Larry Fowlkes, who maintained he was innocent of a 1995 murder in Crewe, died this month still serving his 45-year sentence.

Fowlkes, 51, filed a clemency petition in 2004 with then-Gov. Mark R. Warner asking for release based on his claim of innocence and on medical grounds.

Julia E. Sullivan, the lawyer who represented Fowlkes, said they met twice with Warner in 2005, before he left office. "We never even got a meeting with [Gov. Timothy M.] Kaine or his staff," complained Sullivan, who said she called Kaine's office 30 or 40 times over the years.

A spokesman for Kaine acknowledged yesterday that a clemency petition had been pending but said he could not comment further.

Fowlkes' first trial ended in a deadlocked jury. But a second jury convicted him in 1996. Though he received the minimum sentence, he feared it was a death sentence because of health problems.

Fowlkes suffered from diabetes and had a leg amputated several years ago. The Virginia Department of Corrections said he died at a hospital on May 10, the same day he was taken there from Lawrenceville Correctional Center.

His family could not be reached for comment, but his lawyers said he was buried Saturday.

Fowlkes was convicted in the Oct. 18, 1995, slaying of Ida Bowlin, in Crewe, during a robbery. Bowlin, 59, was stabbed in the neck. Her husband also was stabbed but survived.

No fingerprints, fiber, hair, blood or other evidence collected at the scene linked Fowlkes to the murder. A deputy sheriff and a preacher testified they were among those attending church with Fowlkes 30 miles away when the murder was committed.

Shortly after she was charged with what would have been her fourth felony and months after the slaying, a witness told police that on Oct. 18, 1995, she overheard Fowlkes tell another man convicted in the murder that he would drive the getaway car.

She also said that the morning after the crime, she helped Fowlkes clean blood off the back seat of the car and that he showed her where the murder weapon was thrown. Laboratory tests did not find traces of blood in Fowlkes' car, and the knife was never found.
Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or fgreen@timesdispatch.com.