Virginia executes 100th inmate

A man who killed a store owner by sawing at his neck with a pocket-knife during a 1997 robbery has been executed in Virginia.

Robert Stacy Yarbrough was pronounced dead this morning at Greensville Correctional Centre in Jarratt. The 30-year-old was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of 77-year-old Cyril Hugh Hamby.

The execution is Virginia’s 100th since the high court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. The state ranks second to Texas in the number of executions during the time period. Texas has executed 406 since then.