Virginia executes man convicted of slaying of family of 4

[TomSea]

Virginia executes man convicted of slaying of family of 4

Tribune news servicesContact Reporter

A man convicted of killing a couple and their two young daughters in their Virginia home on New Year's Day 2006 was put to death Wednesday.

Virginia authorities said 39-year-old inmate Ricky Gray was pronounced dead at 9:42 p.m. following a lethal injection at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.

Continued: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-virginia-execution-20170118-story.html

[dfwgator]

NEXT!

[TomSea]

Not all by any means but most death penalty cases I've seen, involve killing more than 1 person. Maybe that percentage is even higher.

Then, contracting (or getting someone else to do it) someone to kill another person seems to get one the death penalty in states that have the punishment.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org

Has a lot of info even if one is for the death penalty, interesting info.

Quite a few of these people were executed for only killing one person though.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/views-executions?exec_name_1=&&&&sex=All&&&&sex_1=All&&federal=All&foreigner=All&juvenile=All&volunteer=All&page=45

[TomSea]

Oklahoma had that inmate who was accused of killing a hotel owner he worked for, for their money; and people like Susan Sarandon came out and many others trying to get the execution stopped. Looks like they did stop it. And the evidence wasn't real strong. I forget his name but he's not on the list of those executed in Oklahoma.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/upcoming-executions#2017  None scheduled in OK; I guess they struck the sentence down.

Richard Glossip; that's him; at least now, his execution is not scheduled though he is still on death row. His case is compelling though he was found guilty, he had his right to a fair trial.  Looks like they got it stopped per the chemicals used.  An interesting case, if there was a case where a man was innocent, it could be him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Glossip

[Hoodat]

Virginia and Oklahoma execute more people per capita than does Texas.  California has over 700 people on death row.  Virginia has six.

[goatprairie]

It's said that correlation is not causation, but after they put a moratorium on the death penalty in 1967, the homicide rate skyrocketed.  After they relented on the DP ten years later, the homicide rates started going down.
A number of skeptics of the efficacy of the DP said that it was mostly due from keeping violent offenders in prison longer. I'm for both...keeping them in prison and executing them when found guilty of murder beyond a shadow of  a doubt. Hanging is my preferred method. No more needles. 

[mountaineer]

I hope this guy's next, but it appears unlikely.

Execution date set for cop-killer Richard Poplawski 
Natasha Lindstrom
 Wednesday,   Jan. 18, 2017, 5:03 p.m.
Full story at Pittsburgh Tribune Review

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections on Wednesday set an execution date for Richard Andrew Poplawski, the man sentenced to death for the ambush-style murders of three Pittsburgh police officers in 2009.

Poplawski is scheduled for execution March 3, according to the execution notice released by the office of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.   ...

Poplawski likely is a long way from execution.

Federal appeals are available to him, and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has imposed a de facto moratorium on the death penalty, using his power to postpone executions until a state task force delivers a report on whether the death penalty is fairly and effectively applied in the state.

In the 37 years since Pennsylvania reinstated the death penalty, only three people have been executed — and they  waived their right to appeal.