Governor Warner commuted Robin Lovitt's sentence to life in prison,
Warner's spokesman Kevin Hall said.
Lovitt was set to be executed by injection on Thursday night.
Lovitt, 42, was convicted in 1999 of murdering Clayton Dicks with a pair of scissors during a robbery at an Arlington pool hall.
Prosecutors said Mr Dicks caught Lovitt prying open a cash register with the scissors.
Police later found the scissors in the woods between the pool hall and the home of Lovitt's cousin.
Lovitt admitted grabbing the cash box, but insisted he saw someone else kill Mr Dicks.
Initial DNA tests on the scissors were inconclusive.
Lovitt's lawyers argued his life should be spared because a court clerk illegally destroyed the bloody scissors and other evidence.
The lawyers said this prevented post-conviction DNA testing that they claim could exonerate him.