September 15, 2016
Mark Latimer # 207687
5239 Osgood Ave, N.
Stillwater, MN 55082
Dear Mr. Latimer,
Thank you for writing to Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(VADP).
While it is true that Virginia is third in the nation in executions since
1976, times have changed dramatically. Virginia used to sentence 5-10
people to death each year and execute as many as 14 people annually.
The Commonwealth has executed only three people in the past five years
and no one has been sentenced to death in over five years.
VADP and its partners are working on legislation to ban the execution of
people with severe mental illness. We are getting bipartisan support for
this measure and hope to have a serious debate on the bill in the General
Assembly. Our goal is to have the legislature debate abolition of capital
punishment in Virginia by 2020.
Unfortunately, the six remaining men on death row are nearing the end of
their federal appeals. Two of them - Ricky Gray and Ivan Teleguz - are
likely to receive execution dates before the end of 2016. Another -
William Morva - will probably get an execution date early in the 2017
year.
Their only realistic hope to avoid execution is a legal challenge to a new
Virginia law that makes the identity of the supplier of drugs for lethal
injection a state secret.
lam sorry that you don’t have access to a computer or the Internet.
Almost all of our communication with supporters is now via e-mail,
Facebook, and our web site.
I just visited the web site of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty (NCADP). They track all execution dates across the country.
They identify only four executions scheduled before the end of 2016:
Barney Fuller, Texas October 5, 2016
Terry Edwards, Texas October 19, 2016
Ramiro Gonzales, Texas November 2, 2016
John Battaglia, Texas December 7, 2016
Sincerely,
Michael E. Stone
Executive Director
