Execution date set for Virginia's only female death row inmate

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On Thursday, a September 23 execution date was scheduled for Theresa Wilson Lewis. In 2003, she pleaded guilty to masterminding the October 2002 murders of her husband and stepson in Pittsylvania County.

In early June, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided against Lewis, Virginia’s lone female death row inmate.

In March, her lawyers told the federal appeals court that her death sentence should be rescinded because her drug addiction and alleged personality disorders were not considered at her trial.

At her 2003 sentencing, Circuit Court Judge Charles Strauss addressed Lewis, telling her that she was a cold, emotionless killer, and was motivated solely by financial reasons. She was actually given two death sentences, plus 53 years.

Prosecutors said that Lewis boasted to friends that she had married Julian Lewis Jr., simply for money and offered sex to the two men who carried out the murders. She was to be the sole beneficiary of $250,000 in insurance money.

Lewis, not only offered herself to the hired hit men, but her 16-year-old daughter as well. She left a door unlocked, and sat by as her husband and stepson were gunned down, waiting an hour to call 911.

Both men were shot multiple times with shotguns.

In a scene which can only be described as sickening, Lewis actually went through her husband’s pockets, as he lay dying, gasping for air.
A deputy sheriff testified that when he arrived on the scene, Julian Lewis was still alive, and told him: “My wife knows who done this to me.”

The gunmen, Rodney Fuller and Matthew Shallenberger, were both sentenced to life in prison. Shallenberger committed suicide in 2006 at Wallens Ridge State Prison.

Lewis' daughter, Christie Lynn Bean, who knew about the plot but kept quiet, also served time in prison.

Lewis’ current attorney, James Rocap, claims that his client was not capable of plotting the murders due to her severe dependency on prescription drugs, as well as a personality disorder which rendered her overly dependent on men.

He also says that Lewis has developed a “deep faith and deep remorse for the crimes.”

Rocap says he is planning to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, as well as file for clemency with Gov. Bob McDonnell. He told reporters: “We were obviously disappointed in the result and intend to vigorously pursue all avenues on Teresa's behalf.”

If executed, Lewis will be the first woman to die in Virginia’s death chamber since 1912, when 17-year-old Virginia Christian died in the electric chair, after smothering her elderly employer with a pillow.

Since 1900, only 50 women have been executed in the United States, with the last one taking place five years ago in Texas.

Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, Virginia has carried-out 107 executions.

 

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