USA - Pennsylvania. Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy vacated the capital punishment a jury handed to Thomas James Meadows

Montgomery County Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy issued the order vacating the capital punishment a jury handed to Thomas James Meadows, 69, Black, for the March 30, 1984 robbery-murder of James Hayes. Meadows will serve a life sentence without parole. The removal of the death penalty is part of an agreement reached by the county district attorney's office, Meadows and his defense lawyers. In return for the judge vacating the sentence, Meadows has agreed to drop all legal challenges of the sentence and not to file any additional appeals. A Montgomery County jury convicted Meadows of 1st-degree murder in July 1990, directing that he be put to death. Meadows was sentenced to death in on March 11, 1991.