Va. Gov., U.S. Supreme Court Won't Stop Woman's Execution
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to block Virginia's plan to execute a woman convicted of conspiring to have two men kill her husband and stepson.
Two of the three women on the court – Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor – voted to stop the execution of Teresa Lewis. But Justice Elena Kagan and the other justices ruled against a stay of execution, setting the stage for the state's first execution of a woman in nearly a century.
"We are deeply disappointed," Lewis's attorney, James Rocap, said Tuesday night following the release of the court's two-paragraph ruling. "A good and decent person is about to lose her life because of a system that is badly broken."
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Earlier, Virginia's governor denied a request to reconsider clemency for 41-year-old Lewis, who supporters point out has an IQ of 72 - two points above the threshold for clinical mental retardation.
In a statement, Gov. Bob McDonnell noted that no medical professional has concluded that Lewis is mentally retarded under Virginia law and he found "no compelling reason to set aside the sentence that was imposed by the Circuit Court."
"Accordingly, I decline to intervene and have notified the appropriate counsel and family of my decision," he concluded.
Prosecutors and police have said that although Lewis did not fire the gun that killed her husband, Julian Lewis, and his son, Charles "C.J." Lewis, she was the mastermind behind the plot to obtain her husband's assets, including the life insurance proceeds from another son's accidental death, and her stepson's life insurance policy.
Lewis reportedly gave her conspirators $1,200 to purchase firearms and ammunition, enticed her 16 year-old daughter to become involved in the murder plans, and intentionally left a door unlocked on the night of Oct. 30, 2002, so the gunmen could slip in.
She also waited more than 45 minutes to call 911, while her husband slowly bled to death.
"Lewis does not deny that she committed these heinous crimes," McDonnell pointed out.
Lewis' supporters, however, insist that she wasn't the mastermind of the murder plot but was rather manipulated into the crime.
"From a psychological standpoint, a woman who is functionally retarded intellectually, with passive dependent personality disturbance, and a habit of submissively seeking men's approval throughout her life, is a poor bet as the mastermind of a brutal murder plot," noted Dr. Costanzo, a professor of psychology and witness for the defense.
Furthermore, while she was one of the three persons involved in the criminal plot, Lewis was the only one who received a capital sentence. Her co-conspirators struck deals for and were granted life sentences.
"I believe we should hold people accountable for their behavior and I believe that Teresa is accountable and did participate in this crime. And as such, I believe think she needs to stay in prison," the Rev. Lynn Litchfield, former chaplain at Virginia's Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women, told the Washington Post.
"But I don't think that she deserves to die for what she did," added Litchfield.
With the governor's announcement and the Supreme Court's ruling, however, Lewis is set to be put to death by lethal injection on Thursday.
In a telephone interview with WTVR in Richmond, Lewis said she was hoping that something would turn around, but said "if I have to go home with Jesus ... I know that's going to be the best thing."
In recent years, Lewis has reportedly become a devout Christian and spends much of her time praying for her fellow inmates at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women and for the families she helped hurt.
She told WTVR that she couldn't express how sorry she is and said she wanted people to know "that you can be a good person and make the wrong choice."
"I want people to know that," she repeated.
If executed Thursday, Lewis will be the first woman in nearly a century to have been executed in Virginia as well as the 12th women to have been executed nationwide since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. A woman was last executed in the United States in 2005.
