Dec. 19, 2013:  The Washington Times reports, “Once entrenched as second only to Texas in its use of the death penalty, Virginia has dramatically scaled back the number of executions it has performed in recent years — a trend that seems unlikely to change amid a national downturn in the use of capital punishment.”  Full story here.  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/18/virginia-leads-national-trend-in-decline-of-death-/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS   While noting that Virginia had only one execution this year (of an inmate who had asked for a death sentence refused to appeal), and none last year, the Washington Times story may actually  understate the trend away from the death penalty in the state, as Virginia has added only two prisoners to the state’s death row since March, 2008---a period of almost six years.