Virginia's only woman on death row says sentence unfair
TROY, Virginia (AP) -- The only woman on Virginia's death row doesn't deny that she deserves punishment for having her husband and stepson killed so she could collect insurance money.
But paying the ultimate penalty, says Teresa Lewis, is too much -- especially considering the men who actually did the deed will live out their lives behind bars.
"I don't think it's fair for the triggermen to get life, and I got the death penalty," she said, speaking by phone through a glass partition at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women.
she does have a point there, doesn't she ?
Lewis pleaded guilty last year to arranging the slayings of her husband and stepson to collect a $250,000 insurance policy.
At her sentencing, Circuit Judge Charles Strauss said Lewis had no motive but greed in the October 30, 2002, slayings and was even more culpable than the two young men she hired to kill 51-year-old Julian Lewis and his 25-year-old son, C.J. Lewis.
Lewis maintains she hired the hitmen to escape an abusive relationship.
Strauss said he was particularly bothered by the slaying of C.J., who was home on leave from Army National Guard duty and "by all accounts was a fine young man," said defense attorney Thomas Blaylock.
Teresa Lewis kissed him goodnight in the family's Pittsylvania County home, knowing the hit men were coming, Blaylock said.
Prosecutor David Grimes said he sought the death penalty because "her actions in planning and getting the other two to actually do the shooting was extraordinarily cold."
Blaylock said he was surprised by Teresa Lewis' sentence because she was the first to confess and led police to the triggermen.
Teresa Lewis said she's confident she can avoid execution, and smiled and laughed through much of a recent hourlong interview with The Associated Press.
I take that back, kill her
"I just feel like I have something to live for. I've got a daughter here," she said.
and her husband and son didn't ? Execute her
Christie Lynn Bean, 17, is serving five years at the Fluvanna prison because she knew about the murder plot but remained silent. A jury convicted Bean of conspiring with her mother and of two counts of first-degree murder as an accessory before the fact.
"I feel terrible for her being here," Teresa Lewis said. "She knew about it before it happened. Oh, what a mess! I didn't think about the consequences it would bring. I hate myself."
not good enough. Execute her
Teresa Lewis said she met would-be triggermen Matthew Shallenberger and Rodney Fuller, both in their 20s, while waiting in the customer service line at a Wal-Mart store. She and Shallenberger became lovers and concocted the scheme to murder Julian Lewis, who she said was an abusive alcoholic.
"My motive was to get rid of Julian because I was a prisoner in my own home," she said. "I didn't care about the money."
uh, yeah, right. Execute her
Teresa Lewis hopes she can win a new trial, or at least a reduced sentence. The Virginia Supreme Court rejected her appeal in March. Blaylock said the case will be appealed to the federal courts.
don't allow it. Execute her tommorrow
I will be there. I want to see it finished. I want justice for my father and brother.
-- Kathy Clifton, daughter and sister of victims
Kathy Clifton said she wants to see Lewis executed for arranging the murders of her father and brother.
If Lewis is put to death, "I will be there," Clifton said. "I want to see it finished.
"I want justice for my father and brother."
Teresa Lewis would be the first woman executed in Virginia since 1912, when 17-year-old Virginia Christian died in the electric chair for suffocating her female employer with a towel.
Virginia has executed 91 people since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, second behind Texas. Of the 912 people executed nationally since then, 10 have been women
RE: Virginia's only woman on death row says sentence unfair
her statements are ridiculous, she deserves the death penalty.
if not for her actions in hiring two hitmen her husband and son would still be alive, therefore she is the direct cause of their deaths and deserves the same fate.
as far as the hitmen, they also deserve the death penalty, unfortunately they did not receive it. this doesnt change anything regarding her sentence, without her they would have never known the two men they murdered.
RE: Virginia's only woman on death row says sentence unfair
I agree Stealth, but I also think the daughter that knew of the plot, and did nothing deserves more than 5yrs. All she had to do was tell someone to save their lives.
RE: Virginia's only woman on death row says sentence unfair
Well, you just know I have to come in here and express my dissent. Let her rot in a concrete and steel cage for the rest of her life. She is as guilty as the physical murderers and needs to be punished, but death is the quick way out. Make her pay with the remainder of her time here, and death will come on its own soon enough.
RE: Virginia's only woman on death row says sentence unfair
Aught, I agree it would probably be harder for her to live out the rest of her days in a cage, but the taxpayers have to foot the bill for that. Maybe she could be used for some type of scientific research so she'd be giving something back. I'm sure there's always a need for more car-crash dummies.
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RE: Virginia's only woman on death row says sentence unfair
Quote:
Aught, I agree it would probably be harder for her to live out the rest of her days in a cage, but the taxpayers have to foot the bill for that. Maybe she could be used for some type of scientific research so she'd be giving something back. I'm sure there's always a need for more car-crash dummies.
We've had this discussion before. Executions costs millions of dollars more per person than life in prison. That's just the way it is.
Virginia's only woman on death row says sentence unfair
