NORFOLK, Va. – A hit man convicted of the 2007 murder-for-hire plot against a Navy officer at the Langley FCU ATM is eligible for the death penalty, a federal jury decided Wednesday.
After deliberating for about an hour, the U.S. District Court jury found that David Runyon, 37, of Morgantown, W.Va., has met the criteria to be considered for execution. The jury will meet again Aug. 19 to decide whether to apply the death penalty.
Runyon was convicted Friday of the April 2007 slaying of Cory Voss, 30, a communications officer on the Norfolk-based frigate USS Elrod. The killing, outside a Langley FCU ATM in the in Newport News, was designed to look like a random robbery gone bad.
Voss' wife, Catherina Voss, pleaded guilty last year to orchestrating the plot — in an effort to be with her boyfriend and collect about $500,000 in death benefits. She was sentenced in November to four life terms.
Michael Draven, 29, of Newport News, who was having an affair with Catherina Voss, was also found guilty last week in the murder plot. Prosecutors die not seek the death penalty against Draven who will be sentenced in November.
Testimony at the trial revealed that Runyon planned the killing for at least a month and performed the killing for $20,000.
