West Virginia Virginia is the only state where death rates exceeds birth rates. During 2010–2013, about 21,000 babies per year were born in West Virginia, but over 3 years West Virginia had 3,000 more deaths than births. Gallup-Healthways annual "State of American Well-Being" rankings reports that 1,261 concerned West Virginians rated themselves as "suffering" in categories such as Quality of Life, Physical Health, and Access to Basic Needs. Overall, West Virginia citizens rated themselves as being more miserable than people in all other states – for 5 years running. In addition, the Gallup Well-Being Index for 2013 ranked Charleston, the state capital,
Capital punishment in West Virginia George Lecco and Valerie Friend, for the murder of a informant who was supplying federal law enforcement with information about the Leccos cocaine drug ring. Those verdicts and sentences were overturned in 2009 due to juror misconduct, and the retrials ended with life without parole and 35 years for Lecco and Friend respectively. Along with Iowa, West Virginia became the final pre-"Furman" state to abolish capital punishment in 1965. Capital punishment in West Virginia Capital punishment is abolished in the U.S. State of West Virginia since 1965. Prior to secession from the Confederacy and admission to the Union on June