Teresa Lewis - VA - 09/23/10

[Jeff1857]

Execution date set for Pittsylvania County woman


A Pittsylvania County woman now has a date with the execution chamber. But there is a good chance it will be delayed as the case makes its way through federal courts.

Teresa Lewis is scheduled to die by lethal injection November 15. She pleaded guilty in 2002 to hiring 2 men to kill her husband and stepson.

Lewis became the first woman on Virginia's death row since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

No woman has been executed in Virginia since 1912.

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Apparently she has federal appeals left and with the LI issue yet to be decided it won't happen but at least Virginia is still scheduling them.

[Jeff1857]

Virginia's lone condemned woman can pursue federal appeal


The only woman on Virginia's death row has been granted a stay of execution to allow time for her lawyers to pursue federal appeals.

Today's ruling in the case of Teresa Lewis was expected after a circuit court on Monday scheduled her execution for November 15th.

Lewis pleaded guilty in 2002 to hiring 2 men to kill her husband and stepson in Pittsylvania County. She became the 1st woman on Virginia's death row since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. No woman has been executed in Virginia since 1912.

James Rocap the Third of Washington is Lewis' attorney. He says he's pleased by the ruling and looks forward to arguing in federal court that "what happened to her was wrong and unfair and should not be subjected to the death penalty."

He said he will file a petition in federal court on February 5th.

[Michael]

Va. Woman Sentenced To Death
Teresa Lewis Convicted Of Killing Husband, Stepson

(AP) Teresa Lewis became the first woman on Virginia's death row in more than 90 years when she was sentenced to die for hiring two men to kill her husband and adult stepson.

Lewis, 34, pleaded guilty last month, admitting she had her husband, Julian Lewis, 51, and stepson, C.J. Lewis, 25, killed so she could collect insurance money. The men were shot to death Oct. 30 in their home in Keeling, about 120 miles southwest of Richmond.

Defense attorney David Furrow said he had expected Circuit Court Judge Charles Strauss would sentence Lewis to life in prison Tuesday.

One of the gunmen involved, 20-year-old Rodney Fuller, entered into a plea agreement in which he will get a life sentence if he testifies against the other alleged gunman, Matthew Shallenberger, 22.

Strauss said in court his decision was based on his interpretation of the law. He said Lewis appeared cold and emotionless throughout the proceedings, and she had no other motive for the murders except greed.

"She's crying," Furrow said of his client's reaction to the sentence. "She's going to die."

Pittsylvania County Commonwealth's Attorney David Grimes argued Monday that the risk Lewis posed to society and the amount of "planning and consideration" she put into the crime qualified her for the death penalty.

The defense maintained the plan was not primarily Lewis's.

Furrow said his client has an IQ of 72 according to tests conducted by a psychiatrist hired by the defense. A person with an IQ of 70 or lower is generally considered mentally retarded and ineligible for execution under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year.

The case now goes before the state Supreme Court for automatic review.

The last woman to be executed in the state was 17-year-old Virginia Christian in 1912, said Virginia Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor. There are no records of women on death row since then, he said.

As of April 1 there were 48 women on death row in the United States, according to a report by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/06/04/national/main556951.shtml

[Jeff1857]

Habeas relief denied to Virginia death row inmate 

On March 6, 2009, United States District Judge Glen E. Conrad of the Western District of Virginia denied Teresa Lewis’s habeas petition. Lewis v. Wheeler, 2009 WL 588957 (W.D. Va. March 6, 2009). Lewis was sentenced to death after pleading guilty to hiring two men to kill her husband and step-son. The claims raised in the petition were: (1) ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to adequately investigate and present affirmative or rebuttal evidence on the “depravity of mind” aggravator; (2) ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to adequately investigate and present mitigation evidence; (3) Virginia death penalty statute is unconstitutional by requiring a judge, instead of jury, to determine the existence of aggravators after a defendant pleads guilty; (4) ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to adequately preserve the constitutional challenge regarding the right to a jury determination of aggravators; (5) guilty plea was not knowing and voluntary because Lewis was never advised of her Apprendi/Ring rights; (6) ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to advise Lewis of her Apprendi/Ring rights; (7) Virginia Supreme Court violated due process and Lewis’s liberty rights by failing to conduct a meaningful proportionality review; ( the vileness aggravator was applied unconstitutionally in this case; (9) the failure of the grand jury to specify the aggravators violated Lewis’s constitutional rights; (10) ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to preserve Lewis’s indictment-related Ring rights; (11) actual innocence of capital murder; (12) ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to adequately investigate or challenge the Commonwealth’s “murder for hire” elevator; (13) trial court failed to conduct a separate evaluation that death was appropriate; (14) ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to adequately advise Lewis of the mitigating state-of-mind evidence that could be presented on her behalf and thus failing to adequately advise her on the decision to plead guilty and to waive the right to a jury trial; and (15) ineffective assistance of counsel by the combination of all of trial counsel’s failings. 

