Dear Governor McAuliffe,
The Commonwealth is planning to execute a man who may have been wrongly convicted – Ivan Teleguz. Unless you intervene, he will be executed on April 25. As conservatives and libertarians who have been involved in Virginia and national politics, we ask that you halt Teleguz’s execution. Executing a man who might be innocent would provide no benefit and only leave a terrible stain on Virginia and our justice system.
Teleguz was convicted of hiring Michael Hetrick to murder his ex-girlfriend Stephanie Sipe, but there are real doubts about Teleguz’s guilt. The case against him relied almost entirely on dubious testimony from three men. One was the confessed killer Hetrick, who had incentive to lie, since he received a deal sparing him from the death penalty in exchange for his testimony against Teleguz, and he was even given most of the details of the prosecution’s story before he implicated Teleguz. The other two witnesses later admitted that they lied in court and swore under oath that Teleguz was not involved in Sipe’s murder. They confessed to giving false testimony at trial because of threats from the prosecutor and promises she made to lessen the severity of their sentences.
At trial, the prosecutor argued that Teleguz should be sentenced to death, in part, because he was dangerous and involved in another murder in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. Yet, it was later revealed that the testimony about this supposed murder was completely fabricated – the murder in Ephrata never even happened. Nevertheless, it was used against Teleguz in court. Since arriving on death row, Teleguz has been a model prisoner who works hard at his cleaning job and regularly participates in Bible studies through the mail, which demonstrates how he is not a danger to those around him, as portrayed by the prosecutor.
The Commonwealth’s case against Teleguz is weak. There is far too much doubt and simply not enough evidence to execute him. No American, conservative or otherwise, can stand for a possible wrongful execution. While we have many political disagreements, surely you can agree that if you decide that executions must proceed, then they ought not be carried out in cases riddled with doubts. Therefore, we call upon you to halt Teleguz’s execution and commute his sentence to life without parole in order to ensure that a possible wrongful execution doesn’t happen on your watch and to allow Teleguz more time to potentially prove his innocence.
Name and Title (for identification purposes only)
- Richard Viguerie
Manassas, Virginia
Chairman, Conservative HQ
- Brent Bozell III
Reston, Virginia
Founder and President, Media Research Center
- Mark Earley
Leesburg, Virginia
Former Virginia Attorney General
- Shaun Kenney
Kents Store, Virginia
Former Executive Director, Republican Party of Virginia
- Christian Josi
Richmond, Virginia
Former Executive Director, American Conservative Union
- Cliff Maloney Jr.
Arlington, Virginia
President, Young Americans for Liberty
- Caleb Taylor
Abingdon, Virginia
Director of Policy and Operations, Virginia Institute for Public Policy
- Christian N. Braunlich
Alexandria, Virginia
Vice President, Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy
- Matthew Hurtt
Arlington, Virginia
Former Chairman, Arlington-Falls Church Young Republicans
- Nicholas Cote
Alexandria, Virginia
Former Board Member, Republican Liberty Caucus of Virginia and current President, Right Way Forward Virginia
- Christian Robey
Reston, Virginia
Political Director, Media Research Center
- Mark Fitzgibbons
Manassas, Virginia
President of Corporate Affairs, American Target Advertising
- Dan Joseph
Sterling, Virginia
Political Commentator
- Norm Singleton
Alexandria, Virginia
Former Legislative Director, Congressman Dr. Ron Paul
- Caren Harp
Lynchburg, Virginia
Associate Professor of Law, Liberty University School of Law
- Rina Shah
Reston, Virginia
Republican Strategist and Consultant
- Michael Ostrolenk
Alexandria, Virginia
National Director, Liberty Coalition
- Jonathan Bydlak
Alexandria, Virginia
Former Fundraising Director, Dr. Ron Paul for U.S. President (2008)
- John Kramer
Arlington, Virginia
Public Interest Advocate
- Jim Innocenzi
Alexandria, Virginia
Founding Partner, Sandler-Innocenzi (Republican political advertising firm)
- Ryan Horn
Alexandria, Virginia
GOP Media Strategist, Sandler-Innocenzi (Republican political advertising firm)
- Grace Charlton
Charlottesville, Virginia
Former Chairwoman, University of Virginia chapter of Young Americans for Liberty
- Titus Folks
Chesapeake, Virginia
Former Campaign Manager, Bill Haley for Delegate, Hampton Roads Director, Denver Riggleman for Governor, and State Director, Students for Rand
- K. Marcus
Charlottesville, Virginia
Former Editor of the Freeman Magazine, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)
- Skip Estes
Williamsburg, Virginia
Chairman, College Libertarians of William and Mary
