Lewis v. Commonwealth

Present: All the Justices

TERESA WILSON BEAN LEWIS

v. Record No. 032153

OPINION BY CHIEF JUSTICE LEROY R. HASSELL, SR.
March 5, 2004

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY
Charles J. Strauss, Judge

As required by Code § 17.1-313, we review the sentences

of death imposed upon Teresa Wilson Bean Lewis.

I.

On November 20, 2002, the defendant was indicted by a

grand jury for the following offenses: capital murder for

hire of Charles J. Lewis in violation of Code § 18.2-31(2);

capital murder for hire of Julian Clifton Lewis, Jr., in

violation of Code §§ 18.2-31(2); conspiracy to commit capital

murder in violation of Code §§ 18.2-22 and -31; robbery of

Julian Clifton Lewis, Jr., in violation of Code § 18.2-58; use

of a firearm to commit the murder of Julian Clifton Lewis,

Jr., in violation of Code § 18.2-53.1; use of a firearm to

commit the murder of Charles J. Lewis in violation of Code

§ 18.2-53.1; and use of a firearm to commit the robbery of

Julian Clifton Lewis, Jr., in violation of Code § 18.2-53.1.

The defendant pled guilty to these offenses. Before

accepting the pleas, the circuit court questioned the
defendant and made a determination that her guilty pleas were

made voluntarily, intelligently, and knowingly. Additionally,

the court considered a competency assessment of the defendant

made by Barbara G. Haskins, M.D., a board-certified forensic

psychiatrist. Dr. Haskins opined that the defendant had the

capacity to enter pleas of guilty to charges of capital murder

and had the ability to understand and appreciate the possible

penalties that might result from her pleas.

Haskins stated the following in her competency

assessment:

"Ms. Lewis is aware of her charges and the
possible penalties she is facing (life without
parole or death). She knows who her attorneys are
and feels comfortable working with them. She is
able to provide them with information, and to ask
questions.
"Cognitive testing showed a Full Scale IQ of
72. Verbal IQ was 70, and Performance IQ was 79.
This places the defendant in the borderline range of
mental retardation (Borderline Intellectual
Function)."

Haskins opined that Lewis, who had graduated from high school

and had completed one year of college, was competent to stand

trial, make a plea agreement and enter pleas.

The Commonwealth submitted, and the circuit court

accepted, a written summary of the evidence that the

Commonwealth would have presented had the case proceeded to a

trial. The circuit court scheduled a separate hearing to

consider evidence before fixing punishments. The circuit

2
court also received the probation officer's report in the

manner prescribed by law.

After considering the evidence adduced during the

sentencing hearing and the written summary of the

Commonwealth's evidence, the circuit court found that the

defendant's conduct was outrageously or wantonly vile,

horrible, or inhumane and sentenced her to death for both

capital murder offenses. The court fixed her punishments for

the remaining convictions as follows: 20 years imprisonment

for each conspiracy charge; life imprisonment for the robbery

charge; and 13 years imprisonment for the firearms charges.

The court conducted a post-sentencing hearing and

clarified its decision regarding the imposition of the

sentences of death. The court stated that the defendant's

sentences of death were based upon the statutory vileness

predicate because her acts reflected a depravity of mind. The

court also concluded that the actual murderers had committed

aggravated batteries upon each victim and those aggravated

batteries were imputed to the defendant.

II.

Julian Clifton Lewis, Jr., had been employed for several

years by Dan River, Inc. His first wife, who had been ill for

a long time, died in January 2000. In March or April 2000,

Julian Lewis met the defendant, who was also employed by Dan

3
River. The defendant began to live with Julian Lewis at his

home in Danville in June 2000. Subsequently, Julian Lewis

married the defendant.

In December 2001, Julian Lewis' older son, Jason Clifton

Lewis, died in a car accident. Julian Lewis was the

beneficiary of his son's life insurance policy, and Julian

Lewis received proceeds in excess of $200,000. He placed

those proceeds in a draft account with Prudential Securities,

Inc. The proceeds of the account were accessible only by use

of drafts bearing the signature of Julian Lewis.

