May 20, 201010:07 P.M.
JARRATT -- Darick Demorris Walker was executed by injection tonight for the separate killings of two Richmond men.
Walker, 37, was pronounced dead at 9:24 p.m., said Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections. It was the second execution in the state this year and the 107th since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed executions to resume in 1976.
At 8:55 p.m., Walker, a tall man wearing sandals and blue prison clothing, was escorted into the death chamber by officers. He was cooperative and appeared calm as he looked around the room and toward the witness viewing area, where one of the witnesses included his lawyer, Danielle Spinelli.
He was strapped into the gurney and a curtain was pulled to block the view while the IV lines were placed into his arms.
The curtains were opened again at 9:15 p.m. Asked if he had a last statement to make, Walker said, "Last words being: I don't think y'all done this right, took y'all too long to hook it up. You can print that. That's it." He was apparently referring to the intravenous lines used to administer the lethal injection.
Traylor later explained that there was a delay in placing one of the IV lines.
The first of three chemicals used in the execution began flowing. He took several deep breaths, his breathing grew shallower and then it stopped.
He was pronounced dead at 9:24 p.m. and the curtain was drawn again.
Outside the Greensville Correctional Center, where the execution took place, four death penalty protesters stood in silence, holding candles. They declined to comment.
State law permits the death penalty for someone who commits two premeditated murders within three years. Testimony and other evidence at his 1998 trial showed Walker shot two men to death in front of loved ones.
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