I don't personally believe in the death penalty but in respect of the law of the land 2 people were murdered in cold blood because of her so I guess she has to pay the price, if this was a man that had turned his life around in jail would this still be as controversial :dunno:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...n-Final-meal-Virginia-death-row-prisoner.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...n-Final-meal-Virginia-death-row-prisoner.html
Chicken, sweet peas and apple pie: Final meal of first woman to be executed in Virginia since 1912
Teresa Lewis will die by lethal injection tonight after her appeal for clemency was turned down by the Supreme Court
The first woman to be executed in the state of Virginia for almost a century was preparing for her last meal today, hours before her scheduled death by lethal injection.
As the clock ticked towards her 9pm execution at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Teresa Lewis's lawyers were this afternoon frantically seeking a last-minute reprieve.
But despite an international outcry over her execution, they admitted all her legal appeals had been exhausted.
Lewis, 41, who is mentally unstable, was sentenced to death for providing sex and money to two men to kill her husband and stepson in October 2002 so she could collect a $250,000 insurance payout.
This afternoon she was holding a last meeting with her family, spiritual adviser and supporters.
Earlier she informed prison staff of details of her final meal: two chicken breasts, sweet peas with butter, a Dr. Pepper and either German cake or apple pie for dessert.
Lewis pleaded guilty in May 2003 to two counts of capital murder for hire in the slayings of her husband Julian Lewis and her stepson, Charles Lewis.
Tonight her husband's daughter - her step-daughter - Cathy Clifton will be among those selected to watch the execution.
Teresa Lewis paid for her husband Julian Lewis (right) and his son Charles to be murdered
Lewis' fate was sealed earlier this week when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block her execution.
The court's decision followed Virginia governor Bob McDonnell's refusal to reconsider a clemency request, which he rejected last Friday.
The grandmother, who has reportedly turned her life around in prison, told a TV station: ‘If I have to go home with Jesus... I know that’s going to be the best thing.’
Thousands of protesters, including the thriller writer John Grisham, claim her death sentence should be commuted to life imprisonment.
'A good and decent person is about to lose her life because of a system that is broken,' said lawyer James E. Rocap III, who represents Lewis.
The execution chamber at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt in which Teresa Lewis is scheduled to die tonight
He said he was referring to the decision by the Supreme Court and McDonnell's rejection of clemency.
Rocap appealed for McDonnell to reconsider his decision to deny clemency to Lewis on Monday, claiming new evidence should spare her the death penalty.
Rocap argued that one of the gunmen later claimed he manipulated Lewis, who has a history of mental instability, 'to dupe her into believing he loved her so that he could achieve his own selfish goals.'
The gunmen, Matthew Shallenberger and Rodney Fuller, were sentenced to life terms. Shallenberger, whom Rocap names as the mastermind, committed suicide in prison in 2006.
'If she was not the mastermind - and it is now clear she was not - it is grossly unfair to impose the death sentence on her while Shallenberger and Fuller received life,' Rocap wrote to McDonnell.
Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt in which Teresa Lewis will die at 9pm tonight
McDonnell's legal counsel said the governor's decision would stand.
Based on a thorough review, 'The governor found no compelling reason to grant clemency and made a final decision,' J. Jasen Eige wrote to Rocap, who released the response on Tuesday.
Teresa Lewis and Julian Clifton Lewis Jr met in 2000 at a textile factory where they worked and later married.
In 2002, Julian's son Charles bought a $250,000 life insurance policy when he was called for active duty by the U.S. Army Reserve. He named his father as beneficiary.
Lewis offered herself and her 16-year-old daughter for sex to Shallenberger and Fuller. She stood by while they shot Lewis, 51, and his son, who was 25, in 2002.
Lewis rummaged through her husband's pockets for money while he lay dying and waited nearly an hour before calling paramedics.
Lewis allowed a judge to determine her sentence. Her attorneys believed she stood a better chance of getting a life prison term from the judge who had never sentenced anyone to death.
The last execution of a woman in the U.S. occurred in 2005 when Frances Newton died by injection in Texas.
In Virginia, the last woman executed was in 1912, when 17-year-old Virginia Christian died in the electric chair for suffocating her employer.
Thousands of advocates have appealed for clemency for Lewis, arguing she is a changed woman. Her scheduled execution has also stirred interest because of her gender.
Out of more than 1,200 executions since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, only 11 women have been executed. Of the more than 3,200 inmates on death row nationwide, 53 are women.
Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Center agreed that the death penalty is a human rights issue, but said the Iranian president is 'the wrong messenger.'
'The United States is, of course, interested in human rights abuses,' he said.
TEENAGE MAID WAS LAST WOMAN TO BE EXECUTED IN STATE OF VIRGINIA
The last woman to be executed in the state of Virginia was 17-year-old maid Virginia Christian in 1912.
She was convicted of murdering her employer, Ida Belote, 72, at her home in Hampton on March 18th that year.
Belote died from suffocation after Christian stuffed a towel down her throat during a violent fight.
It is believed Belote frequently mistreated Christian and had earlier hit Christian with a 'spittoon' after accusing her of stealing a locket and a skirt.
Christian was arrested shortly after Belote's body was found and confessed to the killing.
With a lynch mob looming in the background, the teenager was executed by electric chair in the state penitentiary in Richmond.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...n-Final-meal-Virginia-death-row-prisoner.html
