Editing Douglas Wilder (section)

=== Capital punishment ===
During his term, Wilder carried out Virginia's law on capital punishment, although he had opposed the death penalty when he served in the [[Virginia Senate]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fiske |first1=Warren |title=Some Fear Wilder Plays Politics with Death Penalty |url=https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1991/rt9102/910217/02170103.htm |access-date=July 6, 2024 |work=scholar.lib.vt.edu |agency=[[The Roanoke Times]] |date=February 17, 1991}}</ref> A total of 14 executions were carried out in the state's [[electric chair]], including the controversial case of [[Roger Keith Coleman]]. In January 1994 Wilder commuted the sentence of [[Earl Washington Jr.]], an [[intellectually disabled]] man, to life in prison based on testing of DNA evidence that raised questions about his guilt. Virginia law has strict time limits on when such new evidence can be introduced post-conviction. But in 2000, under a new governor, an STR-based DNA test led to the exclusion of Washington as the perpetrator of the murder for which he had been sentenced. He was fully exonerated by Governor [[Jim Gilmore]] for the capital murder and he was released from prison.

As Virginia limits consecutive gubernatorial terms, Wilder was succeeded in 1994 by [[George Allen (U.S. politician)|George Allen]].