Condemned killer claims innocence to end

Shortly before Larry “Bill” Elliott was put to death for killing a Woodbridge couple in 2001, he wrote that the justice system “failed me.”

At 9 p.m. Tuesday, the 60-year-old Hanover, Md., man was led into Virginia’s death chamber—his head and one leg shaved – and placed into the state’s old oak electric chair. A leather mask was put over his face, a metal cap placed over his head and another metal clasp attached to his leg.

“Not knowing how long I have to speak, I prepared a statement and gave it to my attorney. They are prepared to read it,” the former Army intelligence officer said.

Nearly nine years ago, Elliott killed 25-year-old Dana Thrall and 30-year-old Robert Finch for the love of former stripper Rebecca Gragg. Gragg shared two children with Finch and the two were involved in a bitter custody dispute, according to Virginia Supreme Court documents.

His appeals exhausted, and a six-week reprieve from Gov. Tim Kaine passed, Elliott chose to die by electric chair rather than lethal injection.

Elliot spent his final day with his attorneys, spiritual advisor and family members.

The state schedules all executions at 9 p.m. Witnesses are moved, by van, to the death chamber by 8:45 p.m.

At 8:55 p.m., Elliott paused briefly as six volunteer correctional officers led him into the death chamber. It was the first time he set eyes on the chair, said Virginia Department of Corrections manager David Bass. Prisoners are held in a cell in the “L” unit, the wing of the prison where the death chamber sits, up to four days before they are put to death.

Emotionless and compliant, Elliott wore a blue denim shirt and pants. The metal buttons had all been removed and the fabric of the right pant leg cut to his knee.

At least a dozen officials, dressed in suits, stood around the room while Elliott was strapped in the chair.

Elliott looked forward or watched members of the execution team as they attached metal clamps with sea sponges soaked in a brine solution to his right calf and head.
The team attached electric cables from the floor to the metal clamps.

One corrections official sat with a white telephone to his ear in the death chamber, awaiting any word from the warden’s office of last-minute communications from the Department of Justice that could potentially stop the execution.

“The courts tend to communicate with us by fax machine, so we want to be sure we have someone ready to talk to the office in case something comes in at the last minute,” said Bass.

Another official with a red phone to his ear – a direct line to the governor’s office – stood on the other side of the room.

A man brought a microphone to Elliott and asked him for his last words.

After saying his attorneys would read a prepared statement after his execution, the leather mask was placed on Elliott’s face. Only his nose was visible.

At 9 p.m., the two corrections officials on the red and white phones placed them back into their receivers. In the presence of representatives of the attorney general and state corrections officials, an officer in a side room pushed the “execute button,“  sending1,800 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.

After five minutes, the medical examiner entered the room and placed a stethoscope to his chest and declared Elliott dead by saying simply: “9:08 p.m.”

After he was executed, Elliott’s attorney Tom Kelly read a three-paged typed statement written by the killer, who once worked for the government at Fort Meade on national security matters.

In the note, Elliott maintained his innocence, saying he hoped groups that oppose the death penalty will use his case “as a launching pad for the elimination of the death penalty.“

“The very system that I spent a lifetime defending has failed me,“ the statement said.

He also apologized to the families of Thrall and Finch, but again deflected blame for their deaths.

“To all of the members of the Thrall and Finch families: I am deeply sorry that someone killed your loved ones,” he wrote.

The rest of the final statement is riddled with cryptic claims that new evidence obtained by his defense team proving his innocence was ignored by those at the state’s highest levels, including the governor, attorney general and appellate courts.

He signed the statement “God bless you. Bill.“

Kelly declined to comment on the case prior to the execution and again took no questions Tuesday following his client’s death.

Elliott was the first person in the U.S. to be executed by electrocution in more than a year. He was the 341st inmate in Virginia to be executed by electrocution since the state began the practice in 1908, using the same chair that is used today.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch and Associated Press contributed to this story.