Pennsylvania Governor Corbett Signs Execution Warrants for Darien Houser, John Koehler Jr. and Willie Clayton

HARRISBURG, Pa., May 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Governor Tom Corbett has signed execution warrants for three men, each of whom were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.

Darien Houser, John J. Koehler Jr. and Willie Clayton are incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Greene.

Darien Houser, 49, is scheduled to be executed on July 24. In March 2004, Philadelphia Warrant Officer Sgt. Joseph LeClaire was attempting to serve a warrant on Houser for failing to appear at his trial on rape charges. Houser opened fire, killing LeClaire and wounding two other officers. Houser was arrested a short time later. In March 2006, Houser was sentenced to death.

John Koehler Jr., 51, is scheduled to be executed on July 25. In April 1995, Koehler's girlfriend, Regina Clark, and her 9-year-old son, Austin Hopper, were killed in Bradford County by William Curley at the urging and insistence of Koehler.

Koehler told Curley he worked for the mob and persuaded Curley to enter the profession, killing the pair as part of his "training." Koehler said if Curley didn't kill the woman and child, he would kill Curley. Both men were arrested and tried separately. Koehler was sentenced to death for both murders in April 1996.

Willie Clayton, 65, is scheduled to be executed on July 26. In 1980, two Philadelphia men, Eric Grice and Jack Summers, were shot and killed during separate robberies inside their apartments, two months apart. According to trial testimony, the victims were known drug dealers and Clayton had been seen with both men.

Also during the trial, an acquaintance testified that Clayton had confessed to him that he had killed Grice and Summers so that people would fear him and he could increase his influence over the drug traffic in Philadelphia. In February 1986, Clayton was sentenced to death for killing both men.

Executions in Pennsylvania are carried out by lethal injection. With these three warrants signed May 29, Corbett has now signed 14 execution warrants.

Media Contact: Janet Kelley, 717-783-1116

SOURCE Pennsylvania Office of the Governor