The Virginian-Pilot
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Gov. Bob McDonnell has turned down a request for clemency from Teresa Lewis, who next week could become the first woman executed in Virginia in nearly 100 years.
"After numerous evaluations, no medical professional has concluded that Teresa Lewis meets the medical or statutory definition of mentally retarded," McDonnell said in a news release issued Friday about the execution, which is scheduled for Thursday night. "Having carefully reviewed the petition for clemency, the judicial opinions in this case, and other relevant materials, I find no compelling reason to set aside the sentence that was imposed by the Circuit Court and affirmed by all reviewing courts."
Lewis, a 41-year-old grandmother, was convicted of plotting the murders of her husband and stepson in rural Pittsylvania County in 2002. She was sentenced to death. The two triggermen who carried out the killings got life in prison.
Lewis' attorneys had asked McDonnell to commute her sentence to life in prison, arguing that her limited mental capacity made it unlikely that she could have masterminded the murders. They also cited post-conviction statements from one of the triggermen that he was the mastermind.
Lewis is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection unless the U.S. Supreme Court steps in.
The last female executed in Virginia was Virginia Christian, a 17-year-old African American domestic worker convicted of killing her white employer in 1912.
Pilot writer Jennifer Jiggetts contributed to this story.
Bill Sizemore, (757) 446-2276, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com
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how do you do it virginia...?
how do you deal with this obvious bias in USA death penalty..... IF you offered money to kill someone AND another person accepted money to Kill that person who they DID NOT KNOW. How do you, Virginia, reconcile giving death to the offerer but not the acceptor?? Lewis AND those men would have to have a depraived mind. In other USA states death is given to the person who kills someone they DID NOT KNOW.
In 'Voss' that was a fed indictment, In 'Lewis" this was a state indictment. the fed wants death for the actual killer. the state wants death for the person who offered money to kill.......
I'm very curious to read ANY comments on this point.
by what metric?
Executions also protect the other prisoners and prison guards and even the condemned's attornies because without the death penalty and only "life without parole" means that once convicted you can't be punished any worse so if some other prisoner looks at you "wrong" then the convicted killer will not have anything to lose.
By what metric can a governor use to decide "redemption" enough to commute a death sentence if NO NEW physical evidence proving innocence is presented?
Too few.
I find it impossible to believe that this is the first woman Virginia's had who deserved execution since 1912. There are too few executions.
I though McDonell was against late term abortions
Here we have an abortion at the 123rd trimester.
Killing Industry
Government can't do anything right. Time for them to get out of the execution business. Privatize it. I am tired of my tax money going toward this industry. If people want someone put to death, then they should have the right to contract with Wal-Mart on an individual basis. Where is sdougan when you need him?
cheeky! I like it. But
cheeky! I like it. But shouldn't it be Marlboro or McDonalds that puts them to death?
If there was such thing has
If there was such thing has hard labor making big rocks into small I would not be for the death penalty. As it is now prison life is just another government form of welfare.
Obviously you don't know
Obviously you don't know anything about prison.
i'm waiting
Please enlighten us all with your prison expertise.
Enlighten you how, with my
Enlighten you how, with my 14 years working in corrections? How should I enlighten you? Tell me?!