According to the official statements made by the officials, the 32- year-old techie and the first death-row Indian-American jailbird, Raghunandan Yandamuri’s execution might be postponed from its scheduled date on February 23. The delay might have some connection with a 2015 moratorium on death penalty instructed by the Pennsylvania Governor. Yandamuri had been sentenced to death in November 2014 for his alleged involvement in abduction and murder of Satyavathi Venna, a 61-year-old Indian woman and her 10-month grand-daughter Saanvi in October 2012 in a failed kidnapping-for-ransom plot. The Communications Director from Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, Sue McNaughton remarked to PTI that the instructions of the Governor (Tom Wolf) have forbidden the issuance of a stay of execution by a court, instead he would issue an official pardon.
He also remarked that he wanted others to know this because the likelihood of the execution taking place was actually very slim. The Department of Correction had signed an execution order a week before that read Yandamuri to be executed through deadly inoculation on February 23. While answering different questions, McNaughton remarked that he was aware of the fact. The official document was represented before him at his cell door on the same date the notice had been signed.
Yandamuri used to be a native of Andhra Pradesh and a holder of H-1B visa. He also acquired an advanced degree in electrical and computer science engineering. After the completion of his conviction, he asked for the death penalty to be imposed. Afterwards, he requested a sentence, however, lost his appeal last April. Presently, Yandamuri has been kept in Greene State Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison located in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.
