TERESA LEWIS EXECUTED BY LETHAL INJECTION

US EXECUTED WOMAN FOR DOUBLE MURDER
BY MEANS OF LETHAL INJECTION IN VIRGINIA

www.uktodaynews.com - Teresa Lewis became the first woman in Virginia to be executed by lethal injection in the past 100 years, as well as the 12th woman in USA, since the return of this capital punishment in 1976. The US judiciary sentenced her to death, for conspiring the deaths of her husband and stepson. In the shadow of the Virginia execution issue, Teresa Lewis was executed by the authorities despite strong protests by people all around America. The execution took place on Thursday night, September 23, 2010, as she was given a lethal injection at the Greensville correctional center. According to the sources, she was taken to the death chamber at 08:55pm and was pronounced dead at 09:13pm. Before she was injected with the lethal injection, Lewis had asked about her daughter, Kathy Clifton and said, “I just want Kathy to know that I love you, and I’m very sorry.”

Teresa was convicted of evolving a plot of killing her husband and stepson, but it was said the she was a woman with a very low IQ. Death penalty abolitionists have championed her case, insisting she has diminished mental faculties. There were strong protests from lawyers and international celebrities from America and around the world, as they stated that she should have been given clemency instead of death. Lewis, along with her lover had planned the killings of her husband and step-son for insurance money, but the two men who actually killed them, as per her plan, have been sentenced with life imprisonment. According to reports, Teresa was very terrified during her last moment of her life, just before she received the lethal injection. Lewis is the first woman to be put to death in Virginia since Virginia Christian, a black 17-year-old who died in the electric chair in 1912.

Lawyers demanded for clemency, but the plea was rejected by the court later, and Teresa was executed despite some people saying that there is not enough evidence to prove her guilt. Many people do not believe that a woman with such a low IQ could actually plan out a full fledged murder of her own husband and step son. The only clemency and mercy which is worth asking for, is the one coming from the Supreme Lord through the Guru.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

The Guru is a true messenger of the All-Loving-Godhead, yes. His transcendental mediator who is eager to establish a real tie of loving relationship between the Lord and those fortunate human souls who sincerely seek it. He is a pioneer of true love, a loving agent, an establishers of all relations of love, a trustworthy and expert destroyer of all our non-loving principles. If we can cultivate a devotional aptitude towards this representative of the All-Merciful Lord, we are definitely sure to reach our final goal. He saves us from all our changing views and wrong mentalities. The status that a real Guru occupies is too high; none holds such a lofty position as he. He is greater than Godhead in this respect as he can impart the Lord and His service to any one whom he favours. ... Without the mercy of an eternally liberated person, a conditioned soul can never free himself from the fettered state. One, who is already in fetters, cannot help another similarly fettered person. A free person could set another bound one, free.

Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Mahārāj :
“Guru and Atma Nivedan” - ‘Personality of Guru’
Bhakti Vigyan Nityananda Book Trust
Śrī Krishna Chaitanya Mission
http://www.purimaharaj.com/
http://www.srilapurimaharaja.org/