Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell is again sponsoring a bill that would abolish the death penalty, and he has a Republican chief co-patron.
(Virginia Department of Corrections via AP, File)RICHMOND, Va. โ Virginia moved another step closer to ending capital punishment on Friday when the state House joined the Senate in voting to abolish the death penalty.
It's a dramatic shift for Virginia, which has put more people to death over its centuries-long history than any other state.
In modern times, Virginia trails only Texas in the number of executions since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
AdLast year, death penalty abolition bills in the General Assembly went nowhere.