VADP

This execution was stayed around 5:00 PM on Oct. 17th by order of the US Supreme Court!

Do Not Execute Christopher Emmett! Christopher Emmett, VAOctober 17, 2007The state of Virginia is set to execute Christopher Emmett on October 17 for the April 2001 murder of Christopher Langley.Virginia should not execute Emmett for his role in this crime.  Executing Emmett would violate the right to life as declared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and constitute the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.  Furthermore, the Supreme Court of Virginia unanimously found that “it is clear that [Emmett's] trial counsel was ineffective” at the penalty phase of his trial.  The death penalty must never be carried out when the trial was marred by inadequate legal representation.  In addition, this attorney never requested records from Emmett’s childhood mental health counseling, never requested relevant social service documents, and never interviewed six of Emmett’s seven siblings.  Consequently, Emmett’s trial attorney failed to present mitigating evidence about Emmett's abusive and neglectful childhood and mental health history, and the jurors who were asked to determine whether the death penalty was appropriate for Emmett were not told the truth about his childhood and background.

Please click here to send a message  to Gov. Tim Kaine on behalf of Christopher Emmett!