LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel signed a Notice of Execution Thursday for a Lancaster County man on Death Row for stabbing two women to death in 2015.
Leeton Jahwanza Thomas was convicted of murdering Lisa Scheetz and her 16-year-old daughter, Hailey, in their East Drumonre Township, Lancaster County home on June 11, 2015.
Thomas also stabbed Scheetz's 15-year-old daughter, severely injuring her. He was convicted of attempted murder for that offense.
Thomas' execution date is July 28, 2020.
Governor Tom Wolf declared a moratorium on the death penalty in Pennsylvania in February 2015, saying the system can sometimes claim innocent lives, does not always work as a deterrent to crime, can be racially biased, costs a lot of money, and disregards mental illness in the US.
That moratorium remains in effect today, though capital crimes are still prosecuted and death warrants still signed.
Pennsylvania has not executed an inmate since 1999.
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Pennsylvania law provides that when the governor does not sign a warrant of execution within the specified time period, the secretary of corrections has 30 days within which to issue a notice of execution.
Wolf issues temporary reprieves if a warrant reaches his desk without further appeals. Thomas has not yet exhausted the appeals process, Wetzel said.
