those in the audience to turn their video cameras on so that you can see them. If you can see your audience, even virtually, it will make a huge difference to you as the speaker because you can see who is validating you, who is engaged, and who is following your presentation. Even through the internet, you can make a connection. Conclusion When you’ve mastered the topic, and you’ve practiced so that you know the material, you should be ready to speak from the heart. Yet, as with any athlete or artist, peak performance does not come when you are thinking about it or when you are trying to exercise control. But if you use structured improvisation to deliver your message, you can speak with spontaneity and your mind can become focused, quiet and still. Your mind can indeed become one with your body, enabling you to utter your words effortlessly, your automatic functions working without interference from your thoughts. R Death Penalty continued from page 37 32 World Coal., Death Penalty and Poverty Detailed Factsheet, 15th World Day Against the Death Penalty (Oct. 10, 2017) http:// www.worldcoalition.org/media/resource-center/EN_WD2017_FactSheet. Amnesty Int’l, Death Penalty Facts, (May 2012) https://www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/ DeathPenaltyFactsMay2012.pdf. Death Penalty, Equal Just. Initiative, supra note 24. Scott Phillips, Legal Disparities in the Cap-ital of Capital Punishment, 99 J. Crim. L. & Criminology, 717, 720 (2009). Id . at 751. Id . Id . Death Penalty, Equal Just. Initiative, supra note 24. Bryan Stevenson, Close to Death: Reflec-tions on Race and Capital Punishment in America in Debating the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment? 76, 95 (Hugo Bedau & Paul Cassell eds., 2004). Scott Phillips, Status Disparities in the Cap-ital of Capital Punishment, 43 L. & Soc’y Rev. 807, 809 (2009). Id . Id . at 826. Id .; Peggy O’Hare, Study Figures Odds of a Killer Getting Death, Hous. Chron. (Mar. 4, 2010), https://www.chron.com/news/ 45 33 34 35 46 47 48 49 50 36 37 38 39 40 51 52 53 41 54 42 43 44 55 houston-texas/article/Study-figures-odds-of-a-killer-getting-death-1709939.php. Several States Consider Repealing or Reforming Death Penalty Laws. Project Press (A.B.A. Death Penalty Representa-tion Project, Wash. D.C.), Mar. 11, 2020, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/ committees/death_penalty_representation/ project_press/2020/spring/state-repeal-ef-forts-2020/. 2020-S.B. 449 Fiscal Impact Report Va. Legis. Bill Hist. (LexisNexis). S.B. 449, 2020 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Va. 2020). Id . Id . Press Release, Justice Forward Virginia and Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Current and Former Virginia Prosecutors Announce Support for Death Penalty Repeal (Feb. 3, 2020), https://files. deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/Virginia-ProsecutorLetter2020PR.pdf. Id . Leslie, supra note 31. Several States Consider Repealing or Reforming Death Penalty Laws, supra note 45. H.B. 85, 2020 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Va. 2020), https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/ legp604.exe?ses=201&typ=bil&val=hb85. Ned Oliver, How Much Does Not Killing Two People Cost? Virginia Puts $72K Price Tag on Halting Executions, Va. Mercury, Feb. 6, 2020, https://www.virginiamercury. 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 com/blog-va/how-much-does-not-killing-two-people-cost-virginia-put-72k-price-tag-on-halting-executions/. Virginia House Bill 85 (Adjourned Sine Die), Legiscan, https://legiscan.com/VA/ bill/HB85/2020 (last visited Jun. 26, 2020). S.B. 802, 2020 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Va. 2020), https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/ legp604.exe?ses=201&typ=bil&val=sb802. Id . Id . Id . Act of Apr. 11, 2020, ch. 1166 (S.B. 270), 2020 Va. Legis. Serv. 1166 (West) (to be codified as amended at Va. Code Ann. §§ 53.1–234, 54.1–3307). Id . Id . S.B. 270, 2020 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Va. 2020), https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/ legp604.exe?ses=201&typ=bil&val=s-b270&submit=GO. Id . Stay connected with the Virginia State Bar! @Vastatebar /virginiastatebar Virginia State Bar @virginiastatebar www.vsb.org VOL. 69 | OCTOBER 2020 | VIRGINIA LAWYER 53