Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has decided not to intervene in the execution of Teresa Lewis. Lewis will be the first woman executed in Virginia in 100 years, unless the Supreme Court decides to takes action.

“Having carefully reviewed the petition for clemency, the judicial opinions in this case and other relevant materials, I find no compelling reason to set aside the sentence. . . . Accordingly, I decline to intervene,” McDonnell said in a statement released yesterday evening.

Lewis, 41, is scheduled to be killed by lethal injection on Thursday. Times Dispatch reports that Lewis will be the 12th woman to be put to death since executions resumed in 1977. More than 1,200 men have been put to death in that time.

Lewis received the death penalty for being the “mastermind” behind her husbands death. Lewis hired two men to kill her husband and her stepson. The two men were arrested and given life sentences.

Lewis’ Attorneys are trying to get the Supreme Court to reopen the case, since it has been found that Lewis is borderline mentally retarded. The Huffington Post reports that Lewis has taken two IQ tests since she was incarcerate, scoring a 72 and a 70. An IQ score of below 70 qualifies as mentally retarded according to the Supreme Court.

But McDonnell said in his statement denying Lewis Clemency, that no medical professional has “concluded that Teresa Lewis meets the medical or statutory definition of mentally retarded.”

http://www.indyposted.com/111339/clemency-denied-for-condemned-woman-teresa-lewis/