USA - Virginia. Edward Nathaniel Bell was executed

Edward Nathaniel Bell was executed for the, slaying of a police officer. Bell was sentenced to die for the Oct. 29, 1999 murder of Sgt. Ricky L. Timbrook, 32. Bell, 43, Jamaican national, maintained his innocence to the end. Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine personally opposes the death penalty, but in a statement released about 4 p.m. today, Kaine declined to interfere. "Bell's trial, verdict and sentence have been reviewed by state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court of Virginia, United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court," Kaine noted. In 2005 Timbrook's wife, Kelly, appeared in a television campaign ad on behalf of Kaine's Republican opponent for governor, former Virginia Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore. Since taking office, Kaine has allowed 9 executions to be carried out and commuted one death sentence (see June 9, 2008). Bell becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Virginia and the 103rd overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1982. Bell becomes the 14th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1150th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.