Help Save Teresa Lewis!

By: Amy

Dear wonderful colleagues nationwide and especially Virginia-wide,

As we fight for gender rights through writing and learning from one another, I am calling all of us to fight with action. The woman pictured here is Teresa Lewis. She has been wrongfully sentenced to death which will be scheduled at the end of August or early September. Her last appeal has been denied. We are the ones who can save this woman's life by getting the attention of Governor McDonnell. Her LIFE is in his hands.

Teresa has a borderline mental retardation IQ of 72 and a child of two poor parents with from Danville, VA. At the tender age of 16, she was married and had two children. Her life has been filled with traumatic events that have resulted in a fragile, mentally incapable woman. Because of this, she was an easy target for Matthew Shallenberger who manipulated her.

Shallenberger admits that he used Teresa to get what he wanted: money to start a drug business. In his twisted world, he said he had a choice: travel to New York City and take the risk of killing many “hits” that he had “lined up” or dupe Teresa into believing he loved her and then killing her husband and stepson in order to cash in on $350,000 in life insurance money. For Shallenberger, the choice was easy. He committed the crimes and escaped a death sentence, only to kill himself while in prison three years later.

Teresa will be the first woman since 1912 in the state of Virginia to be executed. If we don't act now, she will die in a month.

You can get involved in a number of ways:
1. Write a letter to Governor McDonnell pleading him to step in. To email click here. Send letters to this address:

Office of the Governor
Patrick Henry Building, 3rd Floor
1111 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219

Phone: (804) 786-2211
Fax: (804) 371-6351

2. Write to every local newspaper and new station (MEDIA ATTENTION!). Here are links to Hampton Roads News Stations: You can also contact the Virginian Pilot and Daily Press in the Tidewater area.Wavy TV 10 News Channel 3 Channel 13
3. Go to the website SaveTeresaLewis.org and sign the petition.
4. Join the facebook group Friends of Teresa Lewis
5. Pass the word to as many Virginians as you can! McDonnell wants to hear from his VOTERS so refer to yourself as such! Example,"As a Virginia voter, I will remember your lack of action for this case when I'm in the voting booth."

In feminist solidarity, we MUST ACT NOW. TODAY.

- Amy