Something Smells

As I write this, convicted murderer Teresa Lewis is hours from her execution in the Virginia death chamber at DOC’s Greensville Penitentiary. Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell, a Republican, who successfully ran in large measure by touting his Christian faith refused Lewis’ clemency request late last week. The United States Supreme Court likewise refused to intervene. Absent a miracle, shortly after 9:00 pm this evening, representatives of the Virginia Department of Corrections will begin the IV drip that “humanely” terminates Lewis’ life. This case, the way the Governor, the prosecution, and the courts have dealt with Teresa Lewis stinks.



As I ponder the hypocrisy of Governor McDonnell’s refusal to intervene, I am reminded of an expression my oldest son would utter quite often “hypocrisy is a stinky cologne”. I also thought back to another great Loudon Wainwright tune:


“Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road
Crossin the highway late last night
Should’ve looked left, should’ve looked right
Didn’t see the station wagon car
Skunk got squashed, there you are


You got your dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinkin to high heaven.”


There is no doubt that what Ms. Lewis did was evil. She was having an affair and conspired with her paramour and his friend to kill her husband and stepson execution style while they slept. The husband survived the initial shooting. Lewis waited almost an hour before calling the police. Her desire for insurance proceeds – her greed, her infidelity, led her to that fateful undertaking and it cost the life of two people (the victims).


A great many people love to walk around wearing “WWJD” bracelets. “What would Jesus do” is a fashionable question that many well-meaning, God-believing folks use as a mantra to explain to people their moral outlook. Yet, we as individuals, and as society, terribly miss the mark. No matter how much we profess our faith, our actions indicate otherwise.


In numerous instances, Jesus called us to be better than our nature. When confronted by the crowd over the adulterous woman, he told them “Go ahead and execute her, that’s the law. Only the one free of sin must cast the first stone.” The crowd silently dispersed. He looked at the woman and asked “Where did all those who condemned you go?” When she told him they had all left, Jesus stated one of the great Biblical truths: “Then neither will I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”


How many of us can honestly say we live up to Jesus’ commandments? The law is a hard standard, but forgiveness and compassion are even more difficult. Why do you think Jesus told the Pharisees divorce was wrong, that the divorce laws were in place because people’s hearts were hard? God never divorces you. We are called on to be “God like”.


We’re told to “love our enemies”. Anyone can love a friend, but love those who hurt you, who despise you, that’s tough. Yet, that’s exactly what Jesus would have us do.


I saw a news show last evening. A grieving father confronted his daughter’s murderer at sentencing and said “I pray each day that God will show you no mercy.” I can’t put myself in that man’s shoes, but somehow I think his prayers won’t be answered. God will show that man mercy – if he cries out for it – because God is merciful, in spite of our sinful ways.


Did Teresa Lewis deserve to die? Sure. Are we called to a higher understanding, are we to forgive, and love, and show mercy? Absolutely.


Governor McDonnell, if you’re going to “talk the talk”, then “walk the walk”.


Postscript: At 9:13 pm on Thursday evening, September 23rd, Teresa Lewis was declared dead following administration of a lethal injection. Teresa Lewis’s life ended after she apologized for the heinous crime she committed and with praise for knowing a merciful God exists.


I have learned a great deal over these past two years. One thing is that hatred, anger, bitterness breeds more of the same. Our chief obligation in life is to love and forgive. My faith assures me Teresa Lewis is in a better place. At least in the eyes of God, it is not her wrongdoing that defines her, but her soul.


I prayed this evening for our Governor. Doing the “right thing” doing “what Jesus would do” is usually unpopular. But, if it was easy, we’d all act more kindly and compassionately. We’d be more forgiving. Governor McDonnell will live with the knowledge that he could have put his faith in action. He could have spared Teresa Lewis’s life.


Mahatma Gandhi said, “When you apply an eye for an eye, pretty soon the whole world is blind”.


Justice does not include retribution or revenge. Justice smells sweet. What happened this week stinks.