First woman executed in Virginia in nearly 100 years

A little after 9:00 p.m., Teresa Lewis was put to death by lethal injection at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Virginia. Earlier in the week, her requests for clemency were denied by both Gov. Bob McDonnell and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Her last meal consisted of fried chicken, peas, German chocolate cake and a Dr. Pepper.

In 2003, Lewis pleaded guilty to masterminding the October 2002 murders of her husband and stepson in Pittsylvania County.

At her 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 a $250,000 life insurance policy.

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 step-son were gunned down, waiting an hour to call 911.

Both men were shot repeatedly 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’ attorney, James Rocap, claimed 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 said that Lewis developed a “deep faith and deep remorse for the crimes.”

Though her defenders claimed that Lewis should not have been executed due to her low IQ (around 72), she fully understood her actions, as was evident in a recent interview with Richmond’s WTVR.

During the interview, Lewis expressed sorrow for her heinous crimes, saying: “Knowing that I was part of it, of taking her family away and my participation in it, I don't think there's enough words to even begin to tell her how sorry I am. Even good people and Christian people, all people, can make a wrong decision and end up being where I'm at.”

Since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, Virginia has carried-out 108 executions.

 

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