A Front Royal man who murdered his uncle and another man in Warren
County was executed Tuesday night after Gov. Jim Gilmore denied his
request for clemency.
Arthur Ray Jenkins III was put to death by injection at the
Greensville Correctional Center. He was pronounced dead at 9:05 p.m.
"Forgive me for my sins," Jenkins said when asked for a final
statement.
He cried out several times as prison officials inserted needles that
would carry the lethal chemicals into his body.
Outside the prison, a handful of death penalty opponents lined the
road with candles lit at their feet as the execution hour approached.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Jenkins' final appeal.
Jenkins, 29, was convicted of capital murder in the Oct. 12, 1990,
slayings of his uncle, Floyd Jenkins, 72, and Lee H. Brinklow, 69.
According to a court summary of the case, Arthur Jenkins and a
younger brother, Kevin Frame, had been drinking when they went to a
house shared by Jenkins' uncle and Brinklow.
An argument ensued, and the younger Jenkins took a .22-caliber rifle
from a bedroom and shot his uncle and Brinklow, then repeatedly
stabbed the uncle. Jenkins then broke into his aunt's bedroom and
stole money and other items.
In his appeals, Jenkins' attorneys admitted he killed the men. But,
they say, he was mentally ill after years of physical and sexual
abuse.
According to his lawyers, Jenkins was neglected, beaten and sexually
abused as a child. He then spent a decade in juvenile institutions.
He was judged to be mentally ill and placed on anti-psychotic
medication when he was 13.
When he was 16, Jenkins was returned to the custody of his parents.
But they didn't want him in the house, so he lived in a tent and was
frequently seen begging for food around Front Royal. Soon after, he
was arrested for breaking into a gas station.
He was sentenced to 7 years for burglary and grand larceny and was
sent to adult prison at age 16. He received anti-psychotic
medications while incarcerated.
In 1989, he was transferred to the Washington County jail for his
own protection after he told authorities about a prison slaying.
While there he was cut off from his medication and, according to his
appeal, suffered "outrageous physical and mental abuse'' at the
hands of the chief jailer.
The appeal accuses the jailer, Robert A. Clenenden Jr., of giving
inmates alcohol, marijuana and pills in exchange for sexual favors.
Clenenden, who later served jail time on unrelated embezzlement
charges, denied the sex and drug claims.
Jenkins was released from the jail on Sept. 6, 1990 without
supervision or medication, said Jenkins' lawyers, Charles F.
Witthoefft and Ian J. Wilson. He had been out of jail 36 days when
he committed the 2 murders.
The jury never got to hear of the alleged abuse suffered by Jenkins
in jail. A federal appeals court ruled that evidence of the abuse
could not be raised because it was not introduced earlier in the
appeals process.
The Virginia attorney general's office said Jenkins' criminal record
is unchanged by the new abuse claims.
"Jenkins is a violent, predatory killer," said David Botkins, the
attorney general's spokesman. "Jenkins admits his guilt, but
continues to try and manipulate the system."
Gilmore, in denying clemency, said the slayings of the two elderly
men were "excruciatingly brutal" and that Jenkins, while on death
row, had assaulted guards and was found with a razor blade fashioned
into a knife.
Jenkins becomes the 6th condemned inmate to be put to death this
year in Virginia, and the 65th overall since Virginia resumed
executions on August 10, 1982.
(sources: Associated Press and Rick Halperin)
