PA death row defendant, tired of delays though asserting innocence, asks to be executed

Pennsylvania’s death row has over two hundred defendants, but the state has executed only three defendants in the modern era.  As detailed in this local story, one defendant is tired of waiting to leave death row via execution:

An Altoona man on death row has sent a letter to Gov. Ed Rendell asking that his death warrant be signed, thereby carrying out a sentence imposed on him for the 1998 Thanksgiving Day murder of his former girlfriend’s husband. William L. Wright III, now 45, was convicted a decade ago of killing James Mowery in his Beale Avenue home….

In 2007, Wright became upset when the state Supreme Court, after years of deliberation, had failed to decide his appeal.  He filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court in Johnstown claiming inordinate delay in sentencing.  The state Supreme Court in December dismissed Wright’s appeal saying that evidence of his guilt was “overwhelming.” 

Wright decided he would file no more appeals at the state level and carried on his fight in the federal court, but now he has dismissed his state appeals attorney and federal public defender, R. Thomas Forr of Altoona, and has said he wants to die.  On April 19, Wright sent a letter to Rendell stating he was writing to expedite the signing of his death warrant “so I can commence the death-penalty execution.”…

Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said this week that the Office of General Counsel will review the Wright case and recommend to the governor to sign or not sign the warrant.  Ardo said no inmate has been put to death during Rendell’s six-plus years in office.  Two inmates who ceased appealing their convictions were put to death under Gov. Tom Ridge….

Wright concluded his letter to the governor stating, “For what it’s worth, I sincerely regret that the responsibility now falls on you to execute an innocent man.  Thus, I would appreciate your prompt and speedy attention in this matter.”