Virginia set to execute woman for the first time in 98 years

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Virginia set to execute woman for the first time in 98 years

– Wed Sep 22, 8:45 am ET

The Starting Point is a snapshot of the news that occurred overnight and a

preview of the stories we expect to cover today.

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Virginia is slated to execute by lethal injection on Thursday, The

Associated Press reported. The 41-year-old woman was sentenced to die after

pleading guilty to capital murder for hiring two men to kill her husband and

stepson so she could collect a $250,000 life insurance policy.

Rodney Fuller and ' lover, Shallenberger, entered her home on Oct.

30, 2002, and fatally shot n Clifton, Jr., 51, and , 25.

then rummaged through her husband's pockets for money while he was dying.

She also waited nearly an hour before calling 911. The triggermen were sentenced

to life for the slayings, The New York Daily News reported; however,

Shallenberger committed suicide in prison in 2006.

If ' execution takes place, as planned, it will be the first time a woman

has been put to death in Virginia since the 1912 execution of Virginia

Christian. According to the book " Women and the Death Penalty in the United

States " by Kathleen A. O'Shea, the 17-year-old African-American maid was

convicted of killing her white employer, Ida Virginia Belote, with a broom

handle during a fight. Christian then stuffed a towel down Belote's throat,

suffocating her, and left the house with the woman's purse, money and a gold

locket, The Guardian reported. She confessed to the crime shortly after being

caught, and died in the electric chair five months later.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has denied ' request for clemency. Earlier this

week, the U.S. Supreme Court also refused to block her execution. To date, only

11 women have been executed in the United States since capital punishment was

reinstated in 1976.