On January 3, attor­neys for Robert Gattis (pic­tured) filed a clemen­cy peti­tion with the Delaware Board of Pardons, request­ing they rec­om­mend com­mut­ing his death sen­tence to life with­out parole. Gattis is sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on January 20. According to the peti­tion, details of fre­quent sex­u­al, phys­i­cal and psy­cho­log­i­cal abuse occur­ing dur­ing Gattis’s child­hood were nev­er pre­sent­ed to the jury or the judge at the time of his sen­tenc­ing. As a pre-school child and through ado­les­cence, Gattis was the vic­tim of repeat­ed rapes and molesta­tions by mul­ti­ple per­pe­tra­tors, includ­ing both male and female fam­i­ly mem­bers. John Deckers, an attor­ney for Gattis said, ​“The kind of sex­u­al, phys­i­cal and psy­cho­log­i­cal abuse that Mr. Gattis suf­fered is pre­cise­ly the kind of infor­ma­tion that a sen­tenc­ing judge and jury should know when decid­ing whether to sen­tence some­one to life or death, but Mr. Gattis’s sen­tenc­ing judge and jury nev­er knew this infor­ma­tion. They did not have an accu­rate pic­ture of Mr. Gattis or the crime, and clemen­cy is the mech­a­nism that allows the Governor to cor­rect such mis­takes in the legal sys­tem.” A par­dons-board rec­om­men­da­tion for clemen­cy is nec­es­sary for Governor Jack Markell to com­mute the sen­tence. Gattis was sen­tenced to death in 1992 for killing his former girlfriend.

At least four cor­rec­tions offi­cers have attest­ed to Gattis’s pos­i­tive influ­ence on younger inmates, his role as a peace­mak­er in prison con­flicts, and many oth­er exam­ples of good con­duct. The cor­rec­tions offi­cers state how Mr. Gattis has con­sis­tent­ly expressed deep remorse and con­tri­tion for his crime.

UPDATE: On January 5, more than two dozen for­mer judges and pros­e­cu­tors, 73 faith lead­ers, and numer­ous men­tal health and legal pro­fes­sion­als called on the Delaware Board of Pardons to rec­om­mend and Governor Jack Markell to grant clemen­cy to Robert Gattis. In their let­ter to the Board and the Governor, the for­mer judges and pros­e­cu­tors wrote: ​“The death penal­ty must be reserved for the worst of the worst offend­ers. As for­mer judges and pros­e­cu­tors, we can attest that Mr. Gattis is not the worst of the worst by any mea­sure. Mr. Gattis deserves to be pun­ished for his crime and sep­a­rat­ed from free soci­ety, but he does not deserve to be exe­cut­ed.” Read full press release.

(“Delaware judge orders Jan. 20 exe­cu­tion date for man con­vict­ed in shoot­ing death of girl­friend,” Associated Press, December 22, 2011; Attorneys for Robert Gattis, ​“Robert Gattis Petitions Delaware Board of Pardons for Clemency,” Press Release, January 3, 2012). See Clemency. Read about the death penal­ty in Delaware.

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