(Source: Capdefnet.org)

[Moh]

Court hears appeal for Va.‘s only female death row inmate
By STAFF REPORTS
Published: March 23, 2010

RICHMOND, Va. -- Teresa Wilson Lewis, the only woman on Virginia's death row, argued her case before a three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today.
Lewis, 40, was sentenced to death for hiring two men to kill her husband, Julian Clifton Lewis Jr., and her stepson, Charles J. Lewis, in their Pittsylvania County trailer the night of Oct. 30, 2002.
The two killers, Matthew Jessee Shallenberger, 29, and his former roommate, Rodney Lamont Fuller, 27, were sentenced to life terms. Lewis, who was after her stepson's life insurance money and her husband's estate, was deemed the "mastermind."
Her current lawyers contend a personality disorder, low intelligence and drug addiction prevented her from being a mastermind. They argue her trial lawyers did not look into or present evidence that might have spared her life.
"Trial counsel failed completely to investigate obvious leads," James E. Rocap III, one of Lewis's lawyers told the panel. As a result, they failed to present, "powerful evidence she was a strong candidate for the court's mercy."
The evidence would show Lewis could not have acted with requisite "depravity of mind," much less as a mastermind, they said.
The Virginia Attorney General's Office counters that the U.S. District Court judge correctly dismissed Lewis' arguments. During her appeal in state court, a four-day evidentiary hearing failed to prove her claims, which were also rejected by the Virginia Supreme Court.
Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, noted that she used sexual favors to induce the two men to help her, stood by as her husband and stepson were killed, rummaged through her husband's pockets for money after he was shot and waited an hour before calling for help.
"I don't understand why . . . a state court judge would be clearly unreasonable in finding this course of conduct was depraved," said Wilkinson. The conduct was depraved, agreed Rocap, but not her mind.
Katherine B. Burnett, with the Virginia Attorney General's Office, told the panel that any psychological, cognitive or physical problem Lewis might have could not "mitigate [her] carefully calculated conduct. It's the facts that kill [her] claims."
"It was Lewis who came up with the plot," said Burnett.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/EXECGAT23_20100323-134801/332342/

[Anne]

http://www.examiner.com/x-5919-Norfolk-Crime-Examiner~y2010m3d24-Virginias-only-woman-on-death-row-says-sentence-unfair

Virginia’s only woman on death row says sentence unfair

March 24, 5:04 AM Norfolk Crime Examiner Dave Gibson

On Tuesday, lawyers for Teresa Lewis, the Commonwealth’s only female death row inmate, told a federal appeals court that her death sentence should be rescinded because her drug addiction and alleged personality disorders were not considered at her trial.

In 2002, Lewis pleaded guilty to masterminding the murder 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.

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.

The gunmen, Rodney Fuller and Matthew Shallenberger, were both sentenced to life in prison.

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

Lewis’ attorney, James Rocap now 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.

If executed, she would be the first woman to die in Virginia’s death chamber since 1912.





Anne

[germanintexas]

Virginia’s only woman on death row says sentence unfair
On Tuesday, lawyers for Teresa Lewis, the Commonwealth’s only female death row inmate, told a federal appeals court that her death sentence should be rescinded because her drug addiction and alleged personality disorders were not considered at her trial.

 Oh gosh, that poor, poor thing!!! 

[pdptds2010]

I could care less what she was addicted to, she chose to take the drugs.  I really don't care about her personality disorders, she still killed 2 people.  The need to stick the needle in her arm and be done with it.   

