"Advocates plead for clemency from Corbett in looming execution of Terrance Williams," is Joseph A. Slobodzian's updated report for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
With less than a month before condemned murderer Terrance Williams is scheduled to die by lethal injection, his advocates on Thursday chose an option not used in a half-century: a plea for clemency from the governor.
Lawyers for Williams, 46, formerly of Philadelphia, filed the petition asking Gov. Corbett and the state Board of Pardons to stop Williams' Oct. 3 execution and commute his sentence to life in prison without parole.
A broad-based group of lawyers and former judges, child advocates, and religious figures - including the widow of the man Williams killed in 1984 - urged that his life be spared for a crime committed three months after he turned 18, the minimum age for someone to be sentenced to death in the United States.
Moreover, the petition says, five members of the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury that condemned Williams for the murder of Amos Norwood have said they would have opted for life in prison had they heard mitigating evidence about Williams' horrific childhood of sexual abuse by a neighbor, a teacher, and Norwood himself.
"The evidence of abuse in this case is clear," reads a letter of support signed by 26 child advocates and experts in sexual abuse. "There can be no doubt that Terry was repeatedly and violently abused and exploited as a child and teenager by manipulative older men.
"Terry's acts of violence have, alas, an explanation of the worst sort: enveloped by anger and self-hatred, Terry lashed out and killed two of the men who sexually abused him and caused him so much pain."
The five-member Board of Pardons, chaired by Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, set a public hearing for Sept. 17 in Harrisburg.
Under state law, the board must be unanimous if it recommends that the governor spare Williams' life. The recommendation is not binding on Corbett, who set the process in motion Aug. 9 by signing Williams' death warrant.
Williams' lawyer Shawn Nolan, assistant chief of the death-penalty unit at the Federal Defender's Office in Philadelphia, said he also had sought an emergency stay of execution in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court that will be heard Monday by Judge M. Teresa Sarmina.
"Victim's widow asks Pa. not to execute teen killer," is the AP report by Maryclaire Dale. It's via the Pocono Record.
The widow of a man killed by a teenager in 1984 wants Pennsylvania authorities to spare the killer a scheduled Oct. 3 execution.Terrance Williams is on death row for fatally beating Amos Norwood with a tire iron in Philadelphia when Williams was 18. Defense lawyers say the 56-year-old Norwood had been sexually abusing Williams for five years after meeting him through church.
Mamie Norwood has come to forgive Williams after years of anger and resentment, according to an affidavit filed Thursday as part of Williams' clemency petition. The execution would also violate her religious beliefs, she said.
"The time around Amos' murder was unbearable for me," Norwood, 75, said in the affidavit signed in January. "But then several years ago I accepted that my husband's death at the hands of Terry Williams could not be changed. Amos was not coming back. I knew I had to find a way to heal."
"I do not wish to see Terry Williams executed," she wrote. "He is worthy of forgiveness and I am at peace with my decision to forgive him."
Her affidavit does not address Williams' abuse claims. Defense lawyers said Norwood is not giving media interviews, and she does not have a listed phone number.
"Widow asks Pennsylvania governor not to execute husband's killer," by Sevil Omer for NBC News.
A Pennsylvania widow says she has forgiven the man who killed her husband decades ago and is urging the governor of Pennsylvania to spare the condemned murderer scheduled for execution Oct. 3.
Terrance "Terry" Williams is on death row at the State Correctional Institute at Greene, south of Pittsburgh, for killing Amos Norwood, 56, with a tire iron in Philadelphia in 1984.
Defense lawyer Victor J. Abreu said Williams' crimes were mitigated by a childhood of sexual abuse that later included attacks by Norwood, who abused Williams for years. Williams was 18 at the time of the murder. Williams, now 46, is also serving a life term for killing another alleged abuser, Herbert Hamilton, 50, when he was 17.
"Lawyers Seek Clemency For Philadelphia Man Set To Be Executed Next Month," by Tony Romeo for KYW-TV.
There’s no comment yet from the Pennsylvania governor’s office on a petition for clemency on behalf of Terrance Williams, who is scheduled to be executed in October.Last month, Governor Corbett signed the death warrant for Williams, who has already had several appeals denied, making his scheduled execution on October 3 more likely.
Now, attorneys for Williams have asked the governor and the Board of Pardons for clemency, saying Williams suffered years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of two men he killed while in his teens.
The attorneys say among those supporting the appeal for clemency are 22 former prosecutors and judges and several dozen faith leaders, including Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic archbishop.
Also supporting clemency is the widow of Amos Norwood, whose murder resulted in the death sentence for Williams.
"Widow of murder victim seeks mercy for killer from Pa. governor," by Emma Jacobs for WHYY-FM NewsWorks.
The wife of a murder victim has asked Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett to stop the execution of his killer, a victim of sexual abuse who killed two of his abusers in the 1980s. She submitted a statement supporting a clemency petition that asks for his sentence to be reduced to life without parole.
Lawyers for Terrance Williams says he was abused by five people, before killing two of them when he was in his late teens.
According to Williams' lawyer, Shawn Nolan, the public defender at Williams' original trial did not present information about the sexual abuse in court.
Appeals were unsuccessful. Williams, now 46, has an execution date of Oct. 3, and Nolan is asking the governor to commute his death sentence to life without parole.
"Pennsylvanians have been horrified to learn that so many children have been harmed by sexual abuse, and Terry was one of those victims," Nolan said.
The widow of victim Amos Norwood, whom Williams fatally beat with a tire iron, submitted a letter in support of his killer.
Advocates for Terry Williams have posted an online petition calling for clemency. You can find out more about the case and read the entire clemency petition filed with Pennsylvania Board of Pardons.
Earlier coverage of Terry William's case begins at the link. Related posts are in the clemency index.
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