Man who pleaded to VCU murder wants sentence tossed
By News in Brief
September 1, 2008
An amateur photographer sentenced to 30 years in prison for the death of a Virginia Commonwealth University student is asking that his sentence be thrown out.
Benjamin Fawley entered an Alford plea in 2006 to charges that he killed Taylor Behl, a 17-year-old student whose body was found a month after she disappeared in Mathews County. An Alford plea means Fawley did not admit guilt, but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict him.
Fawley claimed he accidentally cut off Behl’s oxygen during a rough sexual encounter, then panicked and disposed of her body.
The request filed in Mathews County Circuit Court claims Fawley was not of sound mind when he entered the plea and that he did so on the “errant, misguided and ill-conceived” advice of his court-appointed attorney.
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