Stephenson, Roscoe Bolar, 1884-1965

Roscoe B. Stephenson, Jr., was appointed to the Supreme Court of Virginia in 1981 and reappointed in 1993. He retired in 1997 and served as senior justice until December 2010. Stephenson died on May 30, 2011, in Covington, Virginia.

Stephenson was born in Covington, Va., on February 22, 1922. He was awarded a B.A. degree from Washington and Lee University in 1943 and a J.D. from the Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1947. Stephenson then returned to Covington and practiced law there in partnership with his father, Roscoe B. Stephenson, Sr. From 1952 to 1964, he was Commonwealth's Attorney for Alleghany County. He returned to private practice in Covington in 1964 and continued until 1973, when he became circuit court judge for the 25th Judicial Circuit of Virginia, a position he held until he became a justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia in 1981.

As a Supreme Court of Virginia justice, Stephenson wrote decisions upholding the cap on awards on medical malpractice cases and affirming the use of DNA evidence in the case of Timothy W. Spencer in 1989. The Spencer case was the first case in which an individual was sentenced to death based largely on DNA evidence.

Roscoe B. Stehenson, Sr. (1884-1965) was born at Mountain View farm in Bath County (now Highland County). After earning a law degree from Washington & Lee University in 1909, he moved to Covington, in part because he had an uncle, George A. Revercomb, Sr., who had a law practice there, and began practicing law. Stephenson served as mayor of Covington and Alleghany county Commonwealth's Attorney. He was a Deacon and an Elder at First Presbyterian Church (Covington, Va.) He was an active member of the Virginia State Bar Association and his clients included civil and criminal cases.

Oscar Adam Stephenson (1845-1917) was born at Mountain View farm in Bath County (now Highland County). He served in McCausland's Brigade (Brigadier General John McCausland, Jr.) in the Civil War, and was discharged from the Army of the Shenandoah in May 1865.

From the guide to the Justice Roscoe Stephenson Papers, 1865; 1904-2011 (bulk 1981-2010), (Supreme Court of Virginia Archives, Virginia State Law Library)