19 November 2009 / AP, JARRATT, VIRGINIA
A former Army counterintelligence worker was executed by electric chair on Tuesday for killing a Virginia couple, becoming the first US inmate to die by electrocution in over a year.
Larry Bill Elliott was pronounced dead at 9:08 p.m. (0208 GMT on Wednesday) at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. He was convicted of the January 2001 shooting deaths of 25-year-old Dana Thrall and 30-year-old Robert Finch. Prosecutors said Elliott killed the couple to win the love of former stripper and escort Rebecca Gragg, who was involved in a bitter custody dispute with the man who was killed. Elliott said in the death chamber that he had prepared a final statement for his attorneys to read after the execution. In the typed statement, Elliott maintained his innocence. “The very system that I spent a lifetime defending has failed me,” the statement said. Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine declined to stop the execution earlier in the day, while the US Supreme Court refused to intervene on Monday. Two separate juries convicted Elliott of the killings. A 2002 verdict was set aside because a juror discussed the case outside of the court. He was convicted again a year later.
