Teresa Lewis Last Meal Request: Fried Chicken, Apple Pie
RICHMOND, Va. (CBS/WTVR) Teresa Lewis and her supporters are hoping for a last minute miracle in order to stay her execution and spare her life, but she continues to prepare for death and has requested comfort food for her final meal.
Despite pleas to Governor Bob McDonnell to reverse his decision to reject her appeal, the state of Virginia is moving forward with its first execution of a woman in nearly a century.
The 41-year-old grandmother, whose final appeal was blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 9 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va. for the October 2002 murders-for-hire of her husband and stepson.
After exhausting all of her legal options, Lewis is left with only one choice-her final meal.
According to Sky News, Lewis has requested fried chicken, sweet peas and Dr Pepper, and either German cake or apple pie for dessert.
In a state with the second busiest death chamber in the U.S., following Texas, Lewis' execution has created an unusual amount of controversy not only because of her gender, but also because Lewis' testing shows she is borderline mentally retarded.
Defense attorneys claimed that there was no way she could have masterminded the killing and that she was manipulated by one of the triggerman.
Even though Lewis' execution seems inescapable, her supporters, including political figures from the European Union and the French Foreign Ministry, are not giving up the fight.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims the execution of Lewis reflects a double standard. He compared coverage of the Lewis case to the "heavy propaganda" campaign in support of an Iranian woman who had been sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery.
Lewis pleaded guilty in May 2003 to two counts of capital murder for hire in the 2002 slayings of her husband Julian Lewis and her stepson, Charles Lewis. The triggermen, Matthew Shallenberger and Rodney Fuller, were sentenced to life terms. Shallenberger, who Lewis' attorney, James E. Rocap III, names as the mastermind, committed suicide in prison in 2006.
MORE ON CRIMESIDER
September 22, 2010 - Teresa Lewis Speaks From Death Row After Final Appeal Blocked by U.S. Supreme CourtSeptember 20, 2010 - Teresa Lewis Days from Execution; First Woman Facing that Fate in Va. in Nearly a Century
August 2, 2010 - Teresa Lewis Scheduled to be First U.S. Woman Executed Since 2005
March 23, 2010 - Teresa Lewis Pleads for Her Life: Only Female on Va. Death Row Says She Wasn't MastermindMORE FROM CRIMESIDER
