ROCKVIEW, Pa., May 2 -- Convicted killer Keith Zettlemoyer got his wish Tuesday, becoming the first person executed by the state of Pennsylvania since 1962. Zettlemoyer, 39, was executed by lethal injection shortly after 10 p. m. at the state prison in Rockview, about 150 miles northwest of Philadelphia, for the 1980 murder of a co-worker who was to testify against him in a robbery case. 'I ask that the people of Pennsylvania and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania please accept my 14 years of imprisonment and my execution now as all of my debts to society paid in full,' Zettlemoyer said in a final statement. 'And I ask that the people of Pennsylvania and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania please forgive me of all the terrible crimes I committed against them, and thank them sincerely.' The execution took place despite last-minute appeals filed by Zettlemoyer's former lawyers and the mother of his victim, who said the condemned man should be spared because he was mentally ill. Zettlemoyer had abandoned his appeals and asked the courts to allow him to die. Zettlemoyer died quickly and quietly. He was pronounced dead at 10:25 p.m., about 11 minutes after the execution began. The procedure had been scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. but was delayed several minutes while the governor's office confirmed that the U.S. Supreme Court would not issue a stay. The high court earlier Tuesday rejected several requests from opponents of the death penalty for a stay of execution.
About 30 death penalty opponents staged a protest vigil outside the prison. Security was extremely tight at the facility, and prisoners were locked in cells as an extra security measure. As witnesses arrived for the execution, inmates shouted, 'Murderers, ' and 'Killers.' Zettlemoyer was sentenced to death in Dauphin County Court in Harrisburg in April 1981 for the October 1980 shooting death of Charles DeVetsco, 29. Prosecutors said Zettlemoyer kidnapped DeVetsco near Selinsgrove, about 50 miles north of Harrisburg, then drove him to Harrisburg, where the victim was shot and killed. The killing took place about a week before DeVetsco was to testify against Zettlemoyer in Snyder County Court for a May 1980 robbery at an electronics store where DeVetsco worked. Zettlemoyer, a security guard in the mall in which the store was located, had told DeVetsco about his role in the crime. A federal judge in Scranton ruled Saturday that Zettlemoyer was competent to be executed, dismissing claims by the Pennsylvania Post- Conviction Defender Organization that he was mentally ill. The organization then appealed to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, which refused to issue a stay of execution Monday. A Dauphin County judge also refused to intervene Tuesday morning. Zettlemoyer had no visitors on his final day except a Protestant minister. For his last meal, Zettlemoyer requested two cheeseburgers, french fries with ketchup, chocolate pudding and chocolate milk. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge issued a statement after the execution, the state's first in 33 years. 'Nearly 15 years ago, Keith Zettlemoyer brutally murdered his friend Charles DeVetsco. May Keith Zettlemoyer's soul rest in peace. May the soul of Charles DeVetsco now rest in peace,' he said. Pennsylvania's last execution was carried out on April 2, 1962, when Elmo Smith was electrocuted at Rockview for the rape and murder of a young girl in suburban Philadelphia. A 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned Pennsylvania's original death penalty law. A new state law enacted in 1978 was upheld by the U. S. Supreme Court in 1990. There are now 188 inmates on Pennsylvania's death row, the fourth- largest in the nation. Ridge has signed six death warrants since taking office in January, four of which have been stayed. All warrants signed under the previous administration of former Gov. Bob Casey were stayed by various courts. Rodney Griffin is scheduled to be executed at Rockview on May 30 for the December 1993 fatal shooting of Ellen Lewis, a student at Cheyney University near Philadelphia.
