RICHMOND — Gov. Tim Kaine has commuted the death sentence of a Danville man who committed three 1996 murders, saying he determined that Percy Levar Walton lacks the mental competence to understand that he would have been executed.

Kaine announced his decision this afternoon, one day before Walton was to be executed by lethal injection for robbing and killing three neighbors in 1996. It is the first time Kaine has commuted a death sentence since taking office in 2006. The governor has allowed five executions to proceed, despite his long-standing opposition to the death penalty.

Walton will serve life in prison with no possibility for parole.

Kaine had twice delayed Walton’s execution to allow further evaluation of his mental health. In a statement issued Monday, Kaine said it was clear in 2006 that Walton "was seriously mentally impaired" and met the U.S. Supreme Court’s definition of mental incompetence.

Since then, Kaine said, "there has been no discernible improvement in Walton’s condition and no evidence that his mental impairment is temporary."

"In light of this information, I am again compelled to find that one cannot reasonably conclude that Walton is fully aware of the punishment he is about to suffer and why he is to suffer it," Kaine said. "Given the extended period of time over which Walton has exhibited this lack of mental competence, I must conclude that a commutation of his sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole is now the only constitutionally appropriate course of action."

Kaine said there was no doubt that Walton killed Jessie E. Kendrick, Elizabeth W. Kendrick and Archie D. Moore Jr. in 1996. The governor said he remains "mindful of the terrible injustice" suffered by the victims.

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