The Death Penalty
in Virginia
November 15, 2018
Richmond Rabbinical Council
Richmond, VA
Historical Background on
Virginia & the Death Penalty
The first execution in the New World took
place in Virginia in 1608 when Captain
George Kendall was executed by firing
squad in Jamestown for spying.
Throughout its history as a colony and a
state, Virginia has executed more than
1,300 people, more than any other state.
Virginia has executed the most women
and the youngest children of any state.
= Richmond Times-Dispatch Op-Ed (January 29,
2012)
Virginia & the Death Penalty
Hanging was the predominant
execution method before 1909.
Other methods were used — three
people convicted of piracy in 1700
were gibbeted, four pirates were
hanged in chains in 1720, and a
female slave was burned in 1737.
From 1910 until 1994, the electric
chair was used for all executions.
Lethal injection and the electric chair
are existing execution methods.
Executions by State Since 1608
Historical Leaders in Executions Since 1608
Using information contained in the "Espy File" together with current information, the states in the United States that have
executed 700 or more prisoners since 1608 are as follows:
Espy File DPIC Total
1608 - 1972 1976 - Present 1608 - Present
1. Virginia 1,277 111 1,388
2. Texas 758 538 1,293
Ss. New York 1,130 0 1,130
4. Pennsylvania 1,040 3 1,043
5. Georgia 950 69 1,019
\6. North Carolina 784 43 827
|7. Alabama 708 58 766
|8. California 709 13 722
* Executions as of December 31, 2016
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [November 1, 2018]
Era of Lynchings
In 1892, after a white girl said she had been
accosted by a black man wearing rubber boots, a
mob grabbed the first black man they found with
rubber boots on and hanged him near Wasena
Bridge.
The next year, Roanoke's mayor called in the state
militia to stop another mob from lynching a black
man accused of assault. Eight died in the ensuing
gunfire. The clashes continued until police
handed Thomas Smith over to the rabble. Smith
was proved innocent after his death.
A Legacy of Lynchings
Medium
eee
aoe et ,
aa ue, MAP OF VIRGINIA’S a
a LYNCHING HISTORY
© wer fa aT NR when you sign up for
= Total of 91 documented lynchings in Virginia. More were never documented.
= Lynchings occurred in at least 50 localities in Virginia.
= Most localities had just one or two lynchings; however,
o Alleghany County had four, Danville five and Tazewell County had ten.
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The Tuskegee Instituie records the lynching of 3,436 blacks between 1882 and 1950. This is probably a
small percentage of these murders, which were seldom reported, and led to the creation of the NAACP
in 1909, an organization dedicated to passing federal anti-lynching laws. Through all this terror and
camage someone-many times a professional photographer-carried a camera and took pictures of the
events. These lynching photographs were often made into postcards and sold as souvenirs to the
crowds in attendance. These images are some of photography's most brutal, surviving to this day so that
we may now look back on ihe terrorism unleashed on America's African-American community and
perhaps know our history and ourselves better. The almost one hundred images reproduced here are a
testament to the camera's ability to make us remember what we often choose to forget.
+ Read less
Report incorrect product information.
Virginia’s Anti-Lynching Law of 1928
Lynching in the a From 1880 to 1930 at least
New South 90 black men in Virginia
Georgia and Virginia, 1880-1930 were lynched.
¢ Law rooted in concern that
mob violence was a threat
to attract business &
industry.
¢ No white person was ever
convicted of lynching an
African-American.
Public Executions
_ Roanoke's racial climate was typical in the South.
"During this era, both lynchings and executions
typically drew large crowds of spectators," said
Ted DeLaney, associate professor of history at
Washington and Lee University. "There were
executions and lynchings in other parts of the
South that drew crowds as large as 3,000.
Sometimes public schools would close so children
could be present."
— "Roanoke's last public execution," Roanoke Times
(June 14, 2007)
Modern Death Penalty Era
e U.S. Supreme Court outlawed capital
punishment in 1972 (Furman v. Georgia)
— Inconsistent application of the DP
— Racial disparities in the DP
¢ Revised state laws approved by the U.S.
