RICHMOND — In the Bible, God hands down the Ten Commandments, including "thou shalt not kill." Last week, several religious leaders and other Virginians urged the General Assembly to uphold that rule by abolishing the death penalty.

"Capital punishment is against the best judgment of modern criminology and above all, against the highest expression of love in the nature of God," said Jack Payden-Travers, director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Displaying signs proclaiming "Death Penalty is Dead Wrong" and "Execute Justice, not People," VADP members and supporters gathered at the Capitol to push for legislation that would limit if not eliminate capital punishment.

The group quickly received a reminder of how difficulty its quest will be. Shortly after the press conference, Del. Frank Hargrove, R-Hanover, presented to a House panel his bill to abandon the death penalty. The House Courts of Justice Committee unanimously rejected the proposal.

Hargrove, 76, acknowledged from the start that the legislation was unlikely to survive. But he said he expects the state eventually to do away with capital punishment.

"The attitude of Virginia is changing, [although] not very fast," he said. "I won't be around, but I would predict that in five years this bill will make it out of committee."

Under Hargrove's bill, defendants convicted of crimes now punishable by death would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

While that is the VADP's ultimate goal, in the interim the group backs bills to restrict the imposition of capital punishment.

For example, first-term Del. Al Eisenberg, D-Arlington, has proposed raising from 16 to 18 the minimum age for which someone could be indicted for a capital crime. Eisenberg said he wasn't totally against the death penalty but "killing children to stop (them) doesn't make any sense.

"Young people are not fully (mature) in their minds; they are not adults," he said. "We need to treat juveniles as juveniles, and we should use the system that was set up for them."

The Rev. Jonathan Barton of the Virginia Council of Churches believes Eisenberg's proposal would be a step toward eliminating the death penalty.

"There is no healing that can take place in an execution," Barton said. "If all we seek in a society is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, then what we will find is a bunch of blind, toothless citizens."

Retired Richmond Bishop Walter F. Sullivan is a member of the VADP's advisory board. The Catholic Dioceses of Richmond and Arlington have called on the General Assembly to abolish the death penalty.

Catholic leaders and the VADP also have endorsed proposals to put a moratorium on executions in Virginia while state officials study the issue.

"A moratorium gives us time to see problems with the death penalty resolved," said the bill's chief sponsor, Sen. Henry Marsh, D-Richmond.

Opponents of capital punishment say that most people sentenced to death are poor; that the death penalty is applied arbitrarily; that it is not reserved for the worst crimes; and that, with legal expenses included, the death penalty costs more to impose than life in prison.

VADP members took heart in the punishment that a Tidewater jury gave Lee Boyd Malvo, who was convicted in connection with last year's sniper shootings in the Washington area and Ashland. The jury spared him the death penalty -- because, Payden-Travers believes, Malvo was a juvenile while he committed his crimes.

"I think the time is now; the Virginia jury has spoken," Payden-Travers said.

The VADP also wants the General Assembly to eliminate the state's 21-day rule, which gives inmates only 21 days after sentencing to present nonbiological evidence that could exonerate them. It is the most stringent rule in the nation.

Under legislation being considered this session, such evidence – like a new witness or a documented alibi -- would be treated like DNA: A court could hold a hearing and decide whether the evidence is valid.

VADP members said the 21-day rule prevents men and women who have been wrongfully convicted from seeking a remedy through the courts.