Lance Chandler was executed by the State of Virginia for the murder of William Dix
According to court documents Lance Chandler would rob a small store and in the process shoot and kill the clerk William Dix. According to friends Chandler wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone
Lance Chandler would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Lance Chandler would be executed by lethal injection on August 20 1998
Lance Chandler Photos
Lance Chandler Case
A man convicted of killing a convenience store clerk who ignored his demands to open the cash register was executed tonight four hours after Gov. James S. Gilmore III denied clemency in the case.
Lance Chandler, 25, was put to death by injection at the Greensville Correctional Center. He was pronounced dead at 9:07 p.m.
Chandler, asked by Warden David Garraghty if he wanted to make a final statement, looked up, shook his head and said, “No, sir.”
Outside the rural prison, about 20 death penalty protesters and relatives of Chandler’s held a prayer circle as the execution hour approached. They declined to talk to reporters.
Chandler met with a brother and three of his sisters earlier today.
Gilmore, who has not intervened in any of the seven executions that have been scheduled since he took office in January, noted that Chandler’s capital murder conviction was upheld on all appeals
KILLER OF STORE CLERK IS EXECUTED
By Justin M. Norton
August 21, 1998
A man convicted of killing a convenience store clerk who ignored his demands to open the cash register was executed tonight four hours after Gov. James S. Gilmore III denied clemency in the case.
Lance Chandler, 25, was put to death by injection at the Greensville Correctional Center. He was pronounced dead at 9:07 p.m.
Chandler, asked by Warden David Garraghty if he wanted to make a final statement, looked up, shook his head and said, “No, sir.”
Outside the rural prison, about 20 death penalty protesters and relatives of Chandler’s held a prayer circle as the execution hour approached. They declined to talk to reporters.
Chandler met with a brother and three of his sisters earlier today.
Gilmore, who has not intervened in any of the seven executions that have been scheduled since he took office in January, noted that Chandler’s capital murder conviction was upheld on all appeals.
“Upon a thorough review of the Petition for Clemency . . . and the circumstances of this matter, I decline to intervene,” the governor said.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied Chandler’s final appeal by a 7 to 2 vote Wednesday.
Chandler was convicted of killing William “Billy” Dix, 33, the night of Feb. 7, 1993.
According to trial testimony, Chandler went in the Mother Hubbard convenience store to demand cash while two accomplices went to the rear of the store to steal beer.
Dix did not respond when Chandler requested money, and Chandler pointed the gun at Dix, closed his eyes and pulled the trigger as he shouted, “Boom.” The gun did not fire, and Chandler pulled the trigger again, shooting Dix in the face.
Geraldine Fernandez, who rode to the convenience store with Chandler and the other robbers, testified that Chandler wanted to know how it felt to kill a man and said he wanted to wear the spent cartridge around his neck as a souvenir of the occasion
Chandler began his criminal record at age 14 when he was convicted of disorderly conduct. Over the next five years, he was convicted of such offenses as robbery, use of a firearm, breaking and entering, assault and battery, public drunkenness and cursing and abusing a police officer.
Chandler’s execution was the first of six tentatively scheduled in the state before the end of October, which would bring the total for the year to 12 with two months left. Virginia executed nine people last year, more than any state except Texas. The next execution — that of Johnile L. Dubois, also convicted of killing a convenience store clerk during a robbery — is scheduled for Aug. 31