Teresa Lewis, 41, was executed die by lethal injection. (AP) Posted on 09/23/2010 8:23:49 PM PDT by Inappropriate Laughter
Teresa Lewis, 41, was executed die by lethal injection. (AP)
JARRATT, Va., Sept. 23 - Teresa Lewis, who plotted with a young lover to kill her husband and stepson for insurance money, became the first woman executed in Virginia in nearly 100 years Thursday night when she was killed by lethal injection.
Authorities pronounced Lewis dead at 9:13 p.m.
Lewis's case generated passion and interest across the world. The European Union asked Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) to commute her sentence to life, citing her mental capacity. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cited the case at an appearance in New York.
It began on an October night nearly eight years ago, when Lewis prayed with her husband, slipped into bed next to him and waited for her two conspirators to come inside the door she had left unlocked. The two men showed up about 3:15 a.m., opened fire, then fled.
After the shooting, Lewis waited about half an hour to call 911. Her stepson, Charles "C.J." Lewis, died quickly. But her husband, Julian Lewis, whose body was riddled with bird shot, was alive and moaning "baby, baby, baby" when police arrived.
SNIP
Lewis is the 12th woman to be executed in the United States since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. The most recent was in Texas in 2005, when Frances Newton was killed by lethal injection for shooting her husband and two children.
On Saturday, Lewis was moved to the Greensville Correctional Center, site of Virginia's death house. She requested her final meal: fried chicken, sweet peas with butter, German chocolate cake and Dr. Pepper, corrections officials said.
Her supporters never said that Lewis was innocent or that she shouldn't be punished. But they said she did not deserve to die because she was borderline mentally retarded,...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I respectfully disagree. That's a distinction without a difference.
I disagree also. She hatched the plan and coerced her lover into pulling the trigger. She's guilty of murder.
yeah, I know it’s a fine edge, but I was kinda thinking about the eye for an eye thing...she was an evil doer for sure, but didn’t actually DO it...oh well...the Jury did us a favor.
In that Lib haven they’ll sit on death row forever. In VA or TX they’d actually be executed.
She’s dead, Jim.
Sorry, Im a big death penalty advocate but this one was not deserved.
For the same reason that there's never a shortage of idiots who defend abortion, up to and including the 9th month: because they are FREAKING LIBERALS!!!
Execute an evil murderer? No way!
Kill an innocent baby? Absolutely!
The moral of this story is, get religion BEFORE you murder two people for the insurance money.
Katherine Burnett, a senior assistant attorney general, painted an entirely different picture of Lewis, saying that she bragged to two friends that she was marrying Julian Lewis, Jr. for his money, came up with the idea to kill him and his 25-year-old son, Charles, and offered the two gunmen sex in return for helping her as well as buying the weapons used in the crime.
The gunmen, Rodney Fuller and Matthew Shallenberger, were sentenced to life in prison.
Lewis’ daughter, Christie Lynn Bean, who was 16 at the time, served five years because she knew about the plan but remained silent.
David Furrow, Lewis’ defense attorney when she pleaded guilty in 2002, said he had expected the judge to sentence Lewis to life in prison.
But at her sentencing, Circuit Court Judge Charles Strauss said that she appeared cold and emotionless throughout the proceedings, that she seemed to have no other motive besides financial gain, that he saw her as a continuing threat to society, and sentenced her to death.
I think that makes you a medium death penalty advocate, or even a small death penalty advocate. Why don't you think it was deserved here?
"Well.....bye!"
I’ve reached the point where I’m angry hearing this case (and others) achieved “international attention” because she was the “first woman” executed by Virginia in 100 years.
I used to fall for that stuff, as if it is the issue. What about the family members, father and son, she murdered??
Perhaps she did...
It began on an October night nearly eight years ago, when Lewis prayed with her husband,
Some actress will inevitably win an Academy Award for Best Actress for portraying her in a movie.
ac·com·plice /əˈkɒmplɪs/ Show Spelled [uh-kom-plis] Show IPA –noun a person who knowingly helps another in a crime or wrongdoing, often as a subordinate.
(She did it).
Are you sure this picture doesn’t belong on a pit bull thread?
I find it odd that a borderline retarded person would wait for 30 minutes while her husband died an agonizing death. If she was retarded, how could she plot to kill her husband? I did not realize that borderline retarded people had such devious reasoning skills.
How low do you think you could score on an IQ test if your life depended on it?
I know I could score pretty low.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.