Opinion: What If…

As usual, when a “major” trial, especially a death penalty case, hits our semi-obscure part of the world, it is nearly impossible not to pay attention. Very rarely, however, do you see what we saw when William Morva received his death sentence – a snap and a smile.

The media had many convinced that Morva would receive life in prison for slaying two upstanding citizens. His tragic upbringing was cited by his lawyers. His passionate and loyal nature cited by his former friends. All of this was supposed to add up to a lenient sentence from a jury removed from the tragedy by 100 miles.

Thank goodness it did not!

What Morva did by stealing two fathers from their children was bad enough, but that is only the beginning of what he really accomplished that day. He put a major university and a town on alert, and that is just one more reason he earned every bit of his death sentence.

If you were not on the VT campus that first day of class in August of 2006, you probably heard about it on the news. Fox News and CNN, among others, were all over the story. Images of students running out of Squires; cops with guns drawn; reports of Morva sightings left and right – it was a full-scale crisis. Though the two killings did not occur on campus, classes were cancelled and students were told to stay locked in their rooms. Little did we know that lurking among those students was one whose rampage only months later would scar the campus forever.

William Morva did not necessarily provide a blueprint for the mass murder of 4/16. What he did do, however, was cause a situation that administrators did not want to duplicate. The false reports of Morva sightings and a hostage situation cast a bad light on the school that was spread far and wide by national media.

So, when two students were murdered in a dorm on 4/16, administrators did not want to cause another “8/21” situation. It is easy to get into the minds of the Hokie powers-that-be that morning: Any murderer would certainly flee this scene, especially when there are thousands of potential witnesses…certainly, whoever did this must be speeding down 460 as we speak…if we act too quickly, the national media will fry us again…we’ve got to remain calm.

As we learned, the killer was not speeding down 460. He was still in Blacksburg, just getting started with his day of death. He was no ordinary killer.

If it were not for William Morva, 4/16 would not have happened exactly the way it did. There is no accurate way to determine whether fewer lives would have been taken. With how the 4/16 mass murderer planned his actions, it would be silly to think that he didn’t have a “Plan B” for what to do in case classes were closed after the dorm killings.

However, had classes been cancelled, as they would have been if not for the Morva situation, it would have been difficult for the killer to corner such a high number of people in such a small space. Norris Hall was chosen because it could trap enough people in for long enough for the killer to accomplish his mission. We can only imagine how many lives may have been lost if not for the bravery of VT Police, but the plan worked well enough for the killer to take 30 more meaningful lives – and then his own.

Long story short, William Morva cannot be held accountable for what happened eight months after his rampage. He can, however, be linked with the event due to the undeniable fact that events would have unfolded differently that cold April morning if it were not for the still-fresh memory of the panic he caused on campus.

As students and employees of Virginia Tech, as well as residents of Blacksburg and surrounding towns, we were brought back to that terrifying August day as we watched Morva stare blankly during his trial. The emotions of the experience then led us to relive the horror that followed months later, connecting the two events forever in our minds. Unfortunately, the connection is grounded in reality, not just psychology.

Whether or not he contributed to further death and destruction in April, William Morva changed the course of events that day. Last week, his “Snap and Smile” showed us the man behind the beard. Willam Morva will get exactly what he deserves.

Part of Planet Blacksburg’s mission is to get students published. Some our content comes from guest writers and from articles written for class by non-member students. The views expressed by these “Contributing Writers” are solely those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Planet Blacksburg as an organization.