"Weigh all aspects of execution case," is the title of an editorial in the Sunday edition of the Delaware News Journal.
By all accounts Mr. Gattis is no longer the wild man who in a fit of jealousy shot his girlfriend to death. But many men change when they are under a death sentence.
But two other aspects of his sentence are noteworthy. The first is that his conviction and sentencing in 1992 came after a controversy that changed Delaware law. In an unrelated case, the killers of a Brooks Armored Car driver escaped death sentences because their jury was not unanimous on the death penalty. At the time that ruled out the death sentence. Mr. Gattis' jury also was not unanimous on the death sentence. But the previous case so outraged the state that the law had been changed. Judges were given power to impose the death penalty despite the lack of an unanimous jury recommendation for execution.
The second consideration is that the jury did not hear the history of extensive sexual and physical abuse Mr. Gattis suffered throughout his childhood. Experts examining him today doubt he was completely sane when he killed Ms. Slay. In addition, there is a good chance that if he were tried today, it would not be considered a capital case because of that history.
It is our hope that the board consider all aspects of this case before making its recommendation.
In the Saturday News Journal, Bishop Aretha E. Morton wrote, "Gattis' abusive childhood should be considered."
On behalf of people of faith throughout Delaware, I urge the state to spare the life of Robert Gattis ("Judge rejects delay of execution for murderer," Thurs.) Mr. Gattis endured extreme abuse every day of his young life beginning when he was a small child and throughout adolescence. The extent of his horrific upbringing was not known to the judge or jury when he was sentenced to death. In his years on death row, Mr. Gattis has consistently expressed overwhelming remorse for the senseless crime and has worked hard to redeem himself.
Executing Mr. Gattis will simply continue the corrosive cycle of violence that has already harmed so many.
Society will not be strengthened by the senseless loss of another life. Gov. Jack Markell and the Pardons Board can help heal our communities by granting clemency in this case and advocating for the improvement of life, rather than its destruction.
That is why as bishop of Tabernacle Full Gospel Baptist Church, I am one of dozens of religious leaders in Delaware who are humbly appealing to Gov. Markell and the Pardons Board for clemency.
"DELAWARE: Pardons board weighs killer's commutation request today," is the latest AP news report, via Delmarva Now.
The Delaware Board of Pardons is set to hear a request today for clemency from a killer facing a Jan. 20 execution date.
And:
Lawyers for Gattis now are hoping to get his sentence commuted, arguing that the courts have never properly considered the physical and sexual abuse he suffered as a child as factors weighing against the death penalty.
Following a hearing today, the pardons board will vote to recommend whether Gov. Jack Markell should commute Gattis' death sentence to life in prison. Under state law, Markell cannot commute Gattis' sentence without a positive recommendation from a majority of the five-member board.
Today's Guardian carries, "Delaware to hear final mercy appeal for death row inmate abused as child,"
by Ed Pilkington reporting from New York.
The Delaware board of pardons will meet on Monday to consider whether to grant clemency to a death row prisoner suffering from severe mental illness caused by prolonged and savage abuse when he was a child.
The board of five elected and nominated members, chaired by the lieutenant governor, can recommend that Robert Gattis should have his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment without parole. But if they chose not to grant clemency, the prisoner will go to his death by lethal injection on January 20.
Gattis, 49, was given the death sentence in 1992 for murdering his girlfriend Shirley Slay in a fit of violent jealousy. What the jury and the trial judge was not told at the time was that from the age of five he suffered sustained and brutal abuse, both physical and sexual.
And:
Gattis has never made any attempt to deny his guilt for the murder, and over 21 years on death row has shown a degree of remorse that prison guards have described as exceptional. Four correctional officers at the James T Vaughn Correctional Center that houses Delaware's death row have taken the highly unusual step of supporting the clemency petition, observing that over the years he has had a positive influence on other inmates.
Gattis has said of himself: "I try to live my life in such a way that if my sons, nieces or nephews run into someone who knows me from prison, that former inmate can tell them, I knew Robert Gattis in prison, and he's a good person."
The appeal for clemency has received an outpouring of support from prominent public figures. Twenty-five of Delaware's former judges and prosecutors have written to the board of pardons and the governor of the state, Jack Markell, to urge mercy.
Earlier coverage of Robert Gattis' case begins at the link.
More on the case, including the clemency petition and a petition for supporters to sign, is at the Robert Gattis Clemency website. Related posts are in the clemency index.
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