Va. executes rapist-murderer

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JARRATT, Va., Aug. 18 (UPI) -- The state of Virginia Thursday executed a man convicted of raping and killing an 88-year-old Williamsburg, Va., woman.

Jerry Terrell Jackson was put to death by lethal injection at the Greensville Correctional Center near Jarratt, the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch reported. He was pronounced dead at 9:14 p.m. EDT, officials at the center said.

Jackson, 30, shook his head to indicate no when asked if he had any last words, the newspaper said.

Jackson was sentenced to die in 2002 for breaking into the Williamsburg home of Ruth Phillips, raping her and smothering her to death with a pillow.

Jackson and his attorneys petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay, asking the justices to hear the case because the jury never heard the extent of the abuse Jackson suffered as a boy at the hands of his biological father and stepfather, The (Newport News) Daily Press reported.

A federal judge's 2010 ruling granting Jackson a new sentencing hearing was reversed in April on appeal. Gov. Bob McDonnell denied Jackson's appeal for clemency Aug. 12, saying he could find "no compelling reason" to intervene.