APNewsBreak: Del. governor spares life of killer

DOVER, Del. — Gov. Jack Markell, in an apparent first for the state, has spared the life of a man who had been facing execution this week for the murder of his former girlfriend.

Robert Gattis was to die by injection Friday for killing Shirley Slay, 27.

The Democratic governor on Tuesday accepted a recommendation from the state Board of Pardons to commute Gattis' 1992 death sentence to life in prison without parole.

Markell said granting clemency to Gattis is among the most difficult decisions he has made as a public official, and that he realizes it may cause pain to Slay's family.

"I have spent substantial time considering the harm endured by Ms. Slay and her family, Mr. Gattis' history, and the merits of the clemency application. I have prayed," Markell said. "At the end of the day, although I am not free from doubt, I believe moving forward with the execution of Mr. Gattis is not appropriate."

Markell said he gives great weight to the 4-1 decision by the pardons board. The board considered disturbing accounts of physical and sexual abuse that Gattis claims to have suffered as a child and which his attorneys argued the courts had never properly weighed.

The governor met with members of Slay's family before announcing his decision.

Slay's parents did not immediately return a telephone message left at their Georgia home.

"We are humbled by Gov. Markell's morally courageous decision, mindful of the fact that this is a historic decision," said defense attorney John Deckers.

Markell spokesman Cathy Rossi said administration officials are unaware of any previous case in which a governor received or approved a pardons board recommendation for commutation of a death sentence. Under Delaware law, a governor cannot grant commutation unless a majority of the five-member board recommends it.

The governor agreed with the pardons board that in return for having his sentence commuted, Gattis must forgo any further legal challenge to his conviction and sentence, waive the right to any further request for pardon or commutation, and spend the rest of his life in the maximum-security unit of the state prison in Smyrna.

A court hearing scheduled for Wednesday will formalize Gattis' consent to the terms of commutation, Deckers said.

Prosecutors have said Gattis shot Slay in a jealous rage after years of physically abusing her. His attorneys argued at trial that the death was an accident.