24 September 2010 :

Teresa Lewis, 41, white, was executed at the Greensville Correctional Center for the Oct. 30, 2002, slayings of her husband and stepson. She became the 1st woman to be put to death in Virginia since Virginia Christian was electrocuted for murder in 1912, and the 1st in the United States since 2005. Outside the prison, about a dozen people stood in protest. They were outnumbered by about 3 dozen members of the media, including reporters from Great Britain and Italy. The execution was just the 12th of a woman — compared with more than 1,200 for men — since the death penalty resumed in the United States in 1977. The rare event drew attention, and criticism, from across the nation and abroad. Lewis was sentenced to death for her role in the murder-for-hire slayings of Julian Lewis, 51, and his son, C.J. Lewis, 25, who were shot to death in their beds in her failed plot to gain $250,000 in life insurance. Lewis was the secondary beneficiary of the policy: Both men had to die for her to collect the money. She used sex and promises of money to entice Matthew Shallenberger, white, who was her lover, and Rodney Fuller, black, to shoot the victims as she waited nearby in the kitchen of the family trailer. Matthew Shallenberger committed suicide in jail after writing a letter stating he did in fact take advantage of and manipulate his then girlfriend Teresa Lewis. The European Union's delegation to the U.S., concerned about Lewis' mental capacity, sent a letter this month to Gov. Bob McDonnell asking that he commute the sentence to life. Iranian officials, stung by criticism over a woman convicted of adultery there and sentenced to death by stoning, blasted the West this week for hypocrisy. The governor's office had no comment on either development. Those asking that her life be spared included Amnesty International, best-selling author John Grisham, religious and anti-death-penalty groups, and thousands of people who signed petitions asking McDonnell to commute the death sentence. Lewis becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Virginia and the 108th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. Lewis becomes the 39th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1227th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. Only Texas has put more inmates to death (463) in the USA since the death penalty was re-legalized by the US Supreme Court decision of Gregg v Georgia on July 2, 1976.

24 May 2010 :

Darick Demorris Walker was executed. Walker, 37, black, was convicted in a 1998 trial of shooting 2 men to death in separate slayings. State law permits the death penalty for someone who commits 2 premeditated murders within 3 years. Stanley Beale, 36, was killed on the night of Nov. 22, 1996, and Clarence Elwood Threat, 34, early on the morning of June 19, 1997. Each man was shot repeatedly by a gunman who kicked in their apartment doors. Walker becomes the 2nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Virginia and the 107th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. Walker becomes the 22th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1210th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

19 March 2010 :

Paul Warner Powell was electrocuted tonight at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. He declined to make a statement. Powell, 31, white, was sentenced to death for the Jan. 29, 1999, slaying of Stacie Reed, 16. After killing her, Powell then waited for her 14-year-old-sister to return home from school, raped her, cut her throat and left her for dead. Kristie Reed lived and testified against him. Powell's 1st capital-murder conviction was thrown out on April 22, 2001 (see) by the The Virginia Supreme Court. Believing he no longer could face a death sentence, he wrote Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert an abusive letter in which he admitted he attempted to rape Stacie and boasted about the crimes in detail. The letter provided grounds for Powell to be tried again for capital murder and sentenced to death on Jan. 16, 2003 (see). Powell chose to die in the electric chair instead of by injection. Virginia death row inmates were given the choice on Jan. 1, 1995. If an inmate refuses to choose, injection becomes the default means. 2 cycles of electricity are used in executions, each lasting 90 seconds with a pause between them. Since the choice was made available, 76 inmates have died by injections and now 6 by electrocution. Powell becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Virginia, and the 106th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983. Powell becomes the 11th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1199th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

