Va. executes inmate by electrocution

JARRATT, Va. (AP) - A Virginia man has been executed for killing a teen girl and then bragging about it to prosecutors once he thought he could not face the death penalty.

Thirty-one-year-old Paul Warner Powell was pronounced dead at 9:09 p.m. at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt. He chose to die by electrocution rather than lethal injection.

Powell remained silent when asked if he had any last words.

Powell was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to death for fatally stabbing 16-year-old Stacie Reed of Manassas. He also raped and attempted to kill her 14-year-old sister.

The Virginia Supreme Court overturned that verdict, and Powell wrote a taunting letter to prosecutors detailing the crime. He was convicted again in 2003.