PHILADELPHIA - A judge on Friday threw out the second death sentence of a convicted multiple murderer who has been on death row for 21 years, citing a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that executing mentally retarded killers is unconstitutional.
Simon Pirela, 45, was convicted in four separate murder cases, and received the death penalty in two cases. A jury had changed the first death sentence to life in prison, and a judge did the same on Friday for the second death sentence.
George Gordon, a lawyer for Pirela, said his legal team planned to seek new trials.
The judge said she concluded that Pirela was retarded based on medical and psychological evidence and testimony of family members and corrections officers.
A native of Puerto Rico, Pirela speaks no English, cannot read or write Spanish, tested with an IQ of 57, can count only up to 60, has significant brain damage and is unable to remember simple facts or understand instructions, according to testimony presented last year.
Prosecutors argued that Pirela exhibited the cunning and intelligence to lead a thriving drug gang and exact violent revenge on anyone who defied him, including ordering the killings of people who failed to pay up.
Cathie Abookire, a spokeswoman for Philadelphia's district attorney, said prosecutors will decide within the next month whether to appeal.
The death sentence vacated Friday had been issued for the 1981 killing of 18-year-old Pablo Ortiz, who was suspected by Pirela and his brother of contributing to the drug overdose death of a third Pirela brother. The two brothers beat Ortiz, injected him with drugs as he passed out and then instructed another man to drive the victim somewhere and finish him off, prosecutors said.
Ortiz's battered body was found in some woods, a sock knotted around his neck.
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