RICHMOND, Va. -- A federal magistrate today dismissed the death row appeal of James Briley, who was captured with his brother, Linwood, in Philadelphia earlier this week.
If Briley decides to appeal, the next step would be the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond.
'James Dyral Briley received a fair trial, by an impartial jury of his peers, in a court which meticulously safeguarded his every right,' wrote U.S. Magistrate David Lowe in the 50-page ruling.
'The description in the cold record, of the events which ocurred at the Wilkerson home, is terrifying and (Briley's) major role in the nightmare adequately supports the sentenced imposed,' he said.
James Briley was sentenced to death for the robbery and murders of Judy Barton, 23, and her 5-year-old son, Harvey. The woman was pregnant at the time of the attack.
An accomplice, Duncan Meekins, turned witness for the prosecution and was sentenced to life for the murder of Harvey Wilkerson, Ms. Barton's common-law husband.
Briley's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
A 19-day manhunt for the brothers, which stretched from North Carolina to the Canadian border, ended Tuesday night when they were captured while grilling chicken outside a Philadelphia auto repair shop where they were working under the names of 'Lucky' and 'Slim.'
The Brileys, who have been convicted of 10 murders and are facing execution, were returned to the Virginia State Prison Thursday night after their attorney waived extradition from Pennsylvania.
Their uncle, Johnny Lee Council, 45, Philadelphia, was charged with harboring fugitives. Authorities suspect the brothers had spent most of their freedom with Council.
The Brileys, who reportedly masterminded the May 31 bomb hoax escape of six death row inmates from the 'escape-proof' Mecklenburg Correctional Center, were put in Virginia's old death row with the four other inmates who had been captured earlier.
The Mecklenburg death house escape was the largest in U.S. history.
The brothers arrived at the Virginia State Prison in a six-car convoy and were led from a U.S. Marshal's car wearing leg irons, waist chains and handcuffs.
A guard who escorted the Brileys to their cells said they 'got a loud reception when they came through the cellhouse.'
Two Virginia musicians who recorded 'The Ballad of the Briley Brothers' as a party joke created a sensation Thursday when their satirical song was played on a Lynchburg radio station.
Randy Graham said he wrote the lyrics at a party and Matt McCall composed the tune. They recorded the song in the studios of WLVA radio, where they both work.
'We didn't do it to make money, we just did it as an absolute lark,' McCall said. After the station played the song Thursday, the switchboard lit and McCall said 'it just mushroomed.'
Death row inmates Earl Clanton and Derick Peterson were caught in a North Carolina laundromat less than 24 hours after the escape and Lem Tuggle and Willie Jones were both taken into custody in Vermont June 8.
The Brileys, however, eluded a manhunt that extended from North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Vermont to the Canadian border.
Linwood Briley is scheduled to die Aug. 17 for the slaying of a Richmond, Va., disc jockey. No date has been set for James Briley' execution. He was sentenced to death for robbing and murdering a pregnant woman and her 5-year-old son.
