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| Two death-row inmates likely to be spared |
| By Philadelphia Daily news |
| Published: 08/27/2003 |
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Two Philadelphia men, both longtime death-row inmates convicted of grisly but unrelated murders, moved a step closer yesterday to avoiding a date with the executioner. In one Philadelphia murder case, U.S. District Judge Norma L. Shapiro ruled that convicted child-killer Henry Fahy is entitled to a new sentencing hearing because of faulty instructions given to a jury 20 years ago. Five years after Fahy's trial, the Supreme Court held that such unanimous death-penalty jury instructions violated the Constitution's 8th Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment, the judge noted. If Fahy isn't given a new sentencing hearing, he's to be sentenced to life in prison, the judge ruled. Fahy, now 45, a former Kensington junk collector, was sentenced to death in 1983 by a city judge for the 1981 rape and murder of 12-year old Nicoletta 'Nicky' Caserta, a neighbor's daughter. The girl was strangled with a T-shirt and electrical cord and stabbed about 18 times in the chest. Meanwhile, in a rare move, prosecutors in Delaware County yesterday asked a judge to grant a new trial to Nicholas Yarris, a Southwest Philadelphia man who has been on death row for more than 21 years. The prosecutors filed a joint motion, along with Yarris' court-appointed lawyers, based on new DNA evidence that tends to clear Yarris of the rape and murder of a mother of three children. The DNA evidence revealed that the sperm of another unknown man was found on the victim, Linda Craig, who was abducted after leaving work and dumped on a snow-covered church parking lot. Prosecutors conceded that the DNA evidence guts their original theory of the case - that Yarris was the lone rapist and killer. Chief U.S. District Judge James T. Giles already has indicated that if the Delaware County Court declines to grant Yarris bail, he's likely to release him on bail until the case is resolved. |
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