Pa. lawyer appeals gov.'s death warrant

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- An attorney for a man on Pennsylvania's death row said the governor shouldn't have signed a death warrant for his client and he's renewing the appeals process.

Gov. Tom Corbett signed a death warrant to execute Kenneth Hairston Jan. 18. It would be the first execution in the state since 1999, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Wednesday.

"On the 14th of this month, Judge [Jeffrey] Manning granted Mr. Hairston's petition that reinstates his direct appeal rights. We're going to start all over again," said Glen Downey, Hairston's attorney. "We will be filing for a stay. We hoped that after communicating with the governor's office that they understood our position and wouldn't put the families through this -- either the families of the victims or Ken's family."

Hairston was convicted of murdering his wife Catherine, 45, and autistic son, Sean, 14, in 2001 with a sledgehammer. He also stabbed himself and set the family's house on fire two weeks before he was to be tried for raping his step-daughter over the course of seven years.

He told police he killed his wife and son because he didn't think they could survive without him if he went to prison for rape.