NEWS (2/11/20): The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania has stayed the execution of Jordan Clemons, which had been scheduled for March 13, 2020. As required by a law enacted by the Pennsylvania legislature in 1995, Clemons was the subject of a legally premature execution date, even though he had not yet had the opportunity to appeal his conviction and death sentence in state or federal post-conviction proceedings and was entitled to pursue those appeals. The one-sentence order, issued February 11, 2020, stays Mr. Clemons execution “pending completion of these habeas corpus proceedings or until further order of this Court.”
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has imposed a moratorium on executions in the state and has refused to sign death warrants. In the absence of a warrant, the law requires the Secretary of the Department of Corrections to set an execution date, and Sec. John Wetzel issued a “notice of execution” on February 10.
