IDAHO, USA — Gerald Pizzuto Jr., 66, will once again temporarily evade being put to death due to an order signed by U.S Idaho District Judge B. Lynn Winmill on Friday, granting a stay on Pizzuto's execution.
The Idaho Department of Corrections was unable to find the lethal injection drugs needed, later calling off Pizzuto's execution.
But the Idaho Attorney General's Office ordered the man be put to death anyway in a warrant signed Feb. 24. Pizzuto's execution was scheduled for March 23.
Jeff Ray, IDOC spokesperson, wrote in an email that IDOC suspended the execution procedures until such time they "anticipate a change in the material ability to carry out an execution."
"IDOC is not in possession of the chemicals necessary to carry out an execution by lethal injection. Efforts to lawfully source chemicals are ongoing," Ray wrote. Thus, Winmill stayed the execution order and all preparations for the execution going forward. To see a copy of the order, click here.
Pizzuto is on Idaho's death row due to being found guilty in the murders of Berta and Delbert Herndon in McCall in 1985. According to the Idaho Supreme Court, Pizzuto's accomplices testified that Pizzuto went to rob the Herndons, bound their hands, and bludgeoned them in the head with a hammer.
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