DELAWARE
The News Journal

Written by
SEAN O’SULLIVAN
The News Journal

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell today announced he is sparing the life of condemned killer Robert A. Gattis, who was scheduled to die by lethal injection early Friday morning.

It is the first time in modern memory, and perhaps the first time ever, that a Delaware governor has commuted a death sentence.

Markell’s action means the execution will now be called off and the 49-year-old Gattis – who was convicted and sentenced to death for the May 1990 murder of his one-time girlfriend Shirley Slay – will spend the rest of his life in prison.