Mark Warner, governor of Virginia and a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a convicted murderer who would have been the 1,000th person executed in the US since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.

Mr Warner, who had denied 11 previous pleas for clemency, said Robin Lovitt, sentenced to death in 1999 for the murder of a pool hall manager, would face life in prison without parole.