In 1982 Randall Lee Smith was convicted of the 1981 murders of Laura Ramsay and Robert Mountford Jr., two hikers on the Appalachian Trail. He was sentenced to 30 years.

Under the leadership of Gov. George Allen, the General Assembly voted to abolish parole in 1994. Smith was paroled in 1996, after serving less than half of his sentence. He qualified for release because his conviction occurred before parole's abolition.

Last week Smith was arrested and charged with shooting two campers in Giles. The campers survived. Smith died in a jail cell after telling officers he had no reason to live.

The sordid story explains one of the reasons Virginia enacted "no parole."