HARRISBURG – Gov. Edward G. Rendell signed a warrant for the execution by lethal injection of Miguel Rios of Philadelphia County.
Rios’s execution is scheduled for July 12.
In October 1994, Rios was sentenced to death for the first-degree murder of 21-year-old Jose Ortiz during a burglary at Ortiz’s home.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the sentence on Oct. 30, 1996.
Two execution warrants were issued, but the execution was stayed each time; first, to allow certiorari proceedings in the U.S. Supreme Court; and second, to allow post-conviction proceedings in the Court of Common Pleas. Post-conviction relief was denied by the trial court on March 21, 2001 and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed that decision on April 18 thus lifting the second stay.
Rios, 54, is an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Graterford.
Rendell has now signed 68 execution warrants.