In February 2002, Julian Lewis purchased a five-acre

parcel of land in Pittsylvania County. He also purchased a

mobile home and placed it on the property, where he and the

defendant resided.

In August 2002, Julian Lewis' younger son, Charles J.

Lewis, an Army reservist, was required to report for active

duty with the National Guard in Maryland. According to

Lieutenant Michael Booker, Charles Lewis' commanding officer,

Lewis made estate arrangements in the event he died while on

active duty. Charles Lewis executed a will and identified his

father as his primary beneficiary and his stepmother, the

defendant, as the secondary beneficiary. Charles Lewis

obtained a policy of life insurance in the amount of $250,000

payable in the event of his death. He designated his father

4
as the primary beneficiary of the life insurance policy and

the defendant as the secondary beneficiary.

In the autumn of 2002, Rodney L. Fuller and Matthew J.

Shallenberger met the defendant at a retail store. Prior to

this meeting, the defendant did not know these men. After a

conversation, Shallenberger and the defendant exchanged

telephone numbers and began to communicate frequently.

Shallenberger and the defendant discussed the possibility that

Shallenberger, with Fuller's help, would kill Julian Lewis,

and they would share any insurance proceeds that the defendant

might receive.

One day, the defendant and her 16-year-old daughter,

Christie Bean, met Shallenberger and Fuller at a parking lot

in Danville. Christie, who had never met Fuller previously,

had sexual intercourse with him in one car while the defendant

and Shallenberger engaged in sexual intercourse in another

vehicle. On a later date, Fuller and Shallenberger went to

the defendant's home where she performed a "lingerie show" for

the men, and she had sexual intercourse with both men.

On October 23, 2002, the defendant met Shallenberger and

Fuller at a shopping center in Danville. The defendant went

to a bank and obtained $1,200 in cash that she gave to the men

to use to purchase firearms and ammunition to kill Julian

Lewis. Antwain D. Bennett, an acquaintance of Shallenberger,

5
used the money to purchase three firearms. Two of the

firearms were shotguns. Additionally, Bennett purchased

ammunition for the weapons.

On that same date, the defendant told Shallenberger and

Fuller the route that Julian Lewis traveled from his place of

employment to his home. The men planned to kill Julian Lewis

and "make the murder . . . look like a robbery." While the

defendant remained at her home, the men were "to follow and

stop Julian Lewis on the highway and kill him." The plan,

however, was unsuccessful.

Consequently, the defendant, Shallenberger, and Fuller

decided to kill Julian Lewis at his home on October 30, 2002.

They also decided to kill his son, Charles Lewis, when he

returned to Virginia to attend his father's funeral and share

the proceeds from Charles Lewis' policy of life insurance.

However, when the conspirators learned that Charles Lewis

would be with his father at the mobile home on October 30,

2002, they decided to kill him and his father simultaneously.

During the early morning of October 30, 2002,

Shallenberger and Fuller drove a vehicle past the Lewis' home

about three times. The men did not stop their vehicle because

they observed that lights were on in the home. Eventually,

Shallenberger and Fuller entered the residence through a rear

door that the defendant had unlocked. Each man carried one of

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the shotguns that had been purchased with the $1,200 cash the

defendant had given them. Shallenberger and Fuller awakened

the defendant, who was in bed with her husband. Shallenberger

told the defendant, "Teresa, get up." The defendant got out

of her bed and walked into the kitchen, and she heard

gunshots. Shallenberger shot Julian Lewis several times. The

defendant went to the bedroom where her husband lay bleeding,

retrieved Julian Lewis' pants and wallet, and returned to the

kitchen with Shallenberger.

Fuller entered a room that was occupied by Charles Lewis.

Fuller shot Charles Lewis three times. Then Fuller went to

the kitchen where he observed the defendant and Shallenberger

"pulling money from a wallet." Fuller told the defendant and

Shallenberger that Charles Lewis "wouldn't die." Fuller got

Shallenberger's shotgun and returned to the bedroom occupied

by Charles Lewis where Fuller shot him two more times. The

men retrieved most of the shotgun shells, and they divided

$300 in cash that had been taken from Julian Lewis' wallet.

