JARRATT, Va. (AP) - A convicted serial killer who faced the death penalty in two states has become the first inmate to be executed in nearly three years in Virginia.
Alfredo Prieto was pronounced dead at 9:17 p.m. Thursday at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.
Virginia has long been among the most prolific death penalty states, but had not put an inmate to death since January 2013 before this week.
Prieto's execution remained uncertain until hours before it was scheduled to take place as his lawyers made a flurry of last-minute attempts to spare his life.
But attorneys for the state urged the courts to let the death sentence be carried out to help the family members of Prieto's victims find justice.
Prieto was sentenced to death in Virginia in 2010 for the rape and murder of 22-year-old Rachael Raver and the slaying of her boyfriend Warren Fulton III more than two decades earlier.
The El Salvador native had already been on death row in California for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl at the time.
Prieto thanked his lawyers, supporters and family members before mumbling, "Get this over with."
