Virginia Christian
Virginia Christian 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.
Early life
Virginia Christian was born on August 15, 1895. She was the third child and oldest daughter of Henry Christian and Charlotte Christian, who lived in Hampton, Virginia. Her father earned $1.25 per day working as a fisherman and performing odd jobs. When Virginia was 13, her mother became paralyzed and unable to work; to help support her family, Virginia dropped out of her classes at the Whittier Training School and began working as a laundress for a white woman named Ida Belote, earning $4 per week. Before marrying Henry, Charlotte Christian had worked for the Belotes, and Henry had sold them fish. Belote had a reputation for being difficult, temperamental, and sometimes abusive; Virginia's father and aunt both discouraged her from taking the job.Some contemporary authors, including Victor Streib, Lynn Sametz, and David V. Baker, believe Christian was intellectually disabled. At the time, the Newport News Times-Herald wrote that "her intelligence is below average", the Hampton Monitor called her "crazy" and unaware of her actions, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote that she "possesses little sensibility". Other reports described her as "dull". However, she likely never received a formal diagnosis.
Killing of Ida Belote
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. Once Virginia arrived, Belote also accused her of stealing a gold locket. Christian denied stealing anything and threatened to quit. 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. One hour and 15 minutes after the killing, Virginia was arrested. She had no prior criminal record. 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. 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.
Belote's murder sparked tensions between the town's white and black residents, and Ida Belote's brother Lewter Hobbs discussed forming a lynch mob. Many black residents of Hampton, including Reverend John Gray, publicly denounced Christian.
Trial
Background
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". The state of Virginia did not have a dedicated reformatory for black girls, but sometimes transferred them to a reformatory in Baltimore. First degree murder carried a mandatory death penalty.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.
Proceedings
Christian's trial began on April 8, 1912. Her parents borrowed money to pay her legal fees, using their house as collateral. She was defended by two black lawyers: Joseph Thomas Newsome and George Washington Fields. The trial drew a large audience, which sat in separate sections of the courtroom segregated by race.Six witnesses, including one of Belote's daughters, established Christian's presence near Belote's house on the morning of her death. The defense conceded that Christian killed Belote, but argued she acted out of passion, not malice, and therefore lacked the mens rea necessary for first degree murder. The prosecution argued that Christian wanted to rob Belote, and that the attack was the result of premeditated burglary, citing the money Christian took. The prosecution also argued that forcing the towel so far down Belote's throat required an instrument and would have taken minutes, which was sufficient to show premeditation. The defense called two expert witnesses to argue Belote did not die of asphyxiation. However, county coroner Dr. Vanderslice testified that asphyxiation was in fact the cause of death, and that Belote was unconscious when the towel was forced in her mouth. The police also claimed Christian had washed her hands in Belote's kitchen after killing her, suggesting she was not overcome with passion. Although Belote had a reputation for treating her employees poorly, Christian's lawyers did not leverage this during the trial.
The state argued that Christian was actually an adult, leaving the defense to prove she was underage. Virginia's father Henry Christian testified that she was born on February 22, but could not give her birth year. The defense introduced the Christian family Bible and Virginia's school records as evidence, which both established her birthday as August 15, 1895.
Christian asked to testify in her own defense, but her lawyers refused; Fields considered her "a coarse-mannered, homely girl and extremely ignorant", and he and Newsome worried she might cause a disturbance or alienate the jury. Both attorneys later regretted this decision, believing her testimony could have proven her lack of premeditation, offered support for an appeal, or prompted a new trial.
Verdict and appeal
On April 9, after 23 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of guilty. Christian was sentenced to death by electrocution, with a scheduled execution date of June 21.After the trial, Christian's lawyers submitted a writ of error to the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, arguing that the lower court violated state law by not sending Christian to a reformatory. On June 12, the Court of Appeals initially announced it would grant the writ, then revised its announcement and denied the appeal.
Public reaction
After the trial, multiple groups petitioned William Hodges Mann, the governor of Virginia, for clemency, including the National Association of Colored Women and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. On July 24, Mary Church Terrell, the president of the NACW, met with Governor Mann alongside fellow activist Nellie Griswold Francis. She presented a petition signed by 300 members of the NACW and asked Mann to commute Christian's death sentence due to her young age. In response, Mann defended the court's decision and argued her age should not be a factor, since most criminals in the United States were young. Instead of a pardon, he granted a two week reprieve so that the NACW could hire private detectives to find new evidence. He also allowed Terrell to meet with Christian in jail.On August 1, the NAWC wrote a letter to the NAACP about Christian's case. The NAACP established the Virginia Christian Litigation Fund, which raised $500 to research grounds for a new trial, and urged its members to write to Governor Mann. On August 5, a representative from the NAACP met with Mann to request a commutation, citing Christian's age and the unlikeliness that Belote's death was premeditated. However, Mann stated he believed Christian had premeditated the crime in order to steal Belote's money. Mann also incorrectly claimed Belote was 70 years old rather than 51. On August 14, attorney E. Griffith Dods also met with Mann on behalf of the NAACP. Finally, in September, W.E.B Du Bois wrote an article in The Crisis about Christian's case.
The African American newspapers The Chicago Defender, The Cleveland Gazette, and The Washington Bee opposed Christian's execution. John Mitchell, editor of the Richmond Planet, called the crime "diabolical", but felt the state should show mercy to Christian since she was a woman. Charles Mears, a reporter for the Times-Herald who recorded Christian's original confession, wrote two letters to Governor Mann insisting that the crime was not premeditated. Mann also received letters from YWCA president Lucy Brooks Lewis, the Colored Young Women's Christian Association of Baltimore, and Virginia's mother Charlotte, who wrote: