USA - Virginia. Paul Warner Powell was electrocuted

Paul Warner Powell was electrocuted tonight at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. He declined to make a statement. Powell, 31, white, was sentenced to death for the Jan. 29, 1999, slaying of Stacie Reed, 16. After killing her, Powell then waited for her 14-year-old-sister to return home from school, raped her, cut her throat and left her for dead. Kristie Reed lived and testified against him. Powell's 1st capital-murder conviction was thrown out on April 22, 2001 (see) by the The Virginia Supreme Court. Believing he no longer could face a death sentence, he wrote Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert an abusive letter in which he admitted he attempted to rape Stacie and boasted about the crimes in detail. The letter provided grounds for Powell to be tried again for capital murder and sentenced to death on Jan. 16, 2003 (see). Powell chose to die in the electric chair instead of by injection. Virginia death row inmates were given the choice on Jan. 1, 1995. If an inmate refuses to choose, injection becomes the default means. 2 cycles of electricity are used in executions, each lasting 90 seconds with a pause between them. Since the choice was made available, 76 inmates have died by injections and now 6 by electrocution. Powell becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Virginia, and the 106th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1983. Powell becomes the 11th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 1199th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.