A Virginia judge handed down a sentence of death for an inmate who killed a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy during an escape.

26-year-old William Morva was convicted of capital murder in March by a Washington County jury that recommended the death sentence. Montgomery County (web|news) Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs accepted that verdict today.

Grubbs set an execution date of October 21, but Morva will have an automatic appeal.

Morva overpowered a sheriff's deputy at a hospital where he had been taken for treatment in August 2006, and shot security guard Derrick McFarland with the deputy's pistol.

He shot sheriff's Corporal Eric Sutphin one day later near the Virginia Tech campus, which had been shut down while police searched for him.

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