Supreme Court in 1976 (Gregg v. Georgia)
— Implemented two stage trail process
— Aggravating & mitigating factors
~ Death Penalty States
ae 30
Alabama Louisiana Pennsylvania
Arizona Mississippi South Carolina
Arkansas Missouri South Dakota
California Montana Tennessee
Colorado Nebraska Texas
Florida Nevada Utah
Georgia New Hampshire Virginia
Idaho North Carolina Wyoming
Indiana Ohio
Kansas Oklahoma U.S. Government
Kentucky Oregon U.S. Military
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [November 1 2018]
Death Penalty States (blue)
Executions by State Since 1976
As of September 1, 2018
Mississippi
Indiana
Delaware
California
Illinois
Nevada
Utah
Tennessee
Maryland
Washington
Nebraska
Idaho
Kentucky
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [September 1, 2018]
States With Most Executions (red)
Geography of the Death Penalty
South 1212
Midwest
West
Northeast
TX & OK
*Federal executions afe listed in the region in
which the crime was committed.
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [November 1, 2018]
Geography of the Death Penalty
Top 16 Counties by Executions Since 1976,
Not Including Texas
#11 Prince William County - 9
terfield County - 8 #11 New Castle - 9
2
——!
ony
| ‘Oklahoma County - 38
oe
mu =
#5 Maricopa County - 11
#5 Pima County - 11
#7 Miami-Dade County - 10
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [November 1, 2018]
Executions by Race Since 1976
Race Number Percentage
Black
508 34.5%
Latino 124 8.3%
White 829 55.6%
Other 24 16%
NOTE: The federal government counts some
categories, such as Hispanics, as an ethnic
group rather than a race. DPIC refers to all
groups as races because the sources for much
of our information use these categories.
Race Number Percentage
Black
333 15.3%
Latino 150 6.9%
White 1646, 75.6%
Other 46 2.3%
@ Black
Persons Executed for Interracial Murders
288
20
White Def./ —_ Black Def./
Black Victim — White Victim
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [November 1, 2018]
Death Row Prisoners by State
As of July 1, 2017
U.S. Government 61
Mississippi 48
Oklahoma 47
South Carolina 41
Kentucky 33
Oregon 33
Arkansas 32
Missouri 24
Indiana 12
Nebraska 11
Kansas 10
Utah 9
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [September 1, 2018].
Racial Composition of
Death Row Prisoners
Other
3%
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [September 1, 2018].
Virginia & the Death Penalty
° Virginia has executed 113
people since 1976, second
most in the United States.
¢ Virginia executes the highest percentage of
those sentenced to death (75%) in the U.S.
¢ Virginia is fastest in the nation from
sentencing to execution (6.2 years on
average).
Virginia & the Death Penalty
Executions per Death Sentence
Cumulative Death
Sentences 1977
Cumulative Executions _ Executions per Death
through 2010 1977 through 2010 Sentence
1, Virginia 149 108 0.725
2. Texas 932 464 0.498
3, Utah 19 7 0.368
4. Missouri 193 67 0.347
5, Delaware 45 14 0.311
6. Oklahoma 308 94 0.305
7. Montana 10 3 0.300
8. Arkansas n7 27 0.231
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [September 1, 2018].
Conservative Arguments
Against the Death Penalty
Fi 0 1. Limited government
/ PROUD | ‘hifi
CONSERVATIVE) 2. Fiscal responsibility, and
3. The danger of executing
an innocent person, and
4. Collateral Damage.
1. Limited Government
¢ The power to execute is
Vi A Ni perhaps the greatest power
government could exercise over
IS NOT FREE its citizens.
U N LESS 5 There is good reason to be
GOVERNMENT suspicious of this power.
= pele * Error or, even worse, abuse in
the exercise of this power leads
to deprivation of the very rights
government should protect —
life, liberty, and property.
Deterrence to Murder
STOP
¢ A report by the National Research Council,
titled Deterrence and the Death Penalty,
stated that studies claiming that the death
penalty has a deterrent effect on murder
rates are “fundamentally flawed” and should
not be used when making policy decisions
(2012).
