Despite contentions by attorneys that Virginia's electric chair may be in danger of malfunctioning, condemned killer Richard Boggs was put to death without incident for killing an elderly widow.
"There were no complications," Deborah Groome, acting operations officer at the State Penitentiary, said Thursday night, shortly after Boggs was executed by two jolts of 2,500 volts of electricity.Boggs, 27, was sentenced to die for the robbery and murder of Treeby Shaw, 87, of Portsmouth. She was beaten and stabbed to death. Boggs robbed her to support his drug habit.
Boggs's lawyers contended that the electric chair could malfunction and cause Boggs to suffer, which would violate constitional safeguards against cruel and unusual punishment.