Clemency in Virginia delays execution 1000

As detailed in this AP story, “Virginia’s governor on Tuesday spared the life of a convicted killer who would have been the 1,000th person executed in the United States since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976. Robin Lovitt’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole a little more than 24 hours before he was to be executed.”

I wonder if the magic of round numbers helped save Lovitt’s life.  Governor Mark Warner statement, which you can read at this link, of course does not mention the magic number 1000, but rather notes that evidence from the trial had been improperly destroyed, depriving the defense of the opportunity to subject the material to the latest in DNA testing.

As the 1000 executions website details, execution number 1000 is now likely to be in North Carolina this Friday.