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Watch: McAuliffe denies death row inmate’s requests for pardon, commutes capitol sentence to life in prison

Posted at 2:32 PM, Apr 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-20 15:56:41-04

RICHMOND, Va. – Governor Terry McAuliffe made a statement Thursday on the review of a Virginia prisoner’s requests for pardon and commutation of his death sentence.

During his announcement Gov. McAuliffe said the executive branch decided to deny Ivan Teleguz’s requests for a pardon. He didcommute the capitol sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

McAuliffe said the jury in the trial had been given false information about another murder and that they should have never been given that information.

Ivan Teleguz

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 38-year-old Ivan Teleguz was sentenced to death for the 2001 capital murder-for-hire of his child’s mother, Stephanie Yvonne Sipe.

The Times reports Teleguz hired two men to kill Sipe for $2,000. Sipe’s mother found her daughter’s body in her Harrisonburg apartment several days later.

Teleguz’s lawyers argue courts never fully examined new evidence that would prove his innocence and say two witnesses have admitted they only testified to help out their own cases.

Teleguz was scheduled to be executed on Tuesday.