Condemned killer spared execution

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has refused a prosecution plea to reinstate Wednesday's execution of condemned Philadelphia killer Terrance Williams.

At about 3:45 p.m., the court in a one-sentence order denied the District Attorney's emergency motion and ordered court personnel to draft a schedule for filing legal briefs and, perhaps, an oral argument.

The state's high court decision let stand last Friday's ruling by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina that the 1986 trial prosecutor made Williams' death sentence more likely by withholding informtion that Williams was sexually molested by his victim.

Williams, 46, condemned in 1986 for the June 11, 1984 murder of Amos Norwood, a 56-year-old Germantown churchman.

Williams, who was an 18-year-old Cheyney University freshman and former high school football star when he was convicted of Norwood's brutal beating with a tire iron, had exhausted his federal and state appeals and Gov. Corbett signed a death warrant on Aug. 9.