Update - "Va. inmate executed for killing 2 fellow prisoners," is Dena Potter's AP report, via the Virginian Pilot.
Reuters posts, "Virginia: Man Vowing to Kill More Faces Execution." It's via the New York Times.
The state plans to use its electric chair for the first time in nearly three years on Wednesday to execute a man who pleaded guilty to two prison murders and threatened to continue killing until he was executed. Robert Charles Gleason Jr., 42, waived appeals and volunteered to be executed over the objections of his former court-appointed lawyers.
"Robert Gleason, Inmate Who Asked To Die, Will Be Executed," is the AP filing by Dena Potter, via Huffington Post.
When Robert Gleason Jr. walks into Virginia's death chamber Wednesday night and is strapped into the rarely used electric chair, it will mark the end of a twisted quest to speed his own death.
Gleason says it's not because he wants to die, but rather because he knows he will kill again if he's not executed. He was already serving life in prison when he killed his cellmate then vowed to continue killing unless he was put to death. When the system wasn't moving fast enough, he strangled another inmate and warned that the body count would rise if they didn't heed his warnings. Gleason waived his appeals, and he remains in a legal battle with his former attorneys as they file last-minute appeals to try to save his life against his wishes.
"Why prolong it? The end result's gonna be the same," Gleason said from death row in his thick Boston accent in one of numerous interviews he's given to The Associated Press over three years. "The death part don't bother me. This has been a long time coming. It's called karma."
Gleason is scheduled to die at 9 p.m. Wednesday at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. Condemned Virginia inmates can choose between lethal injection and electrocution, and Gleason is the first inmate to choose electrocution since 2010.The unusual choice follows a series of other shocking moves.
As noted above, this will be the first execution in an American death penalty state this year. There have been a total of 1,320 post-Furman executions since 1977. Virginia has carried out 109 executions since 1982.
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