Robert Gleason

Robert Charles Gleason Jr. (April 10, 1970 – January 16, 2013) was an American serial killer who was sentenced to death and executed in Virginia for two separate murders of two of his cellmates. Gleason, who was already serving a life sentence for another murder, was an execution volunteer who vowed to continue killing in prison if he was not put to death. Capital punishment was abolished in Virginia on March 24, 2021, officially making Gleason the last person to be executed in Virginia by electrocution. Crimes and sentencing In 2008, Gleason was sentenced to life in prison for the 2007 murder of Michael Kent Jamerson (March 13, 1953 – May 8, 2007) in Amherst County, Virginia. Gleason murdered Jamerson to cover up his involvement in a drug gang. In 2009, while serving a life sentence at Wallens Ridge State Prison, Gleason had become frustrated with the Department of Corrections because they refused to move out his new, severely mentally ill cellmate, Harvey Gray Watson (September 11, 1945 – May 8, 2009). Watson had been serving a 100-year sentence for a shooting spree on August 11, 1983, which resulted in one death and three injuries. Gleason hog-tied, beat and strangled 63-year-old Watson, on the second anniversary of Jamerson's death. Gleason pleaded guilty. In court and media interviews, Gleason vowed to continue killing if not given a death sentence. Gleason also claimed to have killed other people before his incarceration for Jamerson's murder. He said he was paid to kill some of the alleged victims, while he killed others for angering him. While awaiting sentencing at Red Onion State Prison, a highly secure prison for the state's most dangerous inmates, Gleason strangled 26-year-old Aaron Cooper (September 27, 1983 – July 28, 2010) through wire fencing that separated their individual cages in a prison yard on July 28, 2010. Cooper had been serving a 34-year sentence for robbery. Gleason was subsequently sentenced to death, voluntarily waived his appeals, and received his request. He chose the electric chair over lethal injection.