Virginia: Emmett executed for 2001 murder

Christopher Scott Emmett was put to death tonight for the 2001 beating death of a co-worker in Danville.

Emmett, who this afternoon dropped his appeals over the legality of lethal injections for executions, was pronounced dead at 9:07 p.m. He is the 102nd person executed in Virginia since restoration of the death penalty in 1976.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine issued a statement less than four hours before the execution saying he would not stop it.

"I find no compelling reason to set aside the sentence that was recommended by the jury, and then imposed and affirmed by the courts," Kaine said in the statement. "Accordingly, I decline to intervene."

Emmett's execution came after years of arguments that Virginia's use of lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment because of the possibility that paralyzing and heart-stopping drugs could be given before inmates are rendered unconscious by another drug.

Last year Emmett gained reprieves 2 times within hours of his execution date.

Emmett becomes the 4th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Virginia, and the 102nd overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. Only Texas, which has carried out 408 executions since it likewise resumed capital punishment in 1982, has executed more inmates since the death penalty was re-legalized in the US on July 2, 1976.

Emmett becomes the 15th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1114th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

Sources: Richmond Times-Dispatch & Rick Halperin