RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) – State lawmakers on Monday approved final legislation that will end the death penalty in Virginia, a dramatic turnaround for a state that has executed more people than any other in its long history.
The legislation to repeal the death penalty now goes to Democratic Governor Ralph Northam, who has said he will sign the bill, making Virginia the 23rd state to halt executions.
“There is a realization that it is time to put an end to this outdated practice that tends to do more harm to the victims’ relatives than to bring us any comfort or comfort,” said Rachel Sutphin , whose father, Cpl. Eric Sutphin, was shot dead in 2006 while working for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
William Morva, the man convicted of the murder of 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 lawmakers to abolish the death penalty.
“By voting for abolition, we show that if Virginia – the state with the longest history and the most people is executed – if we can, other states can, too,” said Rachel Sutphin.
Virginia’s new Democratic Majority, which had full control of the General Assembly for a second year, pushed for the repeal, arguing that the death penalty has been disproportionately applied to people of color, the mentally ill, and the needy.
“It is vital that our criminal justice system operates fairly and punishes people fairly. We all know that the death penalty does not. It’s unjust, ineffective and inhumane, ”Northam, House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn and Senate Leader Dick Saslaw said in a joint statement following the votes.
Republicans voiced concern about justice for victims and their families, saying some crimes are so heinous that the perpetrators deserve to be executed.
Only two men are still on Virginia death row. Anthony Juniper was sentenced to death in the murder of his ex-girlfriend, two of her children and her brother in 2004. Thomas Porter was sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer in Norfolk in 2005. The repeal laws would convert their sentences into life imprisonment in prison without parole.
During a virtual House debate Monday, Republican Del. Rob Bell said the murders in gruesome detail, saying that Porter and Juniper would follow the mood from prison with special interest.
“We have five dead Virginians who are keeping their killers from getting justice,” Bell said.
Porter, Juniper, and their families have declined to comment through their attorney, Rob Lee, executive director of the Virginia Capital Representation Resource Center.
“By abolishing the death penalty, government, political, and moral leaders have taken the long-awaited action necessary to make Virginia a fairer and more just Commonwealth,” Lee said in a statement.
The passing of the legislation was just the latest in a long list of sweeping policy changes introduced by Democrats, which have increasingly reshaped the Old Dominion to an outlier in the South on racial, social and economic issues.
Last year, lawmakers passed some of the strictest gun laws in the region, the widest LGBTQ protections, the highest minimum wage, and some of the loosest abortion restrictions. Also this year, lawmakers have passed one progressive measure after another.
But the death penalty law marks a particularly grim turnaround in a state that has seen executions under both Republican and Democratic governors over the past decade. The state legislature and state officials have also acted to conserve in recent years Virginia’s ability to carry out executions and limit transparency around the process.
Even last year, the laws for the abolition of the death penalty in the General Assembly went nowhere.
On Monday, both chambers passed separate but identical repeal laws. The Senate passed a house law and brought it to Northam with a vote of 22-16. Republican Senator Jill Vogel joined the Democrats in the chamber to vote for passage. Later Monday, House Democrats and two GOP members, Del. Jeff Campbell and Del. Carrie Coyner, to approve the Senate version, 57-43.
According to his spokesman, a date has not yet been set when the governor will sign it.
Historically, Virginia has used the death penalty more than any other state, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, executing nearly 1,400 people since its days as a colony. Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, Virginia is second only to Texas with 113 executions.
Michael Stone, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, called the vote to abolish the death penalty a milestone in the history of the state.
“We hope Virginia will set an example for other states of the old Confederacy to take this bold step toward humane reform of our judicial system,” said Stone.