Idaho Pardons Commission Delays Execution Of Death Row Inmate After Petition For Clemency

By Kevin Fixler, Idaho Capital Sun

May 19, 2021

Since the death warrant was issued on May 6, attorneys representing Pizzuto have submitted several legal filings, including to the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking leniency for their client.

Federal Defender Services of Idaho note that Pizzuto is terminally ill, suffering from late-stage bladder cancer, among other severe ailments, and has been in hospice care for more than a year. He is not expected to survive much longer, Pizzuto’s prison doctors have stated.

“Mr. Pizzuto has spent 35 years on death row and is now dying from cancer and other diseases. He also was brutalized throughout his childhood by his stepfather, a serial pedophile and sadistic man who beat, raped and humiliated him on a regular basis for years,” said Deborah Czuba, a supervising attorney for Federal Defender Services of Idaho. “We look forward to proving that he deserves mercy. Our hope is that he will be allowed to die naturally in prison.”

This is a developing story. Check back for more later.

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