Rendell signs three execution warrants for murder defendants

Rendell signs three execution warrants for murder defendants

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Governor Ed Rendell signed warrants for the executions of three men convicted in separate murder cases.

Kevin Brian Dowling, an inmate at Graterford state prison, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on February 27. Two Greene state prison inmates, Landon May and David Chmiel (chuh-MEEL'), are scheduled to be executed in March.

Dowling was convicted in the October 1997 shooting death of York County art gallery owner Jennifer Myers. Police say he killed Myers to keep her from testifying that he had attempted to rape her in August 1996.

May was convicted of the September 2001 murders of Terry and Lucy Smith of Ephrata. Prosecutors say May admitted after his arrest that he and Lucy Smith's adopted son killed the couple after entering the home to steal cash and other items.

Chmiel was convicted of stabbing three elderly siblings to death in Throop during a botched robbery in 1983.