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
Public Safety
¢ Average murder rate in states with the death
penalty (2014): 4.75 per 100,000 people
¢ Average murder rate in states without the
death penalty (2014): 3.70 per 100,000 people
¢ In polls from 1995 and 2009, police chiefs
ranked the death penalty least effective
among ways to reduce violent crime.
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 16, 2012]
In Virginia it’s easier to take
a person's liberty or life
than their property:
¢ In civil lawsuits, both sides must turn over
virtually everything to the opponent and sit
for pretrial depositions.
Criminal defendants are not entitled to
the police reports in their case, the
witness statements against them or even
a witness list.
“Trial by ambush has
been the norm...”
¢ Retired Loudoun Circuit
Court Judge Thomas D.
Horne
Death Penalty
Disparities in Virginia:
¢ A person is over THREE times as likely to be
sentenced to death if the victim is white
than when the victim is black.
¢ Murder convictions in rural and
suburban areas are TWICE as likely to
end in the death penalty as those in
urban jurisdictions.
SOURCE: Virginia Joint Legislative and Review Commission of the Virginia General Assembly,
Review of Virginia’s System of Capital Punishment [2000]
Death Penalty
Disparities in Virginia:
65% of the 133 political jurisdictions in the
Commonwealth have NOT had an execution since 1976.
* Three jurisdictions [Chesterfield, Prince William, &
Virginia Beach] are responsible for 23% of executions.
¢ Seven jurisdictions [Chesterfield, Fairfax, Hampton,
Pittsylvania, Portsmouth, Prince William, & Virginia
Beach] account for 41% of the state’s executions.
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [May 19, 2016].
2. Fiscal Responsibility
Why the death penalty is so
expensive:
¢ Additional legal costs
¢ Complicated pretrial procedures
¢ Time consuming jury selection
¢ Separate sentencing trial
¢ Lengthy mandatory post-conviction
appeals in state & federal courts
¢ Higher incarceration costs for
death row
Death Penalty Costs in Kansas
Cost Items Capital Trials Non-Capital Trials
Defense $395,762 $98,963
Trial Court S$ 72,530 $21,554
Juries 40.13 days 16.79 days
Prison $49,380/year $24,690/year
Cases that did not
go to trial
Defense $130,595 $64,711
Trial Court S 16,263 S 7,384
¢ Justices of the Kansas Supreme Court assigned to write opinions
estimated they spent 20 times more hours on death penalty appeals
than on non-death appeals.
SOURCE: "Report of the Judicial Council Death Penalty Advisory Committee," Judicial Council,
Kansas Legislature, Feb. 13, 2014
3. The Problem of Innocence
Lede © Since 1973, 163 people have
been released from death row
with evidence of their innocence.
¢ Many others have been executed
while serious doubts have been
raised regarding their verdict.
¢ Since 1976, there is a ratio of one
| innocent person freed from
een death row for every 9 executions!
I C INFORMATION CENTER
Earl Washington
es Wrongfully convicted of
murder and rape in 1984
Sentence was commuted
to life in prison 9 days
before his scheduled
execution in 1994
Granted an absolute
pardon on October 2,
2000
VIRGINIANS FOR
/ ALTERNATIVES
TO THE DEATH PENALTY
Causes of Wrongful Capital Convictions
Number of Cases
45
45
Causes of Wrongful Convictions
= in 86 Death Row Cases
35
30 29
30
25
20 17
15
= 10 8 9
Eyewitness Snitch Government False Junk Science Other
Error Misconduct Confession
Causes
SOURCE: 2001 study by the Center on Wrongful Convictions at
Northwestern Law School.
CSI Mythology
¢ DNA is a powerful tool,
C _ T * but such evidence is
es available in only 5-10%
of criminal cases.
CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION
¢ Imperfect forensic analysis
¢ Crime lab scandals
(e.g., hair & bite mark analysis)
¢ Prosecutorial misconduct
4. Collateral Damage
Human cost of the death penalty
Few people consider the impact of capital punishment on
a wide range of people who are part of the system:
— Victim family members
— Prosecutors
— Defense attorneys
— Judges and jurors
— Family members of death row inmates
— Wardens and corrections officers
— Executioners
Daughter of a slain state trooper
Having spent my entire life without my
dad, | was angry and had wanted his
killers executed.
