Buchanan v. Commonwealth

Douglas McArthur Buchanan, Jr. (Buchanan), was tried by a jury and convicted of capital murder in violation of Code § 18.2-31(g) (now Code § 18.2-31(7)), for killing his father, Douglas McArthur Buchanan, Sr. (Buchanan, Sr.), in the same transaction in which he killed his half-brother, Joel Jerry Buchanan (J.J.); his half-brother, Christopher Donald Buchanan (Donnie); and his step-mother, Geraldine Patterson Buchanan (Mrs. Buchanan). In the second phase of the bifurcated capital murder trial, the jury fixed Buchanan’s sentence at death.

In the same trial, the jury also convicted Buchanan of…