A divided Virginia Supreme Court rejected a death row inmate's claim that the jury was improperly given a verdict form that did not spell out the option of a life sentence instead of death.
The court ruled 4-3 Friday that Michael W. Lenz is not entitled to a new sentencing hearing. The court said Lenz was tried before its ruling in a different case that the jury form must offer the life option.
"Therefore, trial counsel could not have been ineffective for failing to anticipate this court's subsequent decision," Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy wrote in the majority opinion, which was joined by Justices Cynthia Kinser, Donald Lemons and Steve Agee.
Justice Lawrence Koontz wrote in a dissenting opinion that the principles governing the Lenz case had been established in a previous case. Joining in the dissent were Chief Justice Leroy R. Hassell Sr. and Justice Barbara Keenan.
The court also rejected a variety of other claims, including that the jury improperly asked questions of the court bailiff and consulted a Bible during its deliberations.
Lenz and Jeffrey A. Remington were convicted of capital murder in 2000 for stabbing fellow inmate Brent Henry Parker 68 times at the Augusta Correctional Center.
Lenz testified that the slaying was religiously motivated. He said his religion worships Nordic gods, and he was "protecting the honor" of those gods by killing Parker.
Remington was found dead in his cell Feb. 22. Department of Corrections officials said Remington apparently committed suicide.
The Supreme Court also rejected the appeals of death row inmates Teresa Lewis and Larry "Bill" Elliott.
Lewis pleaded guilty last May to hiring two men to kill her husband and stepson in Pittsylvania County so she could collect insurance money. She is the first woman sentenced to death in Virginia since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976 and could become the first woman executed in the state since 1912.
Elliott shot and killed his fiancee, Dana Thrall, and Robert Finch in Woodbridge in January 2001.