After shooting the victims, Shallenberger told the

defendant that he was sorry she "had to go through something

like this; hugged her and kissed her; and the men left." The

defendant waited about 45 minutes after the "last shot was

fired," and she made a telephone call to her former mother-in-

7
law, Marie Bean. Next, she made a telephone call to her best

friend, Debbie Yeatts.

On Wednesday morning, October 30, 2002, approximately

3:55 a.m., the defendant placed a telephone call to emergency

response personnel in Pittsylvania County. She reported that

an intruder had entered her home and shot her husband and his

adult son. She stated that both men were dead. She said that

she had been in the bed with her husband when an intruder

armed with a pistol entered her bedroom and said, "Get up."

Her husband told her to go into the bathroom, and her husband

asked the intruder, "What's going on?" The defendant said

that her husband was shot four or five times while she was in

the bathroom. She reported that the shooting had occurred at

3:15 or 3:30 a.m.

Sheriff deputies Harris Silverman and Corey Webb arrived

at the murder scene at approximately 4:18 a.m., 23 minutes

after the defendant made the telephone call to the emergency

response personnel. The deputies met the defendant at the

front door of her home, and she stated that her husband's body

was on the floor in one bedroom and that her stepson's body

was in another bedroom. When Deputy Webb entered the master

bedroom, he learned that Julian Lewis was alive. Julian Lewis

"made slow moans" and uttered, "[B]aby, baby, baby, baby."

Deputy Webb asked the victim his name, and he responded,

8
"Julian." Deputy Webb asked Julian Lewis if he knew who had

shot him, and the victim responded, "My wife knows who done

this to me."

While the deputies tried to assist the victims, Deputy

Webb observed the defendant conversing on the telephone, and

he heard her state, "I told C.J. [Charles Lewis] about leaving

that back door unlocked." Julian Lewis died in his residence.

When Deputy Webb informed the defendant that her husband and

stepson were dead, she did not appear upset.

Investigator J.T. Barrett of the Pittsylvania County

Sheriff's Office arrived at the murder scene approximately

7:00 a.m. on October 30, 2002. Barrett interviewed the

defendant twice. Investigator Keith N. Isom also interviewed

the defendant. During one of the interviews, the defendant

claimed that her husband had physically assaulted her a few

days before his death, and she denied knowledge of her

husband's killer. She said that she would not kill her

husband or have him killed.

Investigator Barrett asked the defendant what she and her

husband did before they went to bed on the night of the

murders. She said that she talked with her husband, and that

they prayed together. She told her husband that she was going

to pack his lunch, and he went to sleep. She prepared a lunch

and placed it in the refrigerator. She wrote a note on the

9
lunch bag that stated, "I love you. I hope you have a good

day." A picture of a "smiley face" was drawn on the bag and

inscribed in the "smiley face" was the message, "I miss you

when you're gone."

Mike Campbell, Lewis' supervisor, testified that Julian

Lewis did not use bags to bring his lunch to work. Rather,

Julian Lewis took his lunch to work in a blue and white

cooler.

Investigator Isom interviewed the defendant again on

November 7, 2002. During this interview, the defendant

admitted that she had offered Matthew Shallenberger money if

he would kill her husband. After the interview, the defendant

again spoke with Investigator Isom. The defendant told Isom

that she had met her husband's killer at a retail store and

that he was from New York. The defendant stated that she had

"let him in" her mobile home, and he shot both Julian Lewis

and Charles Lewis, took some money, and left. She told the

investigator that she had agreed to give Shallenberger half of

the insurance proceeds that she expected to receive, but she

changed her mind and decided to keep all the money. She

informed the investigator of Shallenberger's address, and Isom

and the defendant went to Shallenberger's residence where she

identified him.

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 On November 8, 2002, the defendant, who was in the

Danville City Jail, requested to speak with Investigator Isom.

He interviewed her at the jail, and she told Isom that Rodney

Fuller was also involved in the murders of her husband and

stepson. The defendant also stated that her daughter had

assisted with the murders. The defendant "acknowledged that

after the shooting and after the men left the house [on the

night of the murders], she had waited about thirty minutes to

call 911."

