Teresa Lewis executed for role in 2002 double shooting

After she was strapped on to the execution table, Teresa Lewis asked the warden at Greensville Correctional Center if her stepdaughter was in attendance.

Then she told him to pass along a final message.

“I just want Kathy to know I love her. And I’m very sorry,” she said.

At 9:13 p.m. Thursday, Lewis, 41, became the first woman executed in the U.S. since 2005 and the first in Virginia since 1912. The Pittsylvania County woman died by lethal injection.

Lewis was given two death sentences for orchestrating the 2002 murders of her husband and stepson to obtain the proceeds of a $250,000 life insurance policy.

The murders left Lewis’ stepdaughter, Kathy Clifton, the only surviving member of her family.

Julian and Charles J. Lewis were gunned down in their Pittsylvania County trailer the night of Oct. 30, 2002. The triggermen, Matthew Shallenberger and Rodney Fuller, both received life sentences for their roles, but Pittsylvania County Circuit Court Judge Charles J. Strauss identified Lewis as, “the head of the snake.”

Shallenberger committed suicide in 2006 while serving his sentence at Wallens Ridge State Prison.

In the moments leading up to her execution Thursday night Lewis was described as scared and frightened by the three media witnesses. But she made her way to the death chamber under her own power and didn’t try to fight, they said.

The actual injection was slightly hindered when the doctor couldn’t place the second IV, said Larry Traylor, director of communications for the Virginia department of corrections.

Along with the media witnesses and state and prison officials, an undisclosed number of the victim’s family were in attendance.

Earlier in the day, Lewis was able to have a contact visit with family members, meaning she was able to hug and touch them in a controlled setting, Traylor said.

She later met with her spiritual advisor and lawyers.

Her last meal consisted of two fried chicken breasts, sweet peas with butter, Dr. Pepper soda and either German cake or apple pie for dessert, according to a release from the prison.

Lewis’ death has held a good measure of controversy, even right up to the moments before her death, as people from around the county and world protested her sentence.

In the weeks leading up to the execution, several groups from across the globe voiced opposition to the sentence. They included author John Grisham, human rights organization Amnesty International, and even members of the Iranian Parliament.

They argued, among other things, that she was borderline mentally retarded and under U.S. law, ineligible for execution. The groups also cited a letter Shallenberger wrote in prison where he explained that he masterminded the murders to obtain seed money for a drug dealing business.

Last Friday, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell denied Lewis’ clemency request and refused to reconsider his decision after a letter from her lawyer, James Rocap III.

The U.S. Supreme Court voted 7-2 Tuesday to not to hear the case.

Yet, even with those decisions, people showed up to protest the execution near Greensville Correctional Center.

Clare Hogenauer, a retired defense attorney from New York City, arrived at GCC to a bit of fanfare. She was mobbed by camera crews as she stepped out of her cab sporting a green T-shirt that read, “fry onions, not people.”

That taxi ride was the final leg of a nine-hour journey for her. The cab alone cost her $178.50.

This was her 10th execution she attended — but it was special for her “because it’s a woman,” she said.

“Every time I do this there’s a new experience, which is why I keep doing it,” she said. “But it’s just sick. I can’t believe I’m here in 2010.”

Another member of the protest group was Lou Hart. He was one of the first protesters there, and he sat in a folding chair next to his truck, surrounded by about a dozen media vehicles.

Hart, a retired Exxon Mobil manager from Charlottesville, said he drove down because of his belief that this execution was unjust. He cited Lewis’ mental status and the sentences of the two triggermen.

“I think it’s a terrible thing and people will be ashamed,” he said. “Virginia really messed up on this one.”