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The only woman on Virginia's death row is scheduled to be executed next week. She shouldn't be killed, but not because of her gender.
Teresa Lewis, 41, is borderline mentally retarded, with an IQ of 72 - a fact that makes it highly unlikely she masterminded the killing of her husband and his adult son in 2002. She didn't act alone, yet she's been sentenced to lose her life while the two who carried out the murders received life sentences.
She is no danger to anyone in prison; in fact, just the opposite. Those who work or live in Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women say she has a calming effect on fellow inmates, even though she's in solitary confinement and can't see them.
Lewis, whose only previous crime was forging a prescription, doesn't dispute that she participated in horrendous acts.
In fact, the Danville woman pleaded guilty, waiving her right to a jury trial. A jury had rejected the death penalty for one co-defendant. When it came time to sentence the second defendant - the one who admitted on several occasions that he planned the killings so he could get money from Lewis' husband's estate and from her stepson's life insurance - the judge sent him to prison for life, too. He said it would be unfair to sentence one killer to die and allow another to live.
That's exactly the flaw in administering the death penalty, and one of several reasons to commute Lewis' sentence to life. Lewis is preparing to die for her crimes. Others convicted of masterminding killings are serving life in prison; still others have served a lesser sentence and are back among society.
Even if Gov. Bob McDonnell commutes Lewis' sentence, she will spend the rest of her life in a prison cell. There is no possibility of parole.
John Whitehead, founder of the Charlottesville-based Rutherford Institute, wrote McDonnell, advocating for commutation. Executing her, he said, would be "an inappropriate and inhumane application of capital punishment.
"If the death penalty is a necessary evil of our times," Whitehead wrote, "it is essential that it be implemented only where there exists virtual certainty of the defendant's factual guilt, virtual certainty of the defendant's mental capacity to understand the nature of his or her crime, and other circumstances manifesting an appalling disregard for human life."
Lewis' diminished mental capacity is undisputed. The argument for commutation for Lewis, who by all accounts models good behavior in the grimmest of places, should be a compelling one for McDonnell, despite his support for the death penalty.
Execution may be permitted under the law, and it may satisfy those who crave an eye for an eye. But in this case, life in prison is an adequate - and far more civilized - punishment that ensures justice is served.
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no way
Too bad her husband wasn't given the same compassion by the Pilot, the murderers or those who oppose the death penalty.
Agree in part.
I agree that it is wrong that there has only been one death penalty given. Three or none, but not one.
Justice?
A person admits murdering another person. Justice is the murder surrendering their life. Even the editors at the Pilot should be able to understand this truth. If others involved we not sentenced to die, then correct that mistake. Please don't use a failure of the system to administer equal justice to all involved in the murder to rationalize advocating another injustice to the victim.
Lewis didn't become "retarded" until the 11th hour of appeals.
Teresa isn't retarded. She wrote a fairly well worded testimony of her faith, which is published on the web. She also likely was coached to flub questions on her IQ test to help lower her score. She isn't the brightest bulb, but she does understand and acknowledge her crime as well as that death is her punishment for that crime.
She isn't lying in a puddle of her own waste, babbling incoherently at Fluvanna either, she is constantly participating in interaction at prison church services. Additionally, she did manage to graduate from high school and spent a semester at college. She isn't a rocket scientist, but she knew what was going on that night in 2002 and was a willing participant.
Governor McDonnell should and will follow the lead of our courts and refuse to intervene in this case.
Teresa Lewis - she was ringleader and must be executed.
Teresa Lewis plead guilty to the charges against her and thus freely waived her right to be tried by jury.
The evidence of the case clearly demonstrates that Teresa did mastermind the murders of her husband and stepson in 2002. Regardless of her not pulling the trigger, she was most certainly a first hand participant and orchestrator of the motivation for the crime. Her counsel is attempting to lay the blame on co-conspirator Shallenberger, who received a life sentence and committed suicide while incarcerated.
This doesn't mitigate the actions of Lewis, who conceived the possibility of large windfall from being the beneficiary on both victims' life insurance policy, who contracted both gunmen and engaged in a tryst with them while plotting the crime, who let the killers into the home the night of the murder and drank an iced tea while her husband and stepson were murdered in their beds. When her stepson was gravely wounded but not dead, Teresa picked up a shotgun and handed it to hitman Rodney Fuller and suggested it would complete the job.
She also delayed calling 9-1-1 as her husband lay bleeding to death, but did go through searching his wallet for money.
T
Here's my litmus test...
Did she try to cover up her involvement? In other words, did she know she was participating in a violent crime?