Monique Coppola of Virginia Public News Service posts, "Governor McDonnell to Announce Fate of Woman on Death Row," this morning.
Gov. McDonnell is expected to announce very soon whether or not he will commute the sentence of Teresa Wright, a woman who has been on Virginia's death row since pleading guilty to hiring two men to kill her husband and stepson for their life insurance money in October of 2002.
The Rev. Lynne Litchfield served as prison chaplain at Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women, where Wright has been held. She says the case may seem pretty cut-and-dried, but evidence gathered since Wright's conviction - such as her low IQ score (that of a 12-year-old) and a confession by one of the gunmen - show that her life should be spared.
"I think it's an unjust sentence now that we have letters from Matthew Shallenberger saying that he was clearly the mastermind of this, and we have affidavits from people that say Teresa was not the one in control, Mathew Shallenberger was."
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell's website will carry his official statement on a clemency decision.
The Virginian Pilot carries the editorial, "Serving justice and also mercy."
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.
And:
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.
"Effort to save condemned Va. woman," by Maria Glod is at the Washington Post.
Lawyers for convicted murderer Teresa Lewis, who is set to be executed by lethal injection next week, sent a petition to Virginia Gov. Robert M. McDonnell (R) with the electronic signatures of more than 5,500 people who ask that her life be spared.
Lewis's supporters say she is borderline mentally retarded and should not be put to death for her role in the 2002 slayings of her husband and stepson. Lewis helped plan the crimes. The two gunmen who fired the deadly shots were sentenced to life in prison.
The Arc of Virginia, which advocates for people with mental disabilities, also sent a letter to McDonnell. "The Arc of Virginia joins several national and state organizations in urging you to exercise your power of clemency and commute her sentence to life in prison without parole," organization president Howard Cullum wrote. "At a minimum, however, the execution should not go forward without a comprehensive professional assessment of Ms. Lewis's intellectual functioning."
Sara Litchfield writes the OpEd, "Governor should spare inmate's life," for the Culpepper Star Exponent.
Any Virginian who wants to test the strain the death penalty can endure must carefully study the case of Teresa Lewis — scheduled to be executed Sept. 23.
New evidence in the case directly resoundingly rebuts the specific basis upon which the sentencing judge concluded she deserved a death sentence. Timing and legal technicalities, however, have prevented any subsequent court from considering the new evidence.
The decision whether the death sentence will, nonetheless, be carried out rests entirely with Gov. Robert F. McDonnell. Fair-minded Virginians — independent of their positions regarding the death penalty — should let the governor know that they support a decision to commute the death sentence in Teresa’s extraordinary case to life without parole.
Teresa Lewis did not actually kill anyone. She pleaded guilty for her role in the murders of her husband and her husband’s adult son. The two men who actually shot Mr. Lewis and his son received life sentences with the agreement of the prosecutor and the court.
Earlier coverage of the case is here.
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