Paul David Crews, convicted of killing two thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail in 1990, won’t die by lethal injection.

District Attorney Charles Chenot said mounting legal bills from Crews’ appeals and the chance of the appeals court ordering a new trial or sentence prompted the resentencing agreement between his office and Crews.

So he gets to live in exchange for dropping further appeals. From another story on the case:

Prosecutors say Crews has several court challenges pending in federal and state courts, including one before the state Supreme Court, and he has already appealed to the Supreme Court three times, the U.S. District Court twice and the U.S. Third Circuit Court once.

Well, it keeps him busy, but I suppose he’ll miss all his pals on death row.

Hat tip to I Hike AT blog for the news tip.