Corbett grants temporary reprieve on execution

Citing the state's need to acquire the drugs required to administer a lethal injection, Gov. Corbett on Friday granted a temporary reprieve for an inmate scheduled for execution this month.

Hubert Lester Michael Jr., 58, who pleaded guilty in the 1993 kidnapping, rape, and murder of Trista Eng, 16, in York County and was sentenced to death, had been scheduled for execution Sept. 22. But that had to be put off, the governor's office said, to allow the Department of Corrections to acquire the drugs required by state law for the lethal injection.

Nevertheless, the governor made it clear that the reprieve was only temporary.

"I am committed to carrying out the sentence of the court and giving Trista Eng and her family the justice they deserve," Corbett said in a statement.

Four warrants have been signed for Michael's execution since 1996. Corbett issued the last such warrant on July 24. By law, execution is to be carried out within 60 days of the signing of the warrant. "The three prior warrants were dissolved as a result of the issuance of stays pending Michael's numerous appeals," the governor's office said in a statement.

A temporary stay of execution had already been issued in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in the case.

David Rudovsky, an attorney for Michael, issued a statement welcoming the reprieve.

"In light of the bipartisan state legislative commission studying the state's death penalty, including the method of execution, and given all the well-documented problems with Pennsylvania's death penalty, the governor should not allow any executions to proceed until the commission has completed its work," Rudovsky said.

The drugs needed for lethal injections are becoming harder for states to obtain because some manufacturers have refused to sell them for that purpose. Some states, including Pennsylvania, have resorted to obtaining them from compounding pharmacies.

On Thursday, The Inquirer, three other news organizations, and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion in federal court seeking the name of the company contracted to supply the drugs to be used in Michael's execution.

The state has said the compounding pharmacy contracted to provide the drugs would likely refuse to supply the drugs if its name were made public.