Summary of Offense:
William Morva was convicted of the capital murders of a hospital security officer and a Montgomery County deputy sheriff on August 21, 2006. Morva had been held for about a year in jail awaiting an August 23 trial on burglary-related charges, attempted robbery and a firearms violation On August 19, he complained to jail personnel that he had injured his leg and forearm.
Early the next morning he was taken to the Montgomery Regional Hospital under the escort of Russell Quesenberry, a deputy sheriff. Morva was wearing waist chains, but his supposedly injured arm was not secured. After Morva was treated he asked to use the bathroom. While inside he removed a metal toilet paper holder from the wall and when Quesenberry entered Morva struck him with it, breaking his nose, fracturing his face and knocking him unconscious. Morva grabbed the deputy’s .40-caliber, semi-automatic Glock handgun. After leaving the bathroom he encountered Derrick McFarland, an unarmed hospital security guard. Morva fatally shot him in the face as he attempted to surrender.
On the morning of August 21, Morva was spotted near a paved bicycling and walking path in Montgomery County known as Huckleberry Trail. Cpl. Eric Sutphin, a Montgomery County deputy sheriff, was in the area looking for Morva. A witness saw Morva and Sutphin on the trail. A few minutes later he heard two gunshots. Another witness heard shouting followed by two gunshots and saw Sutphin fall to the ground. He died from a gunshot wound in the back of his head.
Morva was captured later that day by officers who found him lying in a ditch. Quesenberry’s gun was found on the ground near where Morva had been hiding.
Morva has been on death row since March 14, 2008.
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