Teresa Lewis Execution In Virginia Causes Stir

By Madhusmita, Gaea News Network
Friday, September 24, 2010

JARRATT (GaeaTimes.com)- Teresa Lewis, who was pleaded guilty for murdering her husband Julian Clifton Lewis Jr., 51, and stepson, Charles J. Lewis, 25, in their home on October 30, 2002 was executed yesterday evening, despite the allegations that she is mentally challenged. The police said that she killed her husband and stepson over a $250,000 insurance payment. The Virginia police authorities reported that Teresa Lewis died by injection at 9:13 pm. The execution took place in Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.

Many supporters of Teresa Lewis and also her relatives were present in Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt at the time of her execution. The Virginia woman reportedly had two fried chicken breasts, sweet peas with butter and a piece of German chocolate cake as her final meal. The Prosecutors said that Teresa Lewis hired two men and paid them money, sex and promised them a share of $250,000 life insurance. The two men Rodney Fuller, 27, and Matthew Shallenberger, 29, got life sentences but the Virginia woman received death sentence as she was said as the mastermind of the whole plot. However, the defense argued that Teresa Lewis had the IQ of 72 and the two men instigated her to kill her husband and stepson.

The judge called Teresa Lewis as the “head of the serpent”. Even Teresa Lewis’s daughter Christie Lynn Bean served three years in prison as she knew the plot of the murder and she was also a part of the deal with the assassins. Teresa Lewis execution created lot of controversies as Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell opposed the fact and wrote a letter to the US Supreme Court where it was maintained that the execution of people with mental “disorders” is “contrary” to the “minimum standards of human rights”. However, the Virginia Governor did not stop the execution as Teresa Lewis confessed her crime.

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