Virginia has executed 103 inmates since the first execution after reinstatement of the death penalty in 1982.Twenty-eight have been by electrocution and 75 by lethal injection, according to a press release from the Virginia Department of Corrections.
Virginia did not execute any inmates in the decade leading up to the U.S. Supreme Court's 1972 ruling in Furman V. Georgia, which halted capital punishment. It was reinstated in 1976 following Supreme Court rulings in other death penalty-related cases.
Since lethal injection became an alternative to the electric chair in 1995, inmates may choose between lethal injection and electrocution.
Those who decline to make a selection -- as John Allen Muhammad has -- receive lethal injection, said Larry M. Traylor, director of communications for the Virginia Department of Corrections.
Muhammad is scheduled to be executed at 9 p.m. today at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va., where all Virginia executions take place.
The first inmate to be executed by lethal injection in Virginia was Dana Ray Edmonds of Danville, Va., on Jan. 24, 1995.
Victim's family members were allowed to observe executions effective July 1, 1994, following an executive order by Gov. George Allen.
The last inmate to be executed by the electric chair was Brandon Wayne Hedrick on July 20, 2006.
Earl Bramblett (April 9, 2003), Michael David Clagett (July 7, 2000), Kenneth Manuel Stewart Jr. (Sept. 23, 1998) and Timothy Spencer (April 27, 1994) died in the electric chair.
Since the first electrocution in 1908 at the State Penitentiary in Richmond, 339 inmates have been executed in Virginia.
There are 16 Virginia inmates on death row, 15 male and one female. The oldest is 59, the youngest 26. Their average age is 36.
Since 1991, the average length of time inmates have spent on death row before execution is 7.1 years.
Scheduled executions include Muhammad and the Nov. 17 execution of Larry Elliott, who was convicted of the March 24, 2003, murder of Dana Thrall and first-degree murder of Robert Finch.
To date, one female has been executed: Virginia Christian, 17, who died by electrocution Aug. 16, 1912.
Percey Ellis, convicted in Norfolk and executed March 15, 1916, was the youngest. He was 16. Joe Lee, convicted in Caroline County, was the oldest, at 68. He died April 21, 1916.
Six sentences have been commuted since 1990.
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