State & Federal
West Virginia
News & Developments
News
Jan 01, 2011
Two New Federal Death Sentences in Non-Death Penalty State
On May 29, 2007, a jury in Charleston, West Virginia, recommended death sentences for George Lecco and Valerie Friend for the murder of Carla Collins in order to protect their drug ring. Prosecutors maintained that Lecco arranged to have Collins killed and that Friend did the shooting in 2005. Formal sentencing was scheduled for August 23. The judge is required to follow the jury’s recommendation. These are the first federal death sentences in West Virginia since the federal law was reinstated in 1988. (Charleston Daily Mail, May 29, 2007). West…
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History of the Death Penalty
Prior to 1899, executions in West Virginia were public and were carried out at the county level with minimal state involvement. Starting in 1899, all executions were carried out privately in the West Virginia Penitentiary. All executions carried out before 1950 were hangings. This changed with the introduction of the electic chair, which became the new method of execution in 1951. Ninety-four executions occured between 1899, when executions were made a state responsibility, and 1959, the year of the last execution in West Virginia. All of those executed were men. West Virginia abolished the death penalty in 1965.
Notable Cases
Elmer Brunner was the last man executed in West Virginia. Convicted for the murder of an elderly woman, Brunner was electrocuted on April 3, 1959. His execution was delayed for about two years due to his appeals to the West Virginia Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement
West Virginia attempted to abolish the death penalty multiple times before a bill outlawing the death penalty passed in 1965. It was the last state to abolish the death penalty before Furman v. Georgia.
Motions to reinstate the death penalty have appeared in the West Virginia legislature, but attempts have never been successful. A bill was proposed in February of 2011 that sparked debate over reinstatement, but the bill did not pass.
Blackwater Falls State Park. Photo by Maggie Louden.