RICHMOND – Death penalty opponents lost a battle this week
when a House committee endorsed a bill to make electrocution
the default punishment if lethal injection is unavailable.
The Virginia Catholic Conference, the American Civil
Liberties Union of Virginia and Virginians for Alternatives
to the Death Penalty opposed House Bill 815, which would
allow the Virginia Department of Corrections to use the
electric chair if lethal injection drugs are unavailable. The
House Courts of Justice Committee voted 14-7 in favor of the
measure on Wednesday. It is now before the full House of
Delegates.
The Virginia Catholic Conference urged members of its
advocacy network to let their delegates know they oppose the
legislation, especially during the Year of Mercy. The vote is
expected to take place Feb. 10.
“Electrocution is an especially inhumane practice and the
legislation gives overly broad discretion to DOC,” said Jeff
Caruso, the VCC’s executive director. “In addition, Pope
Francis has called for the worldwide abolition of the death
penalty and the Virginia bishops have urged legislators to
stop arguing about methods of execution and instead work to
end the use of the death penalty, noting its inherent
injustice, and other ways to protect society.”
“There is no humane way to kill another human being,” said
Michael Stone, the executive director of VADP. His group
advocates for life in prison without parole as the maximum
penalty for capital murder.
Stone fears that HB 815 will clear the House and go on to
pass the Senate. He said it would be a step backward.
“There have been a number of botched electrocutions in
Virginia,” Stone said. “In one case, a man caught on fire
when he was being executed.”
Historically, the U.S. Supreme Court has supported four
methods for carrying out executions: lethal injection,
electrocution, firing squad and the gas chamber. The most
common method by far is lethal injection.
In recent years, a number of states have adopted laws to
designate a default method for execution if there is trouble
obtaining lethal drugs. Two years ago, Tennessee passed a
bill specifying electrocution as its default. Last year, Utah
adopted the firing squad as its default, and Oklahoma passed
asphyxiation as its fallback execution method if legal drugs
are not available for the injection.
Virginia is one of eight states that have electric chairs
available for executions if death-row prisoners choose it.
Inmates who have been sentenced to death in Virginia have a
choice between lethal injection and electrocution. If
prisoners don’t make a choice at least 15 days before the
scheduled execution, they receive the injection.
This is the third year in a row in which a bill has been
proposed to make it easier for the Virginia Department of
Corrections to carry out executions.
Two years ago, the House passed a similar bill to HB 815 to
make electrocution the default, but it was defeated in the
Senate. Last year, a bill was proposed to shield from public
disclosure the drugs used in lethal injection executions and
the drugs’ manufacturers.
On March 16, Virginia is scheduled to execute Ricky Javon
Gray, who was convicted of the murders of members of the
Harvey family in Richmond in 2006. With that date
approaching, more attention may be paid this year to
legislation setting a default execution method in the
commonwealth.
Stone said the Department of Corrections was asked under a
Freedom of Information Act request for information about the
drugs to be used in Gray’s execution. The department’s
response indicated that it may not have the necessary drugs
for the lethal injection, Stone said.
“They said they can’t make any further comment because of
potential litigation,” Stone said.
HB 815 cleared the House Courts of Justice Committee this
week after most of the Republicans on the panel voted for the
bill and most of the Democrats voted against it.
Supporting the bill were Republican Dels. Les Adams from
Chatham, David Albo of Springfield, Rob Bell of
Charlottesville, Jeffery L. Campbell of Marion, Chris Collins
of Winchester, Ben Cline of Amherst, Todd Gilbert of
Woodstock, Terry G. Kilgore of Gate City, Manoli Loupassi of
Richmond, Jackson Miller of Manassas, Mandell J. Minchew of
Leesburg, Jason Miyares of Virginia Beach and Rick Morris of
Carrollton, as well as Democratic Del. Vivian Watts of
Annandale.
Opposing the bill were Democratic Dels. Patrick Hope of
Arlington, Charniele Herring and Paul Krizek of Alexandria,
Monty Mason of Williamsburg, Jennifer McClellan of Richmond
and David J. Toscano of Charlottesville, as well as
Republican Del. Greg Habeeb of Salem.
Del. James Leftwich, R-Chesapeake, did not vote.
