PUBLIC "-//Washington and Lee University::School of Law::Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives//TEXT (US::ViLxW-L-H::ViLxW-L21::A Guide to the Roger D. Groot Collection, 1988-2005//EN" "ViLxW-L18.xml" A Guide to the Roger D. Groot Collection, 1988-2005 Groot, Roger D. 2006M:001, 2006M:002, 2012M:002 021 John N. Jacob Washington and Lee University, School of Law, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives © 2016 By Washington and Lee University. All rights reserved. Machine-readable finding aid derived from Word document, created by John N. Jacob, 6 11 October 2016 Description is in English A Guide to the Roger D. Groot Collection, 1988-2005 A Collection in Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives 021

Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives, Washington and Lee University 2016 John N. Jacob Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives, School of Law, Washington and Lee University Descriptive Summary Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives, School of Law, Washington and Lee University Roger D. Groot Collection, 1902-1938 021 Powell Archives stacks 6 cubic feet. English Roger D. Groot Administrative Information Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Roger D. Groot Collection, Ms 021, Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Archives, Washington and Lee University School of Law, Lexington, VA

 Acquisition Information

Roger D. Groot estate.

Biographical Information

Roger Groot was born July 31, 1942, in Mt. Vernon, Wash., but grew up in south Texas. He attended Vanderbilt University as an undergraduate, graduating magna cum laude in 1962 with a degree in Russian. After serving six years in the Marine Corps, including a tour of duty in Vietnam, Groot attended law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating with high honors in 1971. He taught at the University of Georgia for two years before joining Washington and Lee.

Groot joined the School of Law at Washington and Lee University in 1973, teaching criminal law and procedure and becoming one of the nation's top criminal law experts. In 1990 he was named Class of 1975 Alumni Professor of Law, and in 1999 he took over direction of the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, a trial-level legal aid clinic focused on capital murder defense. A scholar of incredible breadth, Groot was a respected legal historian in addition to his expertise in criminal law.

Groot retired as director of the VCCC in 2004 but continued his distinctive career as a teacher, scholar and advocate. In 2005, Groot was appointed by Gov. Mark Warner to the newly formed Forensic Science Board, created by the General Assembly to establish policies, procedures and standards to guide the operations of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science. On leave from the School of Law at the time of his death, Groot had just completed a federal capital defense trial in which the defendant was sentenced to life without parole.

He died unexpectedly of natural causes November 12, 2005 and was survived by his wife, Ellen, three children, and three grandchildren.

The collection consists of .25 cubic foot of correspondence,subject files from Groot files and posthumous tributes to him. There is also a resolution honoring Groot from the American Inns of Court. This is in an oversized folder stored in the map cases.

Treated in the correspondence and subject files are Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse emails and training manual; Groot's 1991 article on suicide;correspondence about a proposed television program based on Groot, and a treatment about the same; correspondence about cases of death by salt or pepper ingestion; and an off-print of tributes to Groot from the Winter 2007 issue of Washington and Lee Law Review.