| Teresa Lewis is scheduled to be executed September 23, 2010 |
Please read Teresa's story and take a moment to sign a petition to spare her life. Thank you.
Below is a press release from her attorneys:
Lives of Two Actual Killers Spared
Media Contact:
Alex Howe,
newsPRos 202 271 7997,
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or
Jamie
Moss, 201 788 0142,
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The
Commonwealth of Virginia this morning ordered Teresa Lewis’s execution to take
place on September 23, at 9:00 p.m. at Greensville Correctional Center. Lewis
has been on death row in Virginia since June 2003. Now 41 and a mother and grandmother, she is
described by her former prison chaplain as “loving, faithful, and child-like.”
She would be the first woman executed in Virginia since 1912.
In June
2003, incomplete and inaccurate evidence led a judge to impose the death
sentence on Teresa Lewis, who has an IQ of 72, as the “mastermind” behind a
plan to kill Lewis’s husband, Julian Lewis, and his adult son C.J. The two men who actually committed the
murders were sentenced to life in prison.
“We firmly believe that Teresa should not be
put to death based on inaccurate and incomplete information that she was the
‘mastermind’ in the deaths,” said Jim Rocap, partner at Steptoe & Johnson
in Washington, DC, who has been representing Teresa for the past 6 years.
“Tragically,
the judge who sentenced Teresa never had an accurate picture of how the crimes
came to be,” Rocap added. “Due largely
to procedural technicalities, none of the courts that have looked at Teresa’s
case have been allowed to consider evidence that dramatically reduces Teresa’s
culpability. The Governor will be the only person who has had an opportunity to
consider evidence, for example, that the actual killer admitted that Teresa was
not in fact the person who planned
the murders and that he boasted about using Teresa to get Julian’s money. Anyone who looks at all the evidence will see
that Teresa’s death sentence is based on an incomplete and inaccurate account
of the crimes.”
Teresa was
33 years old when she met Matthew Shallenberger, a 21 year-old with an IQ of
113. He had just completed a brief stint
in the U.S. Army. According to a report
by a psychologist who evaluated Shallenberger just after the murders,
Shallenberger was “tall and lean” with a “carefully messed-to-look-stylish
quaff of hair.” The psychologist said
Shallenberger was “unusually bright” and “difficult to interview.” Shallenberger “thoroughly enjoyed a verbal
cat-and-mouse game . . . finding ways to answer questions by not answering them
and then smiling.” The psychologist
reported that Shallenberger “boasted of
dreams of becoming a “hitman” for the Mafia. Shallenberger initially denied involvement in
the murders but later “insisted it was he who was in control of [the]
relationship [with Teresa] and he who was the mastermind of the offense.”
Shallenberger
explained to a friend that Teresa was “just what I was looking for: some ugly
bitch who married her husband for the money and I knew I could get to fall head
over heals [sic] for me.” Although
married to Julian, Teresa soon began to visit Shallenberger at his
trailer. She showered him with gifts and
money, and even sent a dozen red roses to him, attempting to gain his
affection. When Teresa complained about
abusive treatment from her husband, Shallenberger made a plan to kill Julian,
telling Teresa that he would use Julian’s money to run away with Teresa and
start a new life. In reality,
Shallenberger was involved with two other women at the time and considered his
involvement with Teresa “just part of what had to be done to get the money.” He boasted to friends that he planned to head
to New York, meet with his “connections,” and become a “hit man” for the
Mafia.
People who
have known Teresa throughout her life have testified that she has never lived
on her own, is incapable of buying more than one day’s worth of groceries at a
time, and cannot balance a checkbook.
Following surgeries for painful medical conditions, in the year before
the murders Teresa became addicted to prescription medications.
Dr.
Elinore McKance-Katz, a specialist in prescription drug addiction, testified in
2005 (after the death sentence had been imposed) that Teresa suffered from
“severe addiction” including opioid dependence, sedative hypnotic dependence,
and anxiolytic dependence. This impaired
Teresa’s judgment, she explained, and negatively affected the functioning of
her cortex and frontal lobes, the areas of the brain responsible for thinking,
reasoning, judgment, and executive function.
Teresa also was diagnosed with dependent personality disorder, which manifested
itself in her need for attention, approval and validation from men. Dr. Philip Costanzo, a Duke University
psychologist who also examined Teresa after sentence was imposed, concluded
that “Teresa’s intellectual limitations are magnified by her tendency toward a
socially naïve, passively compliant and inadequate style of relating. Her need for affirmation and validation from
men reduces further any ability . . . that she might have to
independently reason.” Both Dr.
McCance-Katz and Dr. Costanzo said it was highly unlikely that Teresa would
have the intellectual capacity to plan and direct the murders.
Shallenberger
enlisted Antwain Bennett, a 19 year-old high school drop-out, to purchase
shotguns with money Shallenberger got from Teresa. He first planned to kill Julian on his way
home from work and tricked Rodney Fuller, the other triggerman, into
accompanying him. When that plan failed,
Teresa was told to leave the door to her home unlocked on October 30, 2002, and
Shallenberger and Fuller then entered and shot Julian and C.J.
Teresa was
unable to keep to Shallenberger’s plan to obtain the money he wanted. Teresa bungled attempts to retrieve Julian’s
cash and C.J.’s insurance, including presenting an obviously forged check to
the bank. When she was questioned by
police, she could not keep to a story and quickly confessed her involvement and
alerted police to Shallenberger and Fuller.
Prosecutors
agreed to a life sentence for Fuller.
When he later sentenced Shallenberger, the judge assigned to all three
cases explained that he could not “in good conscience” impose a sentence on
Shallenberger that was more severe than what Fuller had received, and then
sentenced Shallenberger to life in prison.
Teresa
pled guilty. Based on the prosecutor’s
summary of evidence, and without knowledge of critical information set out
above, the same judge described her as the “head of the serpent” and sentenced
her to death.
Teresa has
been in a segregation cell for seven years.
A former prison chaplain notes that, although prohibited from direct contact
with other inmates, Teresa holds steadfastly to her faith and shares her love
and support with women in the cells around her, ministering with her kind words
and beautiful voice. When she sings
hymns in her cell, the entire segregation wing calms. Teresa prays throughout her day for anyone
she thinks might be in need.
“The
Commonwealth should not carry out a death sentence like Teresa’s, which was
imposed on the basis of inaccurate and incomplete information,” says
Rocap. “The truth about her involvement
in the tragic deaths of Julian and C.J. Lewis does not require or justify her
execution, especially in light of the fact that the lives of those who actually
gunned down Julian and C.J. were spared.”
Rocap
added, “Teresa’s life and prison ministry should be allowed to continue and
grace the lives of those around her.
Please join us by calling and writing the Governor, by signing an email
petition in support of sparing Teresa’s life, and by sharing Teresa’s story
with others.”
For more
information about Teresa and her case, please visit: www.saveteresalewis.org.
And on
Facebook, visit:
www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Friends-of-Teresa-Lewis/104370726282292
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