Back to Death Row for Philadelphia Man Who Avoided 2012 Execution
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A Philadelphia man is back on death row, two years after he was spared on the eve of his scheduled execution, now that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has reinstated his death sentence.
Terrance Williams, convicted in 1986 of the robbery and bludgeoning murder of a man he later set on fire, would have been the first person executed in Philadelphia since Gary Heidinick, in 1999.
But Williams was spared in October 2012 when Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge Teresa Sarmina ruled that prosecutor Andrea Foulkes had suppressed evidence and had told Williams' co-defendant to lie.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court not only said that Sarmina's ruling was incorrect, it criticized the ruling as frivolous and "unmoored from (the court's) lawful duties."
Sarmina declined comment.
Foulkes says she feels vindicated.
"I have been very grateful to receive tremendous support not only from prosecutors but the defense bar who have worked with me over the last 38 years," she said.
Federal defender Shaw Nolan says he's disappointed with the ruling and will continue to try to prevent his execution.
