Frank James Coppola
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Frank Joseph Coppola (February 25, 1944 – August 10, 1982), was a former police officer from Portsmouth, Virginia who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1978 capital murder of Muriel Hatchell. According to reports, a co-conspirator 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 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 punishment in 1976. He was also the first person executed in Virginia since 1962.
Although no media representatives witnessed the execution and no details were ever released by the Virginia Department of Corrections, an attorney who was present later stated that it took two 55-second jolts of electricity to kill Coppola. The second jolt produced the odor and sizzling sound of burning flesh, and Coppola's head and leg caught on fire. Smoke filled the death chamber from floor to ceiling with a smokey haze.
