Terry Williams' Case Coverage

Today's New York Times reports, "Pennsylvania Justices Block an Execution," by Jon Hurdle.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday halted the execution of Terrance Williams, a convicted murderer who had been scheduled to die by lethal injection only a few hours later.

The ruling upheld a stay of execution granted last week by Judge M. Teresa Sarmina of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on the ground that prosecutors had withheld evidence at Mr. Williams’s 1986 trial that could have led to a lesser penalty.

In a brief statement, the state’s highest court denied an emergency application by the Philadelphia district attorney, R. Seth Williams, to overturn Judge Sarmina’s ruling, which also granted a new sentencing hearing. The defendant remains under sentence of death unless or until the State Supreme Court upholds the ruling for resentencing and a new jury commutes the sentence to life without parole.

The court gave no reason for its decision, which followed defense arguments that the murder victim had sexually abused Mr. Williams for most of his adolescence and that prosecutors had withheld that evidence from the jury.

Mr. Williams had been scheduled to be put to death at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The execution would have been the first in Pennsylvania in 13 years, and the first in the state since 1962 for an inmate who did not choose to die because he had lost all appeals.

"Terrance Williams misses his date with executioner," by Joseph A. Slobodzian in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In an unsigned one-sentence order, the state's high court decided to take more time - possibly months - to review Friday's ruling by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina. Sarmina ruled that the integrity of Williams' 1986 death sentence had been undermined by new evidence that the trial prosecutor withheld information that Williams was sexually molested by his victim.

Williams attorney Shawn Nolan thanked more than 380,000 people who signed an Internet clemency petition.

"The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has wisely decided to consider all of the evidence before making a final decision, and we look forward to presenting our case in the coming months," Nolan said.

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said in a statement that he continues to believe that Terrance Williams is one of the few who deserves the death penalty and that "his new claims are not true."

"The case will now proceed as a normal appeal to the Supreme Court," Williams said. "This is not the first time the prosecution has appealed a capital case, and it probably won't be the last."

The AP filing is, "Pa. court spares inmate from execution," by Maryclaire Dale, via the Allentown Morning Call.

Terrance "Terry" Williams spent a day on death row waiting for a call that never came.

Williams feared he'd be shipped across the state to be executed on Wednesday, the first person sent to the death chamber in Pennsylvania since 1999. But the call never came. Instead, his defense lawyers phoned him that afternoon to say the state Supreme Court had in effect halted the execution.

A state judge last week granted a stay of execution, and the court said it wouldn't overturn her decision before Williams' death warrant expired at midnight. The court plans to review Williams' case over time.

Additional coverage includes:

"Terrance 'Terry' Williams will not be executed today," by Donald Gilliland for the Harrisburg Patriot-News.

"Pennsylvania high court upholds stay of execution for Terrance Williams," by David Ariosto at CNN.

"Pennsylvania Supreme Court stays Terrance Williams' execution," by Karen Langley in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"Williams spared from execution," by Mary Wilson at WHYY-FM NewsWorks.

"Pa. Supreme Court Spares Man From Execution," by Jim Malewitz at Stateline - the Pew Center on the States.

Earlier coverage of Terry Williams' case begins at the link.