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PENNSYLVANIA (USA): GOV. TOM WOLF HALTS EXECUTION OF MICHAEL ERIC BALLARD
October 7, 2015: Gov. Tom Wolf halted the scheduled execution of Michael Eric Ballard under a moratorium the governor has declared on capital punishment in the state.
Wolf granted a reprieve for Ballard, a 5-time killer, as he has also done with three other convicted murders who were slated this year to face the death chamber.
Wolf did so under a temporary freeze on executions he declared in February, when he called the death penalty "error prone, expensive and anything but infallible."
Ballard was scheduled to die by lethal injection Oct. 19, after he waived his rights to further appeals of his sentence. Wolf intends to delay any imminent execution until after a Senate task force studying capital punishment releases its recommendations and they are "satisfactorily addressed," said spokesman Jeffrey Sheridan, who offered no comment on Ballard's case specifically. (Source: Morning Call, 07/10/2015)
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