Woman on track to be 1st female executed in Va in nearly a century as high court clears way

Va. could execute 1st woman in nearly a century

RICHMOND, Va. — A woman convicted of two hired killings is scheduled to die by injection Thursday and become the first woman put to death in Virginia in nearly a century, after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block her execution.

Teresa Lewis, 41, was sentenced to death for providing sex and money to two men to kill her husband and stepson in October 2002 so she could collect on a quarter-million dollar insurance pay out. The nation’s high court refused Tuesday to intervene.

Two of the three women on the court, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, voted to stop the execution. The court did not otherwise comment on its order.

The court’s decision followed Gov. Bob McDonnell’s refusal to reconsider a clemency request, which he rejected Friday.