A 72-year-old Virginia Beach murderer serving two life sentences for the beating, sexual assault and slaying of a female friend has been denied geriatric parole, according to a board spokeswoman.
The Virginia Parole Board also informed James Richard King he’ll have to wait three years before he can get another shot at freedom, spokeswoman Colleen Maxwell said.
Marie Jones, the sister of murder victim Lexie Walters, said she got the news Friday morning, less than 24 hours after she urged the panel to keep King behind bars.
“I was absolutely elated,” Jones said. “Words cannot express just how happy and relieved I was.”
The panel met with King on Sept. 2, then heard from Jones and her mother Thursday. They also received numerous messages from the public demanding King remain incarcerated, Maxwell said.
While a decision can sometimes take weeks, the board voted immediately in King’s case, Maxwell said.
“They knew right away that this one was going to be a no,” she said. “And I think they wanted to let the family know as soon as possible so they could get some peace.”
Walters was 53 when she was killed in September 2020. Her battered body was found in a Virginia Beach motel room after King drove to a police station and told officers he may have killed a woman. An autopsy later showed she’d been strangled and smothered to death.
King, 67 at the time, told investigators he and Walters had been drinking heavily together at a bar before heading to his motel room. When he woke up the next morning, he found Walters dead, but said he had no memory of what had happened. King also told detectives he’d done “the same thing” to another woman years before and that he “flips out” sometimes.
The first slaying happened in 1986 in Lucas County, Ohio. Just as in Walters’ slaying, the victim in the 1986 case was savagely beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled. King also turned himself in to police in that case. He was convicted of murder in 1990, was sentenced to 15 years to life, and released after 20. He moved to Virginia Beach after his release.
King spent more than four years in the Virginia Beach city jail waiting for his case to be tried last October, and was sentenced in February.
Jones said she was stunned when she got an email last month informing her that King would have a parole hearing in a few weeks. The message came just seven months after the Virginia Beach Circuit judge who issued King’s sentence told King it was his intention that “you never see the light of freedom again until your life comes to an end.”
But Virginia law allows “geriatric” prisoners to seek conditional release once they’ve met certain conditions. The law applies to inmates 65 and older who have been incarcerated for at least five years in their current case, or those who are at least 60 and have served at least 10 years. They can reapply every year unless the board orders a three-year deferment.
King has been incarcerated in the Walters case since September 2020.
Jones believes the law needs to be changed to prevent this kind of situation from happening to another victim’s family. She recently drafted a proposal for “Lexie’s Law,” which she plans to ask the General Assembly to enact. Jones’ proposal suggests, among other things, that pretrial confinement not be counted when determining how much time the inmate has served for their offense.
“Convicted criminals that fall under this category continue NOT to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Jones wrote in the proposal. “Currently, victims, families, friends, and communities must fight, pleading with the Parole Board for continued justice of the convicted criminal to stay incarcerated.”
Maxwell said the board is supportive of Jones’ efforts. “We’re hoping to see a change made as a result of this case,” she said.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
