BOISE, Idaho — A judge says Idaho’s governor doesn’t have the power to veto a clemency recommendation by the state’s parole board for a terminally ill man who was expected to be executed this year.
The ruling from 2nd District Judge Jay Gaskill on Friday says Gerald Pizzuto Jr.’s death sentence is illegal, and so the court won’t issue a death warrant.
Gov. Brad Little’s office vowed to appeal. Pizzuto has been on death row for more than three decades for the slayings of two gold prospectors. He was scheduled to be executed last year, but the Idaho Commission of Pardons and Parole recommended the sentence be changed to life in prison.