But over time, after | saw how the death
penalty system actually works, my
feelings on the issue changed.
! believed that the death penalty would
benefit people like my mother and me,
but in reality nothing could be further
from the truth.
— Neely Goen, Op-Ed in Wichita Eagle
(February 6, 2013)
Former Georgia death row guard reflects
In many ways, we were the only
friends these men [death row
inmates] had in the end. ...
| will say this: | don’t believe that when
we execute a person that it’s the
same person who committed that
crime. I do believe people can
change.
Henry McCollum was twice sentenced to
Impact of the Death Penalty on Jurors
death for the rape and murder of an 11-
year old girl in Robeson County, NC.
DNA testing later proved another man
guilty, and McCollum was freed after 30
years on death row.
Jurors were asked about their experience:
One elderly woman sat in her living room, wearing a pink nightgown.
“| should have followed my conscience,” she said, her hands shaking.
“| hope he can forgive me.”
Many were ashamed of their role, some feared God’s wrath, others
shed tears and said the experience was too painful to revisit.
One juror said his biggest regret is that he trusted prosecutors to tell
the truth. If McCollum was on trial, he believed, he’d probably done it.
Former Virginia Executioner
! worked as a prison guard saving lives most of
the time. But when | took on the role of
executioner, | had to become a Killer. ...
The Earl Washington case [who was exonerated
by DNA evidence in 1993] shook my faith in
the justice system. | came within days of
putting an innocent man to death.
| still wonder whether there were any innocents among the 62 that |
executed. The only thing | can do is pray to God to forgive me if | did.
« “Ex-Virginia executioner becomes opponent of death
penalty,” Washington Post (February 10, 2013)
Six Former Executioners Speak Out
While most of the prisoners whose executions we
participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes
for which they were punished, some of us have also
executed prisoners who maintained their innocence
until the end. It is those cases that are most haunting
to an executioner.
Living with the nightmares is something that we know from experience. No one
has the right to ask a public servant to take on a lifelong sentence of nagging
doubt, and for some of us, shame and guilt.
Should our justice system be causing so much harm to so many people when
there is an alternative?
— Allen Ault — Retired Warden, Georgia Diagnostic & Classifications Prison
— Terry Collins — Retired Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
— Ron McAndrew -— Retired Warden, Florida State Prison
— Dennis O’Neill - Retired Warden, Florida State Prison
— Reginald Wilkinson — Retired Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
— Jeanne Woodford — Retired Warden, San Quentin State Prison
Problems with the death penalty
KILLERS AS STARS
¢ Capital cases put the focus on killers instead of
the friends & family members of their victims
¢ The mandatory appeals keep the killer’s photo
and story in front of the public for many years.
¢ The many appeals force family members of
victims to relive the trauma over & over again.
aX Religious Teachings on
GO Capital Punishment
OPPOSE SUPPORT
Roman Catholic Church = Southern Baptist Church
“*American Baptist Church = Lutheran Church — MO Synod
“*United Methodist Church = Islam (though strong strain of mercy)
“+ Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
“Presbyterian Church USA MIXED/NEUTRAL
“Episcopal Church ¢ National Association of Evangelical
“*Reformed Church in America ¢ Assemblies of God
“United Church of Christ ¢ Church of Latter Day Saints
“Eastern Orthodox Churches ¢ Jehovah’s Witnesses
“Conservative, Reform & Reconstructionist | * Buddhism
Jewish movements (Orthodox: moratorium) = ° Hinduism
SOURCES: The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and ReligiousTolerance.org
20 States have abolished
the death penalty
Michigan 1846 | lowa 1965 New York 2007
Wisconsin 1853 | West Virginia 1965 New Mexico 2009
Maine 1887 | North Dakota 1973 Illinois 2011
Minnesota | 1911 | District of Columbia 1981 Connecticut 2012
Alaska 1957 | Massachusetts 1984 Maryland 2013
Hawaii 1957 | Rhode Island 1984 Delaware 2016
Vermont 1964 New Jersey 2007 Washington 2018
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [November 1, 2018].
