An eye for an eye: Not anymore

As an executioner for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Jerry Givens executed 62 people. Now he’s lobbying and praying for the end of the death penalty in Virginia.

Ex-Virginia executioner becomes opponent of death penalty

By Justin Jouvenal, WashPost, Published: February 10

Jerry Givens executed 62 people.

His routine and conviction never wavered. He’d shave the person’s head, lay his hand on the bald pate and ask for God’s forgiveness for the condemned. Then, he would strap the person into Virginia’s electric chair.

Find Virginia executions from 1982 to present by year, method of execution and by the victims’ names.

Givens was the state’s chief executioner for 17 years — at a time when the commonwealth put more people to death than any state besides Texas.

“If you knew going out there that raping and killing someone had the consequence of the death penalty, then why are you going to do it?” Givens asked. “I considered it suicide.”

(More here.)