On the day of the murders, the defendant made a telephone

call to Campbell and told him that her husband had been

killed, and that she wanted his paycheck. Campbell informed

the defendant that she could not retrieve the paycheck before

4:00 p.m. on that day. The next day, October 31, 2002, the

defendant again called Campbell and asked for Julian Lewis'

paycheck. Campbell responded that he could not give the

paycheck to her.

Lieutenant Michael Booker, Charles Lewis' commanding

officer, called the defendant to express his condolences early

on the afternoon of October 30, 2002, the day of the murders.

The defendant told him, "I'm still in shock. The police had

me in Chatham today, all in my face. There is no way I would

have killed my husband and stepson. They guessed that because

I didn't get shot that I might have done it. My husband told

11
me to go into the bathroom, so I did." The defendant informed

Booker that she was the secondary beneficiary on the life

insurance policy of Charles Lewis, and that she wanted the

insurance proceeds.

On November 4, 2002, the defendant called Booker by

telephone and left a message for him because he was not

available. When Booker spoke to her later that day, the

defendant asked him about Charles Lewis' personal effects.

Booker advised the defendant that she could not have them

because she was not the beneficiary of Lewis' estate. The

defendant asked Booker whether she was still entitled to the

life insurance proceeds in the amount of $250,000. Booker

told the defendant that she was, and she responded, "[W]ell,

Kathy [Charles Lewis' sister] can have all his stuff as long

as I get the money."

Before the murders, the defendant told a woman, Debbie

Anderson, that the defendant was just "using Julian for money

and that he would buy her things." Bobby Demont, who had

known Julian Lewis and the defendant for several years, heard

the defendant say "a couple months before the murders" that if

Julian died, "she would get the money, and if [Charles Lewis]

was killed and Julian was dead, she would get that money,

too."

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 The defendant told Kathy L. Clifton, Julian Lewis'

daughter, that the defendant waited 45 minutes after the

murders and then called her ex-mother-in-law, Marie Bean, and

her best friend, Debbie Yeatts, before she "called 911 for

help." On the day of the victims' funerals, the defendant

told Kathy Clifton that the defendant had purchased a

beautiful suit to wear to the funeral. The defendant asked

Clifton, "[Y]ou don't think I had anything to do with this, do

you?" The defendant also offered to sell the mobile home and

land to Clifton. After the murders, but before the funeral,

the defendant made a number of statements in Clifton's

presence to the effect that the defendant had ample money to

pay for the funerals and that she would benefit financially

because of the deaths of Julian Lewis and Charles Lewis.

After the murders, the defendant tried to withdraw

$50,000 from Julian Lewis' account with Prudential Securities.

The defendant appeared at a bank and presented a check,

purportedly signed by Julian Lewis and made payable to her in

the amount of $50,000. A bank employee refused to negotiate

the check because the signature on the check did not match

Julian Lewis' signature in the bank's records.

The deputy sheriffs searched a mobile home where Matthew

Shallenberger and Rodney Fuller resided. Two shotguns were

recovered from the residence and delivered to a forensic

13
science laboratory for analysis. The shotgun shells recovered

from the room where Julian Lewis was murdered were fired by

one of the shotguns recovered from the mobile home where

Shallenberger and Fuller lived. The deputies also found two

pairs of rubber household gloves in a closet in

Shallenberger's bedroom. Primer residue caused by the

discharge of a firearm bullet or shell was present on the

gloves.

Assistant Chief Medical Examiner Susan E. Venuti

performed autopsies on the bodies of Julian Lewis and Charles

Lewis. She determined that each man died as a direct result

of multiple shotgun wounds. Julian Lewis suffered shotgun

wounds to the upper left arm, shoulder, abdomen, pelvis,

penis, thighs, legs, arms, and chest. The bullets destroyed

or removed large areas of tissue in his upper arm, shoulder,

and upper chest. The bullets also fractured several ribs.

Plastic wadding from a shotgun shell was lodged in his left

lung tissue. Julian Lewis eventually died from extensive

blood loss.

