>Virginia Christian (August 15, 1895 – August 16, 1912) was an African American teenager executed by the state of Virginia. Convicted of first degree murder for killing her white employer Ida Belote, Christian became the last female juvenile offender to be executed in the United States and was the only such execution in the 20th century.
>Virginia Christian left school at age 13 to work for Ida Belote. On March 18, 1912, when Christian was 16, Belote accused Christian of theft and attacked her. In response, Christian struck her with a broom handle and forced a towel down her throat, killing her. Christian was arrested and tried before an entirely white and male jury. Her lawyers, Joseph Thomas Newsome and George Washington Fields, argued that the killing was not premeditated, but the jury found her guilty of first degree murder after only 23 minutes of deliberation. Despite a Virginia law aimed at placing minors in reformatories for first-time offenses, Christian was sentenced to death.
> Christian's case drew backlash from newspapers and civil rights advocates, who considered it unjust to execute an underage girl and believed her sentence was racist. Advocates also questioned whether Christian was mentally disabled. The National Association of Colored Women and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People petitioned Virginia governor William Hodges Mann to commute her sentence. The backlash was especially strong in Chicago, where newspaper editor E. Van Putnam led an aggressive campaign against her execution. Ultimately, Mann refused to pardon Christian; she was executed by electrocution on August 16, 1912.
>On March 18, 1912, Ida Belote visited the Christian family's house and accused Virginia of stealing a skirt. Charlotte told Virginia to visit Belote's house and resolve the dispute.[20] Once Virginia arrived, Belote also accused her of stealing a gold locket.[21] Christian denied stealing anything and threatened to quit.[22] In response, Belote attacked her with a spittoon. Christian responded by striking Belote's head with a broomstick, then forced a towel five inches down her throat, suffocating her. Christian later stated she and Belote both raced to grab separate broom handles, and that she put the towel in Belote's mouth to stop her from screaming. She fled with Belote's pocketbook, which contained $4 and a ring.
>After the confrontation, Christian returned home to do chores. Two of Belote's children discovered her body, and the police reported seeing a trail of blood and overturned furniture in her house.[25] One hour and 15 minutes after the killing, Virginia was arrested.[16] She had no prior criminal record.[26] In jail, without speaking to an attorney, she confessed to attacking Belote. However, she maintained that she acted in self-defense and had not meant to kill her.[23][5] Dr. George Vanderslice, the county coroner, led a two-day inquest before a grand jury of six white men. After hearing testimony from two of Belote's daughters, the grand jury indicted Christian on March 20, 1912.[27]Belote's murder sparked tensions between the town's white and black residents,[28] and Ida Belote's brother Lewter Hobbs discussed forming a lynch mob.[29] Many black residents of Hampton, including Reverend John Gray, publicly denounced Christian
>In 1910, Virginia had passed a law shielding first-time offenders under the age of 17 from prison sentences; instead, underage offenders were to be placed in reformatories. However, the bill made exceptions for rape or when "the offense is aggravated, or the ends of justice demand otherwise".[31] The state of Virginia did not have a dedicated reformatory for black girls, but sometimes transferred them to a reformatory in Baltimore.[32] First degree murder carried a mandatory death sentence under state law at the time. The law was changed to make it discretionary several years after Christian's execution.Under Virginia's revised 1902 constitution, only registered voters could be jurors in criminal trials, and first degree murder cases required jury verdicts. However, black men were systematically disenfranchised, and women did not gain the right to vote in Virginia until 1920. In 1904, Virginia codified an 1880 court decision that defendants had no legal right to a racially diverse jury. Accordingly, Christian's jury was made up of exclusively white men.
If she had praised Jesus and follow god of Israel, none of this shit would ever happend to her.
