Christopher Emmett Executed

Updated 9:45

JARRATT, Va. (AP) - A killer who unsuccessfully argued that
Virginia’s procedures for lethal injection were unconstitutional
was executed Thursday after a federal appeals court upheld the
primary method of capital punishment in the nation’s second-busiest
death chamber.
    Christopher Scott Emmett, 36, was pronounced dead at 9:07 p.m.
He was convicted of beating a co-worker to death with a brass lamp
so he could steal the man’s money to buy crack cocaine.
    “Tell my family and friends I love them, tell the governor he
just lost my vote,“ Emmett said in the chamber before he died.
“Y’all hurry this along, I’m dying to get out of here.“
    The lethal injection appeared to go as planned. Emmett was
pronounced dead about five minutes after he was first sedated.
    Emmett’s appeal was the first to require a federal appeals court
to interpret a U.S. Supreme Court decision in April that upheld
Kentucky’s method of lethal injection and apply it to another
state’s procedures.
    He claimed that Virginia’s use of lethal injection amounted to
cruel and unusual punishment because of the possibility that
paralyzing and heart-stopping drugs could be administered before
inmates are rendered unconscious by another drug.
    Earlier this month, a divided panel of the 4th Circuit found
that Virginia’s protocol was similar enough to Kentucky’s that it
would not cause inmates excruciating pain. Emmett’s attorneys had
asked the full court to review the case, but justices voted 6-4
against the full hearing.
    Unlike Kentucky, Virginia does not allow for a second dose of
sodium thiopental, which results in a deep, coma-like
unconsciousness, even when a second round of the other drugs is
required. Virginia also administers the three drugs more quickly
than Kentucky corrections officials.
    In 10 of the 70 lethal injections performed in Virginia before
this year, a second dose of the last two drugs was given because
the inmate did not die within a few minutes after the
heart-stopping drug was administered, according to court papers.
    Justice Roger Gregory, writing in favor of the full court
hearing Emmett’s appeal, said that the Supreme Court found the
sodium thiopental “essential to the humanity of Kentucky’s
procedure,“ and that Virginia did not offer safeguards comparable
to those used in Kentucky to ensure that inmates didn’t experience
excruciating pain.
    Emmett met with immediate family members Thursday morning,
Department of Corrections spokesman Larry Traylor said.
    Emmett and 43-year-old John Fenton Langley were sharing a room
in a Danville motel in April of 2001 as part of an out-of-town
roofing crew. On the night Langley was killed, he bought food and
grilled for Emmett and other co-workers, then they played cards at
their motel. Later as Langley slept, Emmett beat Langley to death
with a brass lamp so he could steal his wallet.
    Emmett was the 102nd inmate executed in Virginia since the U.S.
Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. Only Texas has
executed more prisoners.

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Gov. Timothy M. Kaine says he will not intervene in tonight’s scheduled execution of Christopher Scott Emmett, who had already dropped his court appeals. That leaves no legal barriers to the convicted killer’s death by lethal injection.

In a statement issued at 5:45 p.m., Kain noted that Emmett’s case has been reviewed by state and federal courts. “Emmett’s challenge to Virginia’s lethal injection procedures has been reviewed and rejected by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  Emmett has not sought further review by the U.S. Supreme Court with respect to that challenge.“ Kaine’s statement said.

“I find no compelling reason to set aside the sentence that was recommended by the jury, and then imposed and affirmed by the courts,“ Kaine said in the statement. “Accordingly, I decline to intervene.”

Emmett decided earlier this afternoon—after he consulted with his lawyers and after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to hear an appeal of an earlier three-judge panel decision—to drop his court appeals.

“We’re disappointed in what the 4th Circuit has decided,“ said a member of Emmett’s legal team.

The 36-year-old inmate, sentenced to death for the April 2001 bludgeoning death of a co-worker; is scheduled to die at 9 p.m. at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.

Emmett’s scheduled execution comes after years of arguments that Virginia’s use of lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment because of the possibility that paralyzing and heart-stopping drugs could be given before inmates are rendered unconscious by another drug.

In 2001, Emmett, now 36, beat 43-year-old John F. Langley to death and stole $100 from his wallet to buy drugs.

The two roofers from Roanoke Rapids, N.C. were sharing a motel room in Danville while they worked on a job near there.

Last year Emmett gained reprieves two times within hours of his execution date.