"Board of Pardons votes to spare convicted killer," is Sean O'Sullivan for the Wilmington News Journal.
In an unprecedented 4-1 decision announced Sunday, the Delaware Board of Pardons is recommending that the death sentence for convicted killer Robert A. Gattis be commuted to life in prison.
It will now be up to Gov. Jack Markell to decide if he will accept the board's recommendation to spare Gattis' life or if he will allow the execution of the 49-year-old by lethal injection to go forward as planned early Friday.
The Board of Pardons explained its decision in a press statement, saying that the jury recommendation that Gattis die for the May 1990 murder of Shirley Slay was not unanimous. The vote was 10-2. Board members wrote that they were troubled by the disparity in sentences that have been handed down for essentially the same crime, with some others receiving less than life sentences.
The AP filing is, "Delaware pardons board recommends commutation for killer facing Jan. 20 execution," by Randall Chase. It's via the Republic.
"The governor will consider the board's written decision and carefully review the case," Markell spokeswoman Cathy Rossi said in a prepared statement. Rossi gave no timetable for when Markell will make his decision.
And:
Joe Rogalsky, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, issued a statement saying his agency respects the time and careful deliberation that went into the board's decision, but that it would not be appropriate to comment further until the decision has been reviewed in its entirety and with Slay's family.
"Del. Pardons Board recommends clemency for Robert A. Gattis," is by Jennifer Hayes for the Dover Post.
"Del. board urges life for death row inmate," is the UPI report.
"Delaware Board of Pardons votes 4-1 in favor of condemned killer's clemency request," by Mark Fowser for WHYY-FM Newsworks.
"Delaware pardons board show clemency to death row prisoner," by Ed Pilkington in the Guardian.
Today's Wilmington News Journal carries the lengthy report, "Doubts increase about death penalty," written by Sean O'Sullivan. Here's the beginning:
Robert A. Gattis and Jermaine Marlow Wright were both sentenced to death in October 1992, the year many say Delaware made it easier to put criminals to death.
And by an odd coincidence, both men may be spared owing to decisions, one by a judge and one by a pardons board, made this month.
Legal observers and death penalty critics say the sudden turnabout -- for men who have spent almost 20 years on death row -- reflects an increasing skepticism among both the public and the court system about capital punishment.
Gattis, 49, who was convicted for the May 1990 murder of his girlfriend Shirley Slay, is set to die by lethal injection early Friday. But on Sunday, the Delaware Board of Pardons recommended by a 4-1 vote that Gattis' sentence be commuted to life in prison without possibility of parole. Gov. Jack Markell is now considering whether to accept that recommendation and spare Gattis' life or allow the execution to proceed.
Wright, 39, who was convicted of the January 1991 slaying of liquor store clerk Phillip Seifert, had his conviction and death sentence tossed out on Jan. 3 by Superior Court Judge John A. Parkins Jr., a ruling prosecutors appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court last week.
Since Gattis and Wright were sentenced, the use and popularity of the death penalty have waned.
Earlier coverage of Robert Gattis' case and Jermaine Wright's case begins at the links.
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