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| Photo of Teresa Lewis from SaveTeresaLewis.org |
Tuesday, September 21, U.S. Supreme Court refused to halt Lewis' execution.
Teresa Lewis is the only person on death row in Virginia, and will be the first woman executed in Virginia since 1912 when a 17-year-old girl was put in an electric-chair. Lewis will also be the 12th person to die via federal edict since the death penalty was reinstated in the U.S. in 1976.
Lewis plead guilty in May 2003 to two counts of murder: she hired two men, Rodney Fuller and Matthew Shallenberger, to murder her husband and stepson in 2002. Both men were sentenced to life in prison (Shallenberger committed suicide in prison in 2006) while Lewis was given the death sentence since she was the "mastermind" behind the killings.
CBS News reported that Lewis used sex and money to persuade the two men to kill her husband and stepson - even including her teenaged daughter by offering her up for sex with one of the killers.
Two weeks ago Lewis' attorney, James Roap argued that her execution should be prevented due to claims that she is "borderline mentally retarded, with the intellectual ability of about a 13-year-old." He also argued that it is unfair for Lewis to be sentenced to death when the two men who fired the shots received life terms.
Many lengthy petitions were created in attempts to stop this from happening.
Teresa Lewis is the only person on death row in Virginia, and will be the first woman executed in Virginia since 1912 when a 17-year-old girl was put in an electric-chair. Lewis will also be the 12th person to die via federal edict since the death penalty was reinstated in the U.S. in 1976.
Lewis plead guilty in May 2003 to two counts of murder: she hired two men, Rodney Fuller and Matthew Shallenberger, to murder her husband and stepson in 2002. Both men were sentenced to life in prison (Shallenberger committed suicide in prison in 2006) while Lewis was given the death sentence since she was the "mastermind" behind the killings.
CBS News reported that Lewis used sex and money to persuade the two men to kill her husband and stepson - even including her teenaged daughter by offering her up for sex with one of the killers.
Two weeks ago Lewis' attorney, James Roap argued that her execution should be prevented due to claims that she is "borderline mentally retarded, with the intellectual ability of about a 13-year-old." He also argued that it is unfair for Lewis to be sentenced to death when the two men who fired the shots received life terms.
Many lengthy petitions were created in attempts to stop this from happening.
A web site created to save Lewis from the death sentence was created and includes this message to Governor McDonnell, who was apart of the decision to refuse reprieve:
"Governor McDonnell, your decision to deny clemency completely ignores the fact that Teresa Lewis is borderline mentally retarded and had a dependent personality disorder, and that a life sentence was given to the man who has repeatedly stated that HE was the mastermind and that “The only reason I had sex with [Teresa] was for the money [and] to get her to ‘fall in love’ with me so she would give me the insurance money. . . . She was exactly what I was looking for.” Killing Teresa now, when this man was allowed to live, is so unfair and unjust that it cannot be permitted."
The web site also lists Lewis' disabilities including documents from Dr. Costanzo, Professor of Psychology at Duke University, where he states Teresa did not "possess the intellectual capacity to calculate and plan these murders."
A piece of evidence that lawyers and supporters wanted the courts to consider was a letter that Shallenberger wrote before committing suicide in jail where he claims full responsibility for the murder plot and blames himself for pushing Lewis into it.
Lewis has been moved from Fluvanna Correction Center for women to Greensville Correction Center in Jaratt where Virgina's death chamber is located.
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