Both Linwood and James Briley took a seat in the electric chair mere months apart (per the Richmond Times-Dispatch). Linwood appealed his sentence to the United States Supreme Court but was turned away. He was executed on October 12, 1984, still maintaining his innocence (per UPI). James’ execution followed on April 18, 1985. On the day he was to be led to the electric chair, fellow death row inmates staged a riot in hopes that they could delay the death of their fellow inmates. Though the violent event was not successful in that respect, the convicts did some substantial damage. Nine guards were injured in their wake.
Earl Clanton was next to die. His execution was carried out in April 1988 after he had exhausted all of his appeals. The Associated Press reports that he expressed remorse for the 1980 murder before he was led to his doom. Derick Peterson’s execution followed in August 1991 (via the Richmond Times-Dispatch).
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Willie Leroy Jones, who was given the death penalty for the murder of an elderly couple, sat in the hot seat in September 1992 (per The Washington Post). Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder turned down Jones’ appeal for clemency in the 11th hour, dooming any hopes Jones had for a stay of execution.
The last of the six to die was Lem Tuggle. The convicted murderer chose lethal injection and had his veins filled with the deadly cocktail of drugs on December 12, 1996. As he entered the execution chamber, he screamed “Merry Christmas!” at the onlookers who had gathered. Those were his final recorded words.
