An August 2011 execution date has been set for a black inmate convicted of raping and killing an elderly woman in 2001

Twenty-nine-year-old Jerry Terrell Jackson is set to be executed on August 18, 2011 for the rape and murder of Ruth Phillips of Williamsburg, an 88-year-old widow. Jackson was convicted of rape, capital murder and other charges in 2002. He was found to have broken into the home of Phillips on August 26, 2001, through a partially open bathroom window, raping her and smothering her with a pillow. Jackson, then 20, fled in Phillips' 1987 Dodge sedan, taking her diamond wedding ring and other jewelry. DNA from the murder scene matched Jackson, and he confessed to the crime in a videotaped statement. The jury recommended death, with a judge imposing that sentence in 2003. After state appeals went against him, Jackson came within days of execution in 2006 before getting a reprieve in order for an appeal to be heard. A federal judge ordered a new sentencing hearing for Jackson in 2010, but the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals blocked that hearing on a technicality.