Virginia Capital Punishment News

[schmutz]

Wasn’t West Virginia the first southern state to abolish?

Maryland and Delaware have better claims to be Southern. I reckon the author in saying "Southern" means "former Confederate".

[Aaron]

There's also the fact that Maryland and Delaware were never particularly serious or prolific death penalty states. Virginia is a huge symbolic victory for the abolition crowd.

[Neil]

Delaware was somewhat serious. They were the smallest death penalty jurisdiction in the country and they had 16 executions before abolition and they had around 40 to 45 death sentences for being such a small state.

[Bobsicles]

Delaware was more proficient than most states. When Billy Bailey requested to hang even though they didn’t have a gallows, instead of staying the execution they built a gallows in time for the execution. Meanwhile Alabama legalized Nitrogen Hypoxia 2 and a half years ago and they still haven’t done what needs to be done

[Neil]

Any guesses to how the federal inmates will file appeals for their sentences after Northam signs the repeal bill?

This is the first abolition bill that’s made it through that’s been retroactive. I wonder how those inmates will file their appeals in the federal jurisdiction after this becomes law?

How successful do you guys think they’ll be since they will most certainly say it should apply to them since they were sentenced within that state.

[Aaron]

It would simply mean that another state, such as Indiana, would need to be designated as the state of their executions. But I suspect that the current administration won't request that. So they'll probably just be in the same limbo Higgs was, even though Maryland wasn't retroactive.