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Inmate's lawyers ask panel to reconsider clemency
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Attorneys for death-row inmate Terrance Williams have filed a request for the Board of Pardons to reconsider its rejection of his clemency bid.
Three of the board's five members voted on Monday to recommend that Gov. Tom Corbett grant clemency, but a unanimous vote is required in sentences of death or life imprisonment. Williams, who was convicted in 1986 of first-degree murder, is scheduled to be executed on Oct. 3.
Attorneys for Williams claim a representative of the Philadelphia district attorney's office was dishonest in his response to a question from a board member. When asked about allegations that prosecutors withheld evidence, the attorneys wrote, Tom Dolgenos, chief of the federal litigation unit at the district attorney's office, answered that courts have heard and rejected the claim. The attorneys wrote that they recently obtained a letter showing otherwise.
"It's ridiculous," Mr. Dolgenos said. "What I told the board yesterday, that is absolutely true."
The attorneys for Williams asked the board to consider the request before its next scheduled hearing.
A Philadelphia judge has agreed to hear on Thursday a request for a stay of execution based on claims that Williams was sexually abused by the man he murdered and others.
First Published September 19, 2012 12:00 am
