DeathPenaltyUSA blog has the details.

I suspect this act will stand him in good stead during the 2008 presidential election.  Whatever the level of calculation, it was the right thing to do in a case where a clerk of the state illegally destroyed forensic evidence before it could be subjected to a definitive DNA test.  For Lovitt, it was either incredibly lucky -- if he's guilty -- or disastrous -- if he's not -- but for the a state administering a death sentence, pretty much unpardonable.