Monday, March 7, 2011

US state executes first woman in nearly 100 years

www.timesofearth.com Virginia - The US state of Virginia has executed a 41-year-old grandmother for the murder of her husband and his son, the first woman to be put to death in Virginia in almost 100 years. Teresa Lewis was killed by lethal injection in Greensville Correction Center at 9.13pm (0113 GMT) on Thursday. "It took about 13 minutes from the time she entered the execution chamber from the time she was pronounced dead." "Officials said she walked on her own into the execution chamber, but media representatives - who witnessed the execution -said she looked nervous and scared." Abolitionists painted Lewis as an example of why capital punishment is flawed, saying she has diminished mental faculties and was taken advantage of by smarter accomplices. Her lawyer, James Rocap, said: "Tonight the death machine exterminated the beautiful childlike and loving spirit of Teresa Lewis." But with an IQ of about 70 or above, Lewis was considered fit for trial in the southern state of Virginia and had pleaded guilty to hiring two men in 2002 to murder her husband and stepson to pocket their $350000 life insurance policy. Lewis appeared tearful as she was escorted into the death chamber on Thursday before being bound to a gurney with heavy leather straps. In the moments before her execution, she asked if her husband's daughter was there. Kathy Clifton, Lewis' stepdaughter, was in an adjacent witness room blocked from the inmate's view by a two-way mirror. "I want Kathy to know ...



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