Capital punishment in Virginia

Capital punishment was abolished in Virginia on March 24, 2021, when Governor Ralph Northam signed a bill into law.

Other methods had been used during this time — three people convicted of piracy in 1700 were gibbeted, four pirates were hanged in chains in 1720, and a female slave was burned in 1737.

Executions were carried out at Greensville Correctional Center near Jarratt, Virginia; the men's death row was located at the Sussex I State Prison near Waverly, Virginia and the women's death row was at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women.

In January 2006, Virginia Governor Mark Warner announced that testing of DNA evidence had conclusively proven that Coleman was guilty of the crime.

[12] On November 10, 2009, Virginia executed spree killer John Allen Muhammad for the 2002 D.C. sniper attacks during which he killed 10 people.

He was tried in Virginia rather than the District of Columbia in order to establish an impartial jury pool, and his death sentence was finalized in six years.

[14] In February 2021, the Virginia General Assembly voted to abolish the death penalty, and Governor Ralph Northam signed the bill into law on March 24, 2021.

The daughter of one of his victims supported the bill to end capital punishment, calling the practice outdated, ineffective, and failing to provide her any closure.

In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life sentence was issued, even if a single juror opposed death (there was no retrial).

Under Virginia Criminal Code, capital murder was defined as "willful, deliberate, and premeditated" killing involving at least one of the following aggravating factors:[22]