Charles Lewis received a total of eight wounds from an

undetermined number of discharges of a shotgun. He suffered

wounds to his back, abdomen, chest, neck, left upper arm and

shoulder, elbow, left thigh, face, and forearm.

III.

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 A.

The defendant argues that "because Virginia has never

executed a female who (i) lacks a violent criminal history,

(ii) accepted responsibility for her offenses, (iii) merely

contracted for the murders giving rise to the offenses, and

(iv) observed co-defendants receive life sentences despite

their roles as actual triggermen, the circuit court erred by

sentencing [her] to death in that such sentence[s] [are]

excessive and disproportionate to the penalty imposed in

similar cases, considering both the crime and the defendant."

We disagree with the defendant.

Initially, we observe that we do not and cannot consider

the defendant's gender in determining whether the sentences of

death are excessive and disproportionate when considering both

the crime and the defendant. All criminal statutes in this

Commonwealth must be applied without regard to gender.

Therefore, we decline the defendant's invitation to apply

Virginia's capital murder statutes in a discriminatory fashion

based upon gender.

B.

The defendant argues that her sentences are excessive and

disproportionate when compared to similar cases. She states

that she "did not physically engage in conduct giving rise to

the deaths;" rather, she was convicted of capital murder

15
because she was the employer of the men who committed the

actual murders. Continuing, she contends there is no reported

case in which this Court approved the death penalty for a

"mere hirer" due to the vileness predicate alone.

Code § 17.1-313(C)(2) requires that this Court consider

and determine "[w]hether the sentence[s] of death [are]

excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in

similar cases, considering both the crime and the defendant."

The test of proportionality that we apply is whether "juries

in this jurisdiction generally approve the supreme penalty for

comparable or similar crimes." Wolfe v. Commonwealth, 265 Va.

193, 226, 576 S.E.2d 471, 490, cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 124

S.Ct. 566 (2003) (quoting Hedrick v. Commonwealth, 257 Va.

328, 342, 513 S.E.2d 634, 642, cert. denied, 528 U.S. 952

(1999)); Murphy v. Commonwealth, 246 Va. 136, 145, 431 S.E.2d

48, 54, cert. denied, 510 U.S. 928 (1993).

In conducting this review, this Court considers the

records of all capital murder cases reviewed by this Court,

including cases in which the defendant received a life

sentence. In conducting the proportionality review, it is not

the function of this Court to understand why the trier of fact

imposed the sentence of life instead of the sentence of death.

Rather, "[t]he purpose of our comparative review is to reach a

reasoned judgment regarding what cases justify the imposition

16
of the death penalty. We cannot insure complete symmetry

among all death penalty cases, but our review does enable us

to identify and invalidate a death sentence that is 'excessive

or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases.'"

Orbe v. Commonwealth, 258 Va. 390, 405, 519 S.E.2d 808, 817

(1999), cert. denied, 529 U.S. 1113 (2000). Simply stated,

this Court's proportionality review enables this Court to

identify and invalidate the aberrant sentence of death. And,

we emphasize that in making the determination whether a

sentence of death is aberrant, this Court must consider the

penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the crime

and the defendant.

We have examined the records of all capital murder cases

reviewed by this Court when, as here, the death penalty was

based upon murder for hire. Wolfe, 265 Va. 193, 576 S.E.2d

471; Williams v. Commonwealth, 252 Va. 3, 472 S.E.2d 50, cert.

denied, 519 U.S. 998 (1996); Murphy, 246 Va. 136, 431 S.E.2d

48; Fisher v. Commonwealth, 236 Va. 403, 374 S.E.2d 46 (1988),

cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1028 (1989); Stockton v. Commonwealth,

227 Va. 124, 314 S.E.2d 371, cert. denied, 469 U.S. 873

(1984); Clark v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. 201, 257 S.E.2d 784

(1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1049 (1980). Even though the

facts in all capital murder cases differ, we are confident

that given the special heinousness associated with the murder

17
for hire in this particular case, emphasizing that the

defendant was the mastermind of the plan to kill her husband

and stepson solely for greed and monetary gain, the sentences

of death are neither excessive nor disproportionate to

sentences generally imposed by other sentencing bodies in this

Commonwealth for crimes of a similar nature considering the

crime and the defendant.

The defendant also argues that her punishment is

excessive or disproportionate because her accomplices,

Shallenberger and Fuller, did not receive a sentence of death.

However, as we have repeatedly stated, "[u]pon our prior

determinations of excessiveness and disproportionality, we

have rejected efforts by defendants to compare their sentences

with those received by confederates." Murphy, 246 Va. at 145,

431 S.E.2d at 53; Thomas v. Commonwealth, 244 Va. 1, 26, 419

S.E.2d 606, 620, cert. denied, 506 U.S. 958 (1992); King v.

Commonwealth, 243 Va. 353, 371, 416 S.E.2d 669, 679, cert.

denied, 506 U.S. 957 (1992); Evans v. Commonwealth, 222 Va.

766, 780, 284 S.E.2d 816, 823 (1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S.

1038 (1982), aff'd on remand, 228 Va. 468, 323 S.E.2d 114

(1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1025 (1985). Accordingly, we

reject the defendant's effort to make a similar comparison

here.

C.

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 The defendant argues that the circuit court "erroneously

imputed the vileness of [the] co-defendants to [her] to

determine if [her] conduct satisfied the aggravated battery

sub-element [sic] to the vileness predicate." Continuing, the

defendant also argues that the circuit court erred by

concluding that her acts reflected a depravity of mind.

Code § 19.2-264.2 states:

"In assessing the penalty of any person
convicted of an offense for which the death penalty
may be imposed, a sentence of death shall not be
imposed unless the court or jury shall (1) after
consideration of the past criminal record of
convictions of the defendant, find that there is a
probability that the defendant would commit criminal
acts of violence that would constitute a continuing
serious threat to society or that his conduct in
committing the offense for which he stands charged
was outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or
inhuman in that it involved torture, depravity of
mind or an aggravated battery to the victim; and (2)
recommend that the penalty of death be imposed."

We have stated that "depravity of mind" as used in Code

§ 19.2-264.2, is "a degree of moral turpitude and psychical

debasement surpassing that inherent in the definition of

ordinary legal malice and premeditation." Stewart v.

Commonwealth, 245 Va. 222, 245, 427 S.E.2d 394, 409, cert.

denied, 510 U.S. 848 (1993); Thomas, 244 Va. at 25, 419 S.E.2d

at 619-20. We observed in Beck v. Commonwealth, 253 Va. 373,

387, 484 S.E.2d 898, 907, cert. denied, 522 U.S. 1018 (1997)

that

19
 "[a] finding of 'vileness' must be based on
conduct which is 'outrageously or wantonly vile,
horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture,
depravity of mind or an aggravated battery to the
victim.' Code § 19.2-264.2. Proof of any one of
these three components will support a finding of
vileness. Id.; Mueller v. Commonwealth, 244 Va.
386, 411, 422 S.E.2d 380, 395 (1992), cert. denied,
507 U.S. 1043 . . . (1993)."

Additionally, in Hedrick v. Commonwealth, 257 Va. at 339-

40, 513 S.E.2d at 640, we stated that

"a mere inspection of the statutory language in
[Code § 19.2-264.2] demonstrates clearly that the
term 'vileness' includes three separate and distinct
factors, with the proof of any one factor being
sufficient to support a finding of vileness and
hence a sentence of death. Bunch v. Commonwealth,
225 Va. 423, 442, 304 S.E.2d 271, 282 [1983]. . . .
We have also stated that 'Code §§ 19.2-264.2 and -
264.4(C) define vileness as conduct that involves
torture, depravity of mind, or aggravated battery to
the victim; the use of the disjunctive word 'or,'
rather than the conjunctive 'and,' signifies the
availability of alternative choices.' "

Applying these principles, we need not, and do not,

decide whether the circuit court erred in imputing the

aggravated battery committed by Fuller and Shallenberger to

the defendant. The circuit court held that the defendant's

acts were vile because they demonstrated depravity of mind

and, without question, the evidence of record is overwhelming

that the defendant's conduct showed a depravity of mind.

As we have already stated in Part II of this opinion, the

defendant was the mastermind of these gruesome crimes, which

would not have occurred but for her actions. The evidence

20
shows that she married her husband because she was interested

in his money. She planned to kill him and her stepson so that

she could acquire her husband's assets and proceeds from her

stepson's life insurance policy. She made a prior

unsuccessful attempt along with Shallenberger and Fuller to

kill her husband, and, when that plan failed, she initiated

another plan which resulted in the deaths of her husband and

her stepson while they lay asleep in their home. She involved

her 16-year-old daughter in the plan to kill the victims, and

she encouraged her daughter to have sexual relations with one

of the murderers. The defendant also paid for the shotguns

and ammunition used to kill her husband and stepson.

After Shallenberger and Fuller had shot the victims

several times with shotguns, the defendant went to her

husband's bedroom and took his pants and wallet. She removed

cash from her husband's wallet and gave it to the murderers

while her husband lay bleeding to death from the wounds that

he had suffered. Even then, however, the defendant waited at

least 45 minutes, while her husband was still alive suffering

and bleeding from the bullet wounds, before she reported the

crimes by calling emergency response technicians by telephone.

Once the deputy sheriffs arrived at the residence, at least

one hour after her husband and stepson had been shot,

defendant's husband remained alive, suffering and bleeding to

21
death. After her husband's death, the defendant showed no

emotion or remorse, and she initially denied any involvement

in this murder. Moreover, on the night of the murders, prior

to the killings, the defendant prayed with her husband and

arranged for her daughter to speak to her husband so that he

would not think that something was awry.

Additionally, we observe that the defendant was the wife

of one victim and the stepmother of the other victim. As we

have already stated, but for the conduct of this defendant,

who was the mastermind of these heinous acts, the killings

would not have occurred. We hold that the evidence

sufficiently establishes the defendant's depravity of mind

that supports a finding of vileness.

D.

The defendant also claims that the circuit court

erroneously sentenced her to death in that "such decision was

imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice and other

arbitrary factors." Continuing, the defendant states that her

cohorts, "despite being actual triggermen, did not receive

death sentences." Defendant maintains "her sentences of death

were influenced by passion, prejudice or other arbitrary

factors because (i) evidence indicated that her two co-

defendants were more directly culpable in the slayings, (ii)

the same Judge sentenced all three defendants, and (iii)

22
vileness was the only predicate relevant to the death sentence

inquiry (and vileness of the crime, of course, applies to all

defendants here in that it is the same crime)." We disagree.

We have reviewed the evidence of record, and we find no

evidence that would permit us to conclude that the sentences

of death were imposed under the influence of passion,

prejudice, and other arbitrary factors.

E.

We do not consider defendant's assertions that the

circuit court erroneously denied her motion to declare

Virginia's death penalty statute unconstitutional. The

defendant's sole argument on brief is "[t]he Virginia death

penalty statute is unconstitutional for reasons contained in

Teresa's Memoranda contained in the Appendix." The

defendant's constitutional arguments were waived by the entry

of her guilty pleas. Murphy, 246 Va. at 141, 431 S.E.2d at

51; Savino v. Commonwealth, 239 Va. 534, 539, 391 S.E.2d 276,

278, cert. denied, 498 U.S. 882 (1990); Stout v. Commonwealth,

237 Va. 126, 131-32, 376 S.E.2d 288, 291, cert. denied, 492

U.S. 925 (1989).

The defendant argues that the circuit court "erroneously

sentenced [her] to death because indictments for which death

was imposed omitted essential aggravating elements." We do

not consider defendant's assertion. Defendant failed to

23
assert this argument in the circuit court and, therefore, she

may not assert the argument on appeal. Rule 5:25.

IV.

We have considered all the defendant's remaining

arguments, and they are without merit. Having reviewed the

sentences of death, finding no reversible error in the record,

and perceiving no reason to commute the death sentences, we

will affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

Affirmed.

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