Teresa Lewis case : a mentally weak woman sentenced to death in Virginia.

Last Friday, Justine made a presentation about Teresa Lewis, a forty-one years old woman sentenced to death by the Virginia Court ( USA ) after having hired two men to kill her husband and stepson in 2002. She wanted to get their life insurrances. Teresa Lewis’s final appeal was rejected by the US Supreme Court in spite of her low IQ (72).

The class was very concerned about death penalty and criticized it. It is true that it would be easy to feel pity for Teresa Lewis, dependant on drugs and mentally weak. Should the US Supreme Court have made her a favor because of her low-IQ ?

It is a hard question for French people, as we don’t have the dealth penalty. If we had a similar case, Teresa Lewis would certainly have been sentenced to life imprisonment, and some French people would have said that it is a shame we don’t sentence people to death for such a crime. Or perhaps Teresa Lewis would have been considered as non-accountable of her own acts and would have spent the rest of her life in a mental institution.

I don’t think the US Supreme Court should have been spared her death penalty, as it is the law in the USA. We French people shouldn’t judge so quickly the US legal system : death penalty is part of the american culture and a reflection of the american mentality. Some people may say that so much tolerance endangers justice, but we should not forget that every people has its own conception of it - how do you think the USA consider the french immigration policies ?

This woman planned on killing her husband and stepson : she hired two people to do so and get some money. This is a proof that she was able to think by herself and about the future : it makes her accountable of her acts.

I and a lot of people would never agree for such a person to come out of prison earlier than expected if she was French - and it would probably happen anyway- so why would she have been made a favor in the USA ?

To add a last argument, I think that what appals us against this Supreme Court decision is that Teresa Lewis is a woman, and it always seems more appalling to hurt a woman in our society. Still the gender should never impact a legal decision.