Profile

Michael Jay Travaglia

I was born and raised in an affluent neighbourhood in Westmoreland County in an area called Washington Township in Western Pennsylvania. It was a rural area, the country, with many farms and privately owned small businesses. 

I became involved with alcohol in my high school years. I started with beer which later turned to whiskey and vodka. I also started to experiment with drugs during my high school years: marijuana, mescaline, and amphetamines. This behaviour of mine culminated in an addiction to amphetamines and alcohol abuse. 

I went to trial for the homicide of a police officer in January of 1981. On February 4, 1981 the jury returned a sentence of death against me. 

The other three homicide charges ended in guilty pleas of which I received a life sentence two 10 to 20 year sentences. All sentences run concurrent. 

I was later transferred to the State Prison in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in May of 1981.

On January 24, 1982 I gave my life to Christ and I became a Born Again Christian. Since then I have lived to serve the Lord while on death row. I spend my time when I am not working studying the Bible, corresponding with my wife, fellow Christians, missionaries in foreign countries, writing Christian tracts, essays, and other papers on biblical subjects.

In 1990 I was