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Idaho death row inmate Pizzuto asks state for clemency

Four former correctional officers sentenced for attacking inmate
Posted at 3:22 PM, May 11, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-11 17:22:46-04

BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho death row inmate with terminal cancer and heart disease is asking the state to let him die naturally rather than by lethal injection next month.

Gerald Ross Pizzuto Jr. is scheduled for execution on June 2 for the 1985 beating deaths of Berta Herndon and her nephew Del Herndon. His doctors said in 2019 that he had terminal bladder cancer and likely had less than a year to live.

Pizzuto's attorneys announced Tuesday that they filed a clemency petition on his behalf to the Idaho Pardons & Parole Commission. They say that letting Pizzuto's imminent death take place naturally would show mercy and save taxpayer dollars.