[Anne]

http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/court_affirms_danville_womans_death_sentence/21698/

Court affirms Danville woman’s death sentence

The Associated Press

Published: June 4, 2010

RICHMOND - A federal appeals court has upheld the death sentence of the only woman on Virginia’s death row.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled against Teresa Lewis, who was sentenced to death for plotting to have her husband and stepson killed in their Pittsylvania County home in 2002.

Prosecutors said Lewis used sexual favors and manipulation to persuade to two men to commit the murders so she could collect a $250,000 life insurance policy. The gunmen were sentenced to life in prison.

Attorneys for Lewis argued on appeal that she was too dependent on other people and prescription drugs to have plotted the slayings. The Richmond-based appeals court found no merit in those claims Friday.

Lewis could become the first woman executed in Virginia since 1912.












Anne

[heidi salazar]

Expect an execution date within 60 days!!

Teresa Lewis was sentenced to death on June 4, 2003. 7 years on death row..not to bad Virginia.

opinion here

http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/dailyopinions/opinion.pdf/094.P.pdf

[Anne]

http://www.newsleader.com/article/20100606/NEWS01/6060351

Court affirms Va. woman's death sentence

The Associated Press • June 6, 2010

RICHMOND — A federal appeals court upheld the death sentence of the only woman on Virginia's death row Friday, increasing the likelihood that the state will execute a female for the first time in nearly 100 years.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled against Teresa Lewis, who was sentenced to death for plotting to have her husband and stepson killed in their Pittsylvania County home in 2002 so she could collect a $250,000 life insurance policy.

Prosecutors said Lewis used sexual favors and manipulation to persuade two men to kill her husband, Julian Clifton Lewis Jr., and stepson Charles J. Lewis, who was on leave from Army National Guard duty. The gunmen, Rodney Fuller and Matthew Shallenberger, were sentenced to life in prison.

Lewis took the advice of her trial attorneys, pleading guilty to capital murder and allowing a judge to determine her sentence. The attorneys believed that Lewis stood a better chance of getting a life prison term from the judge, who had never sentenced anyone to death, than from a Pittsylvania jury.

The judge found that Lewis would not pose a future danger to society but determined that her crime was sufficiently vile to warrant the death penalty.

Lewis, 40, would be the first woman executed in Virginia since 1912, when 17-year-old Virginia Christian died in the electric chair for suffocating her employer. She would be the first woman put to death in the U.S. since 2005, when Frances Newton died by injection in Texas.

Her attorney, James Rocap III, said he will petition the appeals court for a rehearing and appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

"We were obviously disappointed in the result and intend to vigorously pursue all avenues on Teresa's behalf," Rocap said.

In a hearing before the appeals court in March, Rocap argued that Lewis was too dependent on other people and prescription drugs to have plotted the murders. He said the trial lawyers' failure to raise dependency disorder and drug addiction as mitigating factors at sentencing violated Lewis' constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel.

However, the appeals court said there was conflicting expert testimony on those issues and plenty of evidence supporting the prosecution's portrayal of Lewis as a cold, cunning person who used sex and money to enlist others in a scheme to kill for money.

For example, Lewis offered herself and her 16-year-old daughter for sex with the two men, provided the money to buy the murder weapons, confined her pit bull in an empty bedroom to keep it from interfering, unlocked a door to let the men into her home and stood by while they shot her husband and stepson. She rummaged through her husband's pockets for money while he lay dying and waited nearly an hour before calling 911.

The court agreed with U.S. District Judge Glen Conrad's conclusion that given the gruesome nature of the crime and the mounting evidence against Lewis, the trial attorneys employed a reasonable defense strategy that should not be declared constitutionally deficient based simply on hindsight.

The panel also rejected Lewis' claim that her attorneys should have told her she could plead guilty and still be sentenced by a jury. The court said legal precedents cited by Lewis do not support that position, and even if they did, pressing the issue would have conflicted with the strategy to seek sentencing by a judge.













Anne

[loulou.]

