capital punishment

On September 28, the state of Pennsylvania granted death-row inmate, Terrance Williams, a stay of execution. Williams, a Graterford (Skippack, Pa.) prisoner, was scheduled to be executed on October 3 at a secret time and location. As the time to execute Williams drew near, calls for a stay of execution became increasingly urgent from religious leaders, law practitioners, and ordinary citizens. The execution of Williams would have been the first non-voluntary exercise of capital punishment performed by Pennsylvania in fifty years. Soon before the scheduled date of execution, however, evidence surfaced that Williams had been perpetually physically and sexually abused by his victim. This development led a Philadelphia judge to charge the prosecutor with concealing vital information from the jury. The prosecutor has vowed to continue efforts to have Williams executed.