Emmett executed for 2001 murder

BY BILL McKELWAY
Media General News Service
Published: July 25, 2008

JARRATT — Christopher Scott Emmett was put to death last night for the 2001 beating death of a co-worker in Danville.

Emmett, who this afternoon dropped his appeals over the legality of lethal injections for executions, was pronounced dead at 9:07 p.m. Thursday. He is the 102nd person executed in Virginia since restoration of the death penalty in 1976.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine issued a statement less than four hours before the execution saying he would not stop it.

“I find no compelling reason to set aside the sentence that was recommended by the jury, and then imposed and affirmed by the courts,” Kaine said in the statement. “Accordingly, I decline to intervene.”

The 36-year-old Emmett, was sentenced to death for the April 2001 bludgeoning death of a co-worker, 43-year-old John F. Langley. Emmett beat Langley to death and stole $100 from his wallet to buy drugs.

The two roofers from Roanoke Rapids, N.C. were sharing a motel room in Danville while they worked on a job near there.

Emmett’s execution came after years of arguments that Virginia’s use of lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment because of the possibility that paralyzing and heart-stopping drugs could be given before inmates are rendered unconscious by another drug.

Last year Emmett gained reprieves two times within hours of his execution date.

Contact Bill McKelway at