I dont see why she should be treated any differently than any one else on death row. If you commit murder in a state that carries the death penalty then so be it on your own head.  Two people lost their lives because of this woman, one being a child.  I wish that we had the death penalty here in England. It may not deter murder but it sure as heck gets some of the scum off the street

[leopard32]

A September execution date has been set for the only woman on Virginia's death row, who would be the first woman put to death in the United States since 2005.

A county judge set the Sept. 23 date Thursday for 40-year-old Teresa Lewis. Lewis was sentenced to death for plotting to have her husband and stepson killed in 2002 so she could collect a $250,000 life insurance policy.

Prosecutors said Lewis used sexual favors and manipulation to persuade two men to kill her husband, Julian Clifton Lewis Jr., and stepson Charles J. Lewis.

The gunmen were sentenced to life in prison. One committed suicide in 2006.

Lewis would be the first woman executed in Virginia in nearly 100 years and the first in the U.S. since 2005, when Frances Newton died by injection in Texas.

Source : Richmond Times Dispatch

[heidi salazar]

WOO HOO.......... She has 35 days left to petition the US Supreme Court.

[Anne]

Another article...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128847013

July 29, 2010

1st US Execution Of Woman Since 2005 Set For Sept.

by The Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. July 29, 2010, 11:37 am ET

A Virginia woman who used sex and money to persuade two men to kill her husband and her stepson to collect a $250,000 life insurance policy was scheduled Thursday to be executed in two months, which would be the first U.S. execution of a woman in five years.

A judge set a Sept. 23 execution date for Teresa Lewis, 41, the only woman on Virginia's death row. She would be the first woman executed in the state in nearly a century.

Lewis offered herself and her 16-year-old daughter for sex to two men who committed the killings. She provided money to buy the murder weapons and stood by while they shot her husband, Julian Clifton Lewis Jr., 51, and stepson Charles J. Lewis, 25, in 2002 in Pittsylvania County in south-central Virginia.

Lewis rummaged through her husband's pockets for money while he lay dying and waited nearly an hour before calling 911.

The gunmen, Rodney Fuller and Matthew Shallenberger, were sentenced to life in prison. Shallenberger committed suicide in prison in 2006.

Lewis' daughter, Christie Lynn Bean, served five years because she knew about the plan but remained silent.

Lewis would be the first woman executed in the U.S. since Frances Newton died by injection in Texas. Newton shot her husband and two young children to death to collect insurance money.

Lewis would also be the first woman executed in Virginia since 1912, when 17-year-old Virginia Christian died in the electric chair for suffocating her employer.

Women commit about 12 percent of the murders in the U.S. annually, and few ever reach the execution chamber.

Out of more than 1,200 executions since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, only 11 women have been executed. Of the more than 3,200 inmates on death row nationwide, 53 are women.

Women usually don't commit torture murders, they aren't serial killers and often don't have a history of other violent crimes compared with men who get sentenced to death, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. They also typically kill someone they know.

"I think it's those facts, rather than just gender that make the difference," he said.

Lewis' first attempt to kill her husband failed. The plan was for the men to kill her husband as he came home from work and make it look like a robbery, but a car was too close and foiled the plot. A few days later she found out her stepson was coming home on leave from Army National Guard duty, and they decided to wait and kill him, too, so they could get all the insurance money.

Lewis' attorney, James Rocap III, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. He has said he would appeal her case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lewis pleaded guilty to capital murder, allowing a judge to determine her sentence. Her attorneys believed she stood a better chance of getting a life prison term from the judge who had never sentenced anyone to death, than from a jury.

In a 2004 interview with The Associated Press, Lewis said she hired the hitmen to escape an abusive relationship. She said she and Shallenberger became lovers and concocted the scheme to murder her husband, who she said was an abusive alcoholic.

In a hearing before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March, Rocap argued that Lewis was too dependent on other people and prescription drugs to have plotted the murders. He said the trial lawyers' failure to raise dependency disorder and drug addiction as mitigating factors at sentencing violated Lewis' constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel.

However, the appeals court said there was conflicting expert testimony on those issues and plenty of evidence supporting the prosecution's portrayal of Lewis as a cold, cunning person who used sex and money to enlist others in a scheme to kill for money.








It is a good new The great State of Virginia will do a great job





Anne