Virginia Dems Prepare to End Death Penalty Gov. Ralph Northam (D., Va.) / Getty Images
January 28, 2021 1:51 PM
Virginia Democrats plan to abolish the state s death penalty will soon get a full hearing in the state Senate, a process likely to end with the Old Dominion state becoming the first in the south to end capital punishment.
Senate Bill 1165, which would end executions and convert Virginia s outstanding death sentences to life without parole, advanced through two committees over the objections of a minority of Republicans before making it to the Senate floor on Wednesday. It will now face a full vote in the state s upper chamber, but Democratic control of both houses and of the governor s mansion indicate an eventual passage is likely.
Advocates for keeping the death penalty in Virginia for the worst-of-the-worst killers need not look far back in history for examples to illustrate their argument.
There is Robert Charles Gleason Jr., who was executed in 2013. He was sentenced to life without parole in 2008 for a drug-related murder. Gleason was not done killing even after he was sent to a high-security prison.
After tying up, beating and strangling his 63-year-old cellmate to death at Wallens Ridge State Prison in 2009, he left for breakfast. Hours later, he ate both his and his victimâs lunch in their cell with the as-yet-undiscovered body.