Powell stabbed a 16-year-old female and her 14-year-old sister, leaving the stepfather to find them when he got home from work., one girl survived the attack, the other did not. Powell was originally convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 2000, but the Supreme Court of Virginia tossed out the conviction.

Justices ruled that the attacks on the girls were separate crimes, and did not rise to capital murder.

After that ruling, Powell sent a letter laced with profanity to Virginia’s Attorney General, giving chilling details of the murder.

He wrote about attempting to rape the struggling girl before stabbing her to death.

“Since the Supreme Court said I can’t be charged with capital murder again, I can tell you what I just told you because I no longer have to worry about the death penalty. And y’all are supposed to be so … smart,” Powell wrote.

The letter gave Virginia’s AG evidence of a second felony in the commission of the killing, and charged Powell with capital murder again.

He was convicted in 2003, and the appeals began soon after. Through the years, state appeals courts and the Virginia Supreme Court have upheld his conviction.

In the federal appeal just decided, Powell’s attorneys argued his conviction should be thrown out on the grounds his original legal counsel was ineffective. They also argued that trying him a second time in the death amounted to double jeopardy.

The appeals court disagreed.
 
Powell is scheduled to be excuted on July 14, 2009