10 more states have had no
executions in the past ten years
California 2006
Colorado 1997 New Hampshire 1939
Kansas 1965 North Carolina 2006
Montana 2006 Oregon 1997
Nevada 2006 Pennsylvania 1999
Wyoming 1992
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [September 1, 2018].
Red States Close to Abolition
¢ 2016: Utah Senate votes to end
the DP & a key House committee
agrees, but the bill fell a few votes
short on the House floor.
2015: Montana Senate votes for abolition, but
failed in the House on a 50-50 tie vote.
2018: New Hampshire House and Senate voted
to end the DP, but the Governor vetoed the bill.
Conservative Voices Against
the Death Penalty
“1 supported the death penalty for all of my
public life — as a Virginia State Senator, Attorney
General, and Republican candidate for governor.
Today, | can still make a conceptual argument as
to why it should be a tool in the arsenal of a
prosecutor — but it is just an argument. And, to
me, the argument is tired, strained, and no
longer defensible.”
= Mark Earley, a Republican former Virginia
Attorney General who oversaw 36 executions
Others Conservatives Opposed
to the Death Penalty
Edward Crane | Founder & President of | Oliver North Columnist & former U.S.
The CATO Institute Counter-Terrorism
Coordinator
Rod Dreher Senior Editor at The Bill O'Reilly Fox television host &
American Conservative political commentator
Jeff Frazee Founder of Young Dr. Ron Paul Former Congressman &
Americans for Liberty Presidential candidate
Drew Johnson | Fellow at the Taxpayers Ramesh Senior Editor for
Protection Alliance Ponnuru National Review
Jack Kemp Former Republican Lawrence President of the
Congressman & Vice Reed Foundation for
Presidential Candidate Economic Education
Larry Founder of Judicial George Will Columnist
Klayman
Watch
Updated: November 5, 2018
NUMBER OF EXECUTIONS
SINCE 1976: 1485
‘76'77'78'79'80 81 '82'83 84 '85'86 87 '88'89 90'91'92'93'94'95 96 9798 99 00°01 '02'03'04 05 '06 07 (08 '09'10'11 12131415 16117 18
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Web Site [November 1 2018]
New DEATH SENTENCES 1973 - 2017
10-Year Average
(aa
/ 2
DEATH PENALTY
DP
a INFORMATION CENTER
Number of Death Sentences
0
Virginia Death Sentences, 1977 - 2015
(i 20 gS oh 6 aN a AS Oo a WO AS oS @ AW
SPP PP PF oF I? of? of off s nS x Sos
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [October 1, 2016].
Public Opinion on the Death Penalty
A 2010 poll by Lake Research Partners found that
a clear majority of voters (61%) would choose a punishment
other than the death penalty for murder.
DES penalty
No opinion
6% a
ife without parole plus restitution)
SOURCE: Death Penalty Information Center Fact Sheet [November 1, 2018]
Latest Public Opinion Data
Support for death penalty continues to fall
% who the death penalty for persons convicted of murder
A September 2016 poll by the Pew Research Center
found that only half of Americans (49%) now favor
the death penalty, while 42% oppose it.
Opposition to the death penalty is now the highest
that it has been since 1972.
SOURCE: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/29/support-for-death-penalty-lowest-in-
more-than-four-decades/
A New Era in Virginia
“+ Virginia used to sentence 5-10 people to death and
execute as many as 14 people in one year.
= Only four executions in the past five years.
=" No new death sentence in over 7 years.
** The last death sentence was in September 2011.
= There have been over 2,400 murders in Virginia
since then.
= No jury has imposed a death sentence in any of
those cases.
Virginians for Alternatives
to the Death Penalty
http://www.vadp.org/
Pr 0%
VIRGINIANS FOR
ALTERNATIVES
TO THE DEATH PENALTY
Ending the Death
Penalty through
Education,
Organizing &
Advocacy
