Virginia executes 2001 killer

JARRATT, Va., July 24 (UPI) -- Virginia executed a North Carolina man Thursday night for the 2001 robbery and beating death of a co-worker.

Christopher Scott Emmett had challenged the legality of lethal injections in Virginia -- his execution was delayed temporarily until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled lethal injection constitutional -- but dropped his appeals Thursday afternoon, the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch said.

Gov. Tim Kaine declined to delay Emmett's execution further.

Emmett, 36, was sentenced to death for the bludgeoning murder of John F. Langley, 43, as Langley slept in a motel in 2001. Emmett then stole Langley's money to buy drugs.

The two roofers were from Roanoke Rapids, N.C., but were sharing the motel room in Danville, Va., while they worked on a job, the newspaper said.

Emmett was the 102nd person executed in Virginia since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976.

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