In February 2021, the Virginia General Assembly voted to abolish the death penalty, and Governor Ralph Northam signed the bill into law on March 24, 2021. The bill took effect on July 1, 2021. Only two people were on death row in Virginia at the time of the abolition: Anthony Juniper and Thomas A. Porter. Their sentences were commuted to life without parole. The last execution in Virginia occurred in July 2017, when William Morva was executed for two murders he committed in 2006. The daughter of one of his victims supported the bill to end capital punishment, calling the practice outdated, ineffective, and failing to provide her any closure. Legal process Before abolition, when the prosecution intended to seek the death penalty, the sentence was decided by the jury and had to be unanimous. In case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life sentence was issued, even if a single juror opposed death (there was no retrial). The governor held the power of clemency with respect to death sentences. The method of execution up until abolition was lethal injection, unless the condemned requested electrocution instead. State law specified that at least six citizens who are not employees of the Department of Corrections were required to serve as witnesses to the execution. Since Governor George Allen signed an executive order on the matter in 1994, relatives of the victim(s) in the case had the right to witness the execution. Relatives of the condemned inmate were barred from being present. Virginia was the state with the shortest time on average between death sentence and execution (less than 8 years). Capital crimes Before abolition in 2021, murder was the only crime for which the death penalty was applicable in Virginia. Under Virginia Criminal Code, capital murder was defined as "willful, deliberate, and premeditated" killing involving at least one of the following aggravating factors: Be committed in the commission of abduction, when such abduction was committed with the intent to extort money or a pecuniary benefit or with the intent to defile the victim of such abduction; Be committed for hire; Be committed by a prisoner confined in a state or local correctional facility, or while in the custody of an employee thereof; Be committed in the commission of robbery or attempted robbery; Be committed in the commission of, or subsequent to, rape or attempted rape, forcible