Home

Atkins Case Exhibits

The links below allow access to copies of selected judicial orders, court documents, and evidence relevant to the charges against Daryl Atkins for the murder of Eric Nesbitt.

1. Discovery Order - Upon request the prosecution must provide relevant information to the defense. Here is the initial judicial order providing the attorneys for Daryl Atkins access to prosecution materials and evidence. Several other discovery orders were issued as the case progressed.


2. Atkins’s Account to the Robbery of Pizza Delivery Man Kevin Phillips - Daryl Atkins was convicted of multiple crimes committed in the months leading up to the murder of Eric Nesbitt. In one of those crimes Atkins participated with others in the robbery of Kevin Phillips, a pizza delivery man. This document includes Atkins’s handwritten description of his role in the crime along with his answers to questions posed by the interrogating police detective. Because the handwritten confession is difficult to read, an unofficial transcript of it appears at the end of the document.


3. Atkins’s Confession to the Maiming of Amanda Hamlin - In his most serious offense prior to the Nesbitt murder Daryl Atkins attempted to rob Amanda Hamlin as she finished mowing her lawn. In the course of the unsuccessful robbery, Atkins shot and maimed Hamlin. This document includes Atkins’s handwritten confession to the crime as well as his answers to questions posed by the interrogating police detective. Because the handwritten confession is difficult to read, an unofficial transcript of it appears at the end of the document.


4. Autopsy Report - Following her examination of Eric Nesbitt’s body, Dr Leah Bush issued an autopsy report that included this drawing of the wounds Nesbitt suffered.


5. Indictment - On November 19, 1996 the grand jury issued indictments against Daryl Atkins for several offenses committed against Eric Nesbitt, including this indictment for premeditated murder during the commission of a robbery.


6. Appointment of Counsel - UIndigent criminal defendants are entitled to the services of an attorney at government expense. On November 11, 1996, Judge Prentis Smiley officially appointed George M. Rogers III as lead attorney for Daryl Atkins.


7. William Jones Plea Agreement - Plea bargaining is a common method of disposing of criminal cases. The plea agreement reached between William Jones and the prosecution was critical in obtaining testimony that led to the conviction of Daryl Atkins on capital murder charges.


8. Guilt Phase Verdict Forms - Following the guilt phase of the 1998 trial, the jury concluded that Daryl Atkins was guilty of capital murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a murder. The foreman of the jury, Melvin Underwood, signed the verdict forms indicating the jury’s unanimous decision.


9. Defective Sentencing Verdict Form - In January of 1999 the Supreme Court of Virginia overturned the jury’s 1998 death sentence against Daryl Atkins because of this defective verdict form. The jury concluded that the prosecution had successfully proven the existence of both aggravating factors recognized under Virginia law: that Daryl Atkins posed continuing threat to society and that his crime was outrageously or wantonly vile. But note that the verdict form, while presenting the jury with six possible alternatives, failed to provide an option for finding the absence of both aggravating factors. The Virginia high court concluded that a death sentence cannot be imposed where the verdict form does not give the jury the full range of choices to consider. The justices ordered that the sentencing issue be retried.


10. Second Sentencing Verdict Form - The question of an appropriate sentence for Daryl Atkins was retried before a second jury in August 1999. This jury, like the first, concluded that both aggravating circumstances were present and recommended that Atkins be sentenced to death. Note that this verdict form includes all seven possible outcomes. The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the sentence in September 2000.


11. Appointment of Dr. Evan S. Nelson - Judge Prentis Smiley appoints Dr. Evan Nelson as a mental health expert for the defense for the 2005 retardation hearing. Dr. Nelson previously had worked with the defense during the sentencing phases of the process.


12. Appointment of Dr. Stanton Samenow - The prosecution was also entitled to the appointment of mental heath experts to evaluate Daryl Atkins’s intellectual ability. In this judicial order Judge Smiley authorizes Dr. Samenow to work with the Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 2005 retardation hearing.


13. Substitution of Counsel Order - Prior to the 2005 retardation trial, Attorney Robert Lee of the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center, who had represented Atkins in his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, asked Judge Smiley to replace George M. Rogers III and Bryan L. Saunders as Atkins’s legal counsel because of possible conflict of interest issues. Here Judge Smiley agrees to that request by replacing Rogers and Saunders with Capital Defender Joseph A. Migliozzi, Jr.


14. Atkins’s Academic Record - A key factor in establishing Daryl Atkins’s intellectual ability was his performance in school. This document summarizes the grades Atkins earned in high school.


15. Juror’s Request to be Excused - During the 2005 retardation trial, one juror passed this note to the court indicating great emotional discomfort in dealing with the capital punishment issue and requesting to be excused. Judge Smiley excused the juror.


16. Retardation Verdict - In August 2005 the jury found that Daryl Atkins had failed to prove by a preponderance of evidence that he was retarded. The unanimous decision of the jury is verified by this verdict form signed by foreman Stephen T. Jackson.


17. Atkins’s Execution Date - Following the 2005 retardation trial, Judge Smiley accepted the jury’s verdict that Atkins was not retarded, re-imposed the death sentence, and set the execution date for December 2, 2005.


18. Judge Smiley Reduces Daryl Atkins’s Sentence to Life in Prison without Parole - In January 2008 Judge Smiley agreed with the argument of the defense that the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office had improperly withheld from the defense relevant evidence prior to Atkins’s initial trial. As a consequence Judge Smiley vacated Atkins’s death sentence and imposed a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.