08 November 2010 :

A Fairfax County jury imposed two death sentences on Alfredo R. Prieto, 44, hispanic, for the December 4, 1988 murders of Rachael A. Raver and Warren H. Fulton III. The jury was told that Prieto, a serial killer, also already had been sentenced to death for a 1990 rape and murder in California, and that he was linked by DNA to a fourth slaying, in Arlington in May 1988. But they were not told that ballistics tests link Prieto to a fifth homicide, in Prince William County in 1989. Nor did the jury learn that authorities in California are now linking Prieto to four additional slayings there, involving a pair of abductions and double homicides in the spring of 1990. That would bring Prieto's known death total to nine in a span of slightly more than 2 years. Prieto has been incarcerated in California since his arrest there in 1990, and he has been on death row since 1992, for the rape and murder of 15-year-old Yvette Woodruff. In 2005, Fairfax's cold case homicide unit re-submitted the DNA from the unsolved rape and shooting of Raver and the killing of her boyfriend, Fulton. Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows will impose the jury's sentence, or reduce it to life without parole, on Dec. 16. In Riverside County, Calif., Stacey Siegrist and Tony Gianuzzi were shot in May 1990, and Siegrist was raped. Their bodies were found in Rubidoux, Calif., the same place where the car used in Woodruff's murder was found. The case remained unsolved until Riverside County Sheriff's Department cold case detectives submitted the DNA earlier this year, and it matched Prieto. In June 1990, in Ontario, Calif., Herbert and Lula Farley were returning recyclables to a grocery store when Lula Farley, 71, was shot to death and Herbert Farley, 65, was abducted. Farley's body was later found in Rubidoux as well. Brown said ballistics showed the same gun used to kill the Farleys was used to kill Siegrist and Gianuzzi. Prieto has not been charged in the 4 newly linked cases.

22 September 2010 :

1st woman in 5 years due to be executed in USA on September 23. Teresa Lewis, 41, white, is scheduled to be executed in Virginia on September 23. She would be the first woman executed in Virginia since 1912, and the first woman to face the execution in the US after that of Frances Newton in Texas on Sept. 14, 2005 (see). On September 17, Governor Robert McDonnell announced that he would not grant clemency to Lewis, despite claims Lewis has learning disabilities and an IQ of 72. "Numerous psychiatrists and psychologists have analysed Lewis, both before and after her sentencing. "After numerous evaluations, no medical professional has concluded that Teresa Lewis meets the medical or statutory definition of mentally retarded." On June 3, 2003 (see) Teresa Lewis, 34, was sentenced to death, becoming the 1st woman in more than 90 years on Virginia’s death row. Teresa Lewis pleaded guilty, admitting she had her husband, Julian Lewis, 51, and her stepson, C.J. Lewis, 25, killed so she could collect insurance money. The men were shot to death at their home on Oct. 30, 2002. The 2 gunmen, Matthew Shallenberger and Rodney Fuller, received life sentences. Fuller reportedly arranged a deal with prosecutors and received a life sentence. Shallenberger - who was Lewis's lover - was also sentenced to life. Lewis's lawyers argue that he manipulated her.

16 September 2010 :

The Virginia Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of Joshua Andrews, 27, black. Andrews was convicted of killing Romanno A. Head and Robert I. Morrison, both 22, on Jan. 2, 2002. Justices ruled that 2 of his convictions constituted double jeopardy, the constitutional protection against being tried twice for the same crime. Jurors convicted Andrews of both killing more than 1 person as part of the same act and of killing more than 1 person within a 3-year period. The court also said that the trial court erred by excluding a poem Andrews wrote from mitigating evidence and that it improperly excluded the testimony of a social work expert on the likelihood that Andrews would commit future crimes. A jury sentenced Andrews too death on Aug. 3, 2007, and Circuit Court Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. sentenced Andrews on Nov. 5, 2007.

18 September 2010 :

Governor Bob McDonnell has signed into law HB 166 allowing the death penalty for those who kill auxiliary police officers, fire marshals and EMS personnel. (see also Feb. 3 and 15, and March 10 and 11, 2010).

18 September 2010 :

The House has approved 75-25 HB 166 allowing the death penalty for those who kill auxiliary police officers, fire marshals and EMS personnel. The bill now heads to Gov. Bob McDonnell, who supports expanding the death penalty. (see also Feb. 3, 15 and March 10).

18 March 2010 :

The Senate has approved bills to expand the death penalty. Under the law more people will be eligible for capital punishment in a state which is already home to the nation's second-busiest death chamber. A bill allowing the death penalty for those who kill auxiliary police officers now heads to Gov. Bob McDonnell, who supports expanding the death penalty. Another bill to make those who kill fire marshals eligible for death passed on a 28-12 vote  and heads back to the House for likely approval of a change the Senate made.

18 March 2010 :

The Senate Courts of Justice Committee voted 9-6 in favor of bills that would expand the death penalty allowing it for those who kill on-duty fire marshals and auxiliary police, which are usually part-time or volunteer uniformed officers. The bills, which already have passed the House, head to the full Senate for a vote this week. Virginia allows the death penalty for 15 separate crimes, including killing a law enforcement officer--encompassing everyone from city or state police and sheriff's deputies to game wardens, state lottery inspectors, Alcoholic Beverage Control agents and Department of Motor Vehicle enforcement officers. (see also Feb. 15).

18 February 2010 :

The Senate Courts of Justice Committee  has approved 9-6 a bill to allow those who kill auxiliary police officers (usually part-time or volunteer officers) to be sentenced to death. A similar measure also has passed out of the House. It also passed out of the General Assembly last year but was vetoed by former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican who took office last month, has said he would sign it into law if given the chance.

18 February 2010 :

Senate panel defeats death penalty expansion. The Senate Courts of Justice Committee this morning voted down a bill that sought to expand eligibility for the death penalty. On a vote of 9-6, senators defeated Senate Bill 7, which would have repealed the so-called “triggerman” provision in which only the actual killer is eligible for the death penalty in a capital murder. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, would have made principals in the second degree and accomplices before the fact eligible for the death penalty. The “triggerman rule” bill has passed the Committee and the legislature in each of the past 3 years but was vetoed by former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (see Jan. 21 and 27, Feb. 3, 10, and 24, and March 27, 2009). The Courts of Justice Committee gained 2 Democrats this year, increasing its majority on the panel.

18 February 2010 :

The Senate Courts of Justice Committee heard testimony against three death penalty bills from Jerry Givens, who was Virginia's chief executioner from 1982 through 1999 and presided over 62 executions. He told legislators he came to realize that neither he nor they should have the right to decide who lives or dies. “The people who pass these bills, they don’t have to do it. The people who do the executions, they’re the ones who suffer through it.”

18 February 2010 :

The Senate Courts of Justice Committee  has rejected a measure to allow the death penalty for those who would kill fire marshals, emergency workers, fire investigators and a host of other first responders. The House passed a similar bill earlier this month, but it likely will suffer the same fate when it gets to the Senate committee.

11 February 2010 :

2 death-penalty bills won approval by overwhelming margins today in the House of Delegates. HB502, sponsored by Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock, would repeal the state's "triggerman rule," which provides that only the actual perpetrator of a capital murder is eligible for the death penalty. Gilbert's bill would make accomplices eligible as well if it is proven they had the same intent to kill as the actual murderer, or if they ordered or directed the slaying. Gilbert noted that under existing Virginia law, such figures as Osama bin Laden and Charles Manson could not have been put to death. The bill cleared the Republican-controlled chamber on a 72-24 vote. The 2nd measure, HB166, sponsored by Del. Brenda Pogge, R-Yorktown, would expand the death penalty to cover the killers of auxiliary law-enforcement officers, emergency medical services personnel, fire marshals and assistant fire marshals while on the job. This bill passed 75-23. The 2 bills won preliminary approval by overwhelming margins yesterday in the House of Delegates. Under the Kaine administration, bills to scrap the rule repeatedly passed both the House and Senate only to be vetoed by the governor, who is personally opposed to expanding capital punishment in Virginia. Former Gov. Tim Kaine vetoed the bill for 3 years. Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican who took office last month, is expected to sign the legislation into law if it reaches his desk. Governor McDonnell is a former local prosecutor and state attorney general. Virginia has put to death 105 people since 1976, when the Supreme Court ruled reinstated the death penalty, making the commonwealth 2nd only to Texas in executions. Both measures will now go to the Senate.

28 January 2010 :

In Richmond, a 3-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent Leon Winston's case back to federal court in Roanoke to consider a retardation claim. A Jury sentenced Winston, 29, black, to death on June 13, 2003 (see) for the April 19, 2002 slayings of Anthony and Rhonda Robinson. On Jan. 29, 2004, Circuit Judge Mosby Perrow III followed the jury’s recommendation and formally sentenced Winston to death.

19 January 2010 :

The Virginia Supreme Court decided that William Joseph Burns will get another chance to prove that he is mentally retarded and therefore cannot be executed. Burns was convicted of the 1998 slaying of his 73-year-old his mother-in-law Tersey Elizabeth Cooley. The court sent the case back to the Shenandoah court for another hearing.