Frank Coppola
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Frank James Coppola (1944 - August 10, 1982), was a former police officer from Portsmouth who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1978 capital murder of Muriel Hatchell. According to reports, a coconspirator with Coppola disguised as a flower delivery woman to enter her home, the woman pulled out a pistol from amidst the floral display which she was carrying, allowing cover for Coppola and others to rush into the home.
Hatchell was bound with venetian blind cords and then had her head was slammed repeatedly into floor by Coppola until she died. The group fled with $3,100 in cash and some rings from the crime scene. On September 26, 1978, Coppola was convicted of first-degree capital murder and sentenced to death in Virginia's electric chair. He waived his appeals and was executed on August 10, 1982, the first person executed in Virginia since the Supreme Court reinstituted capital punisnment in 1976. He was also the first person executed in Virginia since 1962.
