JARRATT, Virginia - Behind a blue curtain, the electric chair patiently waits its turn to take a life, but on this night in a chamber of a Virginia prison, murder convict Jerry Jackson dies by the needle.
"Fifteen days prior to execution, the inmate is asked which execution method he chooses," explains David Bass at the Greensville Correctional Center. "He may choose between the electric chair and the lethal injection." For the most part, Bass says, "they prefer the injection."
The man in the dark suit and speaking in a soft southern twang is all too aware that most of America's death row inmates pick the poison over the pulse of electrocution.
Take your pick: Electric chair or injection?
