RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – State legislators on Monday gave final approval to legislation that would end the death penalty in Virginia, a dramatic turnaround for a state that has executed more people in its long history than any other.
The legislation repealing the death penalty now goes to Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, who said he would sign it, making Virginia the 23rd state to stop executions.
“There is a realization that it is time to end this outdated practice that harms the victims’ family members more than to offer us comfort or consolation,” said Rachel Sutphin, whose father, Cpl. Eric Sutphin, was fatally shot in 2006 while working for the sheriff in Montgomery County.
William Morva, the man convicted of murdering Eric Sutphin, was executed in 2017. Two years later, Rachel Sutphin was one of 13 family members of murder victims who sent a letter to the General Assembly asking legislators to abolish the death penalty.
“By voting for abolition, we are showing the way, that if Virginia – the state with the longest history and most people executed – if we can do it, so can other states,” Rachel Sutphin said.
Virginia’s new Democratic majority, which had been in full control of the General Assembly for a second year, fueled the recall effort, arguing that the death penalty was applied excessively to people of color, the mentally ill and the needy.
‘It is crucial that our criminal justice system functions fairly and that people punish fairly. We all know that the death penalty does not. It is unfair, inefficient and inhumane, “Northam, Eileen Filler-Corn, House Speaker, and Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw said in a joint statement.
Republicans have expressed concern about justice for victims and their families, saying there are crimes so heinous that the perpetrators deserve to be executed.
Only two men remain in Virginia’s death struggle. Anthony Juniper was sentenced to death in the 2004 murder of his ex-girlfriend, two of her children, and her brother. Thomas Porter was sentenced to death for the murder of a Norfolk police officer in 2005. The repeal legislation would overturn their sentences without life imprisonment.
During a virtual home debate, Republican del Rob Rob described the killings in gruesome detail, saying Porter and Juniper would watch the vote from the jail with special interest.
“We have five dead Virginians who will ensure this bill that their killers will not get justice,” Bell said.
Porter, Juniper and their families declined to comment by their attorney, Rob Lee, executive director of the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center.
“By eliminating the death penalty, government, political and moral leaders have taken a long time needed to make Virginia a fairer and fairer Commonwealth,” Lee said in a statement.
The adoption of the legislation was just the latest in a long list of comprehensive policy changes introduced by Democrats, which has increasingly reformed the Old Rule an outlier in the South on racial, social and economic issues.
Last year, lawmakers passed some of the strictest gun laws, the broadest LGBTQ protection, the highest minimum wage and some of the loosest abortion restrictions. This year, too, legislators are passing one progressive measure after another.
But the death penalty bill marks a particularly strong turnaround in a state where executions have taken place over the past decade under Republican and Democratic governors. The state legislature and civil servants have also acted in recent years to preserve Virginia’s ability to execute executions and limit transparency around the process.
Even last year, bills for the abolition of the death penalty in the General Assembly got nowhere.
On Monday, both chambers approved separate but identical revocation bills. The Senate approved a House bill and advanced it to Northam after a 22-16 vote. Republican Senator Jill Vogel agreed with Democrats in the House to vote. Later Monday, House Democrats and two GOP members, Del Jeff Campbell and Del Carrie Coyner, voted to approve the Senate, 57-43, version.
According to his spokesperson, no date has yet been set for when the governor will sign it.
Historically, Virginia has used the death penalty more than any other state, and has executed nearly 1,400 people since its days as a colony, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, Virginia has been second in Texas with 113 executions.
Michael Stone, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, calls the vote to abolish the death penalty an important moment in the state’s history.
“We hope Virginia will set an example for other states from the old Confederacy to take this bold step toward the human reform of our legal system,” Stone said.