Virginia turns up the juice

It doesn’t happen that often anymore, thanks to the inclusion of lethal injection among the options, but a man condemned to death for murder got fried by Virginia’s electric chair on Tuesday. Gov. Tim Kaine, who is against the death penalty (he’s also pro-life, for what it’s worth), declined to stay the execution.

Death-row inmate Larry Bill Elliott was executed last night for the 2001 murder of Dana Thrall of Prince William County.

Elliott, 60, a former Army intelligence officer from Hanover, Md., died in the electric chair at Greensville Correctional Center, about 60 miles south of Richmond. He was pronounced dead at 9:08 p.m. He had met with his family, a spiritual adviser and his lawyers earlier in the day.

Elliott entered the room under the escort of correction officers who attached a metal clasp lined with a moistened sponge to his shaved right calf, affixed a metallic cap lined with a sponge to his shaved head and covered his face with a leather mask.

He was then strapped into the oak chair. In the presence of representatives of the attorney general and state corrections officials, an officer in a side room pushed the “execute button” at 9 p.m., sending 1,800 volts through Elliott’s body for 30 seconds, followed by a 60-second burst of 240 volts.

Elliott’s body tensed at the first surge and again a second time when the cycle was repeated for another 90 seconds. The room was silent.

Five minutes later, a physician entered and put a stethoscope to his chest. He looked up several seconds later at officials in the plain white room and said simply, “9:08.”

Good lord. That’s a full three minutes of juice. The man was probably barbecued. And here we get to the point. On Wednesday’s “Tony Kornheiser Show” on ESPN 980 in DC, a regular emailer sent in his haiku about the situation. It goes like this:

“Virginia justice
Time to fire up ol’ Sparky
Smells like hot dogs”