Virginia has a long love affair with capital punishment. The first recorded execution in the colonies was in 1608 when Capt. George Kendall was put to death in Jamestown for being a Spanish spy. Four years later, the governor issued the Divine, Moral and Martial Laws, which imposed death for even minor offenses such as killing chickens, trading with Indians and—wait for it—stealing grapes.
Since then, the death penalty hasn’t matured much. In fact, it has grown more ridiculous, says Jack Payden-Travers, director of the Charlottesville-based Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Payden-Travers and 80 other activists traveled the state last week in the Journey of Hope Tour to urge a death penalty moratorium in Virginia and across the nation.
“The system is broken,” Payden-Travers says. “We feel that a tide change is about to take place. Fewer and fewer juries are handing down death sentences. The majority of juries in capital offense cases are choosing life sentences over the death penalty. And of the guilty cases, fewer and fewer executions are taking place because of wrongs like prosecutorial misconduct. At the very least, it’s time for a moratorium.”
The tour began October 13 and ended at the annual Conference of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, on October 27-29 in Fairfax. Before then, members and activists stopped at churches, schools and other locations to raise awareness and tout death penalty statistics.
Nationwide, some 120 people on death row have been found innocent. Since 1991, five death row inmates have had their sentences changed to life without parole after Virginia governors grew concerned about problems with the cases. In one well-documented local case, Earl Washington Jr. was exonerated after spending 16 years in prison.
In Virginia, 26 people are currently on death row, though none are from Albemarle or Charlottesville. The next Charlottesville-based event, a vigil for death row inmate John Yancey Schmitt, is November 9 at the Charlottesville Circuit Courthouse. Schmitt is scheduled to be Virginia’s 98th execution since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1977.
As for the state, it’s No. 2 in executions in the modern era. “But,” said Payden-Travers, “since the beginning of our country’s history, we’re well over 1,300, and ahead by far.”