Va. death-row inmate scheduled to be electrocuted
Related Info
Death penalty in Va.
According to federal figures, Virginia had the following number of death sentences in these years:
2007————————————-1
2006————————————-2
2005————————————-1
2004————————————-2
2003————————————-6
2002————————————-3
2001————————————-4
2000————————————-8
1999————————————-7
1998————————————-9
SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics
RICHMOND, Va. -- If carried out, next week's scheduled execution of Larry Bill Elliott will be by electrocution, the option he selected before his Oct. 5 execution date, which was delayed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.
"The attorney general's office has advised us that no new choice is to be given. Elliott's choice remains electrocution," said Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections.
Virginia death-row inmates have been able to choose between lethal injection or electrocution since Jan. 1, 1995. Since then, the state has administered 76 lethal injections and four electrocutions.
Traylor said that if Elliott changes his mind, he can request lethal injection and the request would be forwarded to the governor's office. However, a Kaine spokesman said yesterday that Elliott made his choice more than 15 days before his scheduled execution as required by state law.
Yesterday, Elliott filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, and he has a clemency petition pending before Kaine.
Elliott, a former Army intelligence officer from Hanover, Md., turned 60 yesterday and is the oldest of Virginia's 15 death-row inmates.
He was sentenced to die for the Jan. 2, 2001, capital murder of Dana Thrall, 25. Thrall was pistol-whipped and shot once in the right hand and three times in the head in her Dale City town house.
Elliott also was convicted and sentenced to life for the first-degree murder of Robert Finch, 30, who lived with Thrall. Finch was shot in the head, chest and once in the back.
Elliott saw Finch as a romantic threat to his "sugar-daddy" relationship with a former stripper he met through a Web site. Elliott was set to be executed in October but, in September, Kaine delayed the execution until Nov. 17.
At the time, Kaine noted that Elliott claimed he was innocent and that "due to the complicated nature of this case," more time was needed to consider his clemency request.
The murder weapon never was found, but tests showed the bullets that killed Thrall and Finch were fired by the same weapon. Among other things, Elliott's DNA profile was identified in blood discovered on the inside of the town house's privacy fence gate.
Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or
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Reader Reactions
I think those numbers are a little low, we need to beat out Texas.
Also, let them exhaust all their appeals. You cant undo an execution, so let the appeal process run its full course and then put these murderous animals down.
Former Army officer perhaps, but intelligent?, I think not. For the sake of the state budget, fry him and stop wasting our money on frivolous appeals. DNA does not lie!
Elliott was a former Army intelligence officer? Somehow when I think of the death sentence I think of WELL DESERVED- like Manson and his thugs or the Briley brothers. If he is guilty and the evidence is there- what was he thinking? An ex-stripper YEARS YOUNGER with a boyfriend- looking for a “sugar daddy” on the internet. Of course Elliott has to pay for killing two humans. What a waste of 3 lives!
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