Virginia solely on the basis
of DNA evidence. Spencer was convicted several years after O'Dell.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Albert Alberi said the Internet plea
is ``just more of the same thing that went on during the trial.
``We were personally attacked,'' Alberi said. ``He (O'Dell) is
dangerous - one of the most dangerous people I've met. Anyone who says
he isn't is quite naive.''
Alberi disputed the interpretation of the new DNA tests, which
O'Dell's supporters say prove his innocence.
``Anyone who says (the tests) exonerate O'Dell hasn't seen the report,
'' Alberi said. ``According to this test, there was 3-probe DNA match
between Schartner's blood and the bloodstains on (O'Dell's) blue
jacket.''
Other evidence used to bolster O'Dell's plea include a lack of
physical evidence; evidence found at the scene - cigarettes,
footprints and tire tracks - not matching O'Dell's personal effects;
and an alleged confession to Schartner's murder by double murderer
David Pruett, who was executed in December 1993.
This is not the first time a condemned man has pleaded his innocence
over the Internet. Girvies Davis, a condemned man in Illinois, used
the Internet in April to make a plea for public sympathy. The
``clemency page'' said Davis was innocent, and counted down the days
to his May 17 execution.
It featured a photo of Davies and a synopsis of his case. Davis' plea
prompted 1,200 e-mail messages. Davis' execution took place as
ordered.
Joseph Roger O'Dell's page address on the World Wide Web is:
http://www.gbiz.com/odell/
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