Delaware Governor Jack Markell Spares Life Of Death Row Inmate

Robert Gattis was scheduled to be executed by injection Friday, but the governor has accepted the parole board’s recommendation to accept life without parole for the killing of Shirley Slay.

The board considered disturbing accounts of physical and sexual abuse that Gattis claims to have suffered as a child and which his attorneys argued the courts had never properly weighed.

Markell said he gave great weight to a 4-1 recommendation of the pardons board. Yet Delaware’s governor said granting clemency was one of the most difficult decisions he has made as a public official.

“I have spent substantial time considering the harm endured by Ms. Slay and her family, Mr. Gattis’ history, and the merits of the clemency application. I have prayed,” Markell said.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.