The state has executed 98 prisoners since 1978, second only to Texas's 379. Virginia executed four people in 2006, and currently has approximately 20 people sitting on death row.

Additionally, Virginia legislators have introduced two bills that broaden the reach of the death penalty. Under the first, Senate Bill 1116, the premeditated killing of a judge or a subpoenaed witness would qualify as a capital crime.

The second, SB 1288, would allow accomplices - not just the killer - to be tried for capital crimes, thus eliminating the "triggerman rule."

Death sentences in the U.S. have decreased from 317 in 1996 to about 114 in 2006, according to a recent study by the Death Penalty Information Center.

"Enthusiasm [for the death penalty] has waned," he said. "Prosecutors feel less pressured to seek the death penalty."

The high profile exonerations within the past years clearly played a role, according to Bruck.

Bruck, a seasoned defense attorney and a law professor at W&L, also attributed the drop in death sentences to a falling crime rate, the availability of life without possibility of parole sentences, and even the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"Suicide bombs can't be deterred by the death penalty," he said. "The paradigm became irrelevant."

Buena Vista Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Russell suggested more recent events might also have an effect on the decline in death sentences.

"It's interesting, with the executions [of Saddam Hussein and others] in Iraq recently and the international criticism as to how those were handled," he said.

A 2006 Gallup poll found that when given a choice between life without parole as an alternative sentencing option and a death sentence, Americans were almost equally divided: 48 percent chose life without parole while 47 percent opted for the death penalty.

Additionally, the death penalty is no longer the hot-button campaign issue it once was.

According to Bruck, the death penalty as a campaign issue was the "dog that didn't bark" in recent elections.

"Republicans didn't say one word in 2006 about it," he said. He also noted the absence of the issue in the 2004 presidential election between George W. Bush and John Kerry.

In fact, the recent Virginia gubernatorial election saw Democrat Tim Kaine defeat Republican Jerry Kilgore, despite Kilgore's campaign efforts implying that Kaine would free death row prisoners.

According to Russell, "[Kilgore's attack] was not true and definitely overkill."

Bruck seemed to agree.

"It was the last stand of the conservative politicians who could ride the death penalty into office," Bruck said.

Russell also commented on the issue's effect on politics.

"It will be interesting to see if there's a discussion at all in 2008," Russell said. "[But] I don't know if anyone could win the presidential nomination by saying they're opposed [to the death penalty]."