32-year-old Yandamuri was convicted of kidnapping and killing a 61-year-old Indian woman and her 10-month-old grand-daughter.
He was given death penalty in 2014. His execution date has been set for February 23. However, Times Herald reported that he might get a reprieve because “a death penalty moratorium previously was put in place by Governor Tom Wolf.”
"The 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," Pennsylvania Department of Corrections said in a news release.
Yandamuri hails from Hyderabad in India. A qualified electrical and computer science engineer, Yandamuri had come to the US on H-1B visa. After being convicted by the court, he asked for the death penalty, according to the US media reports.
Pennsylvania has not seen any executions in last two decades. The state is considering abandoning capital punishment. A study was conducted by the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Committee on Capital Punishment regarding the death penalty. The officials are waiting for the results of this study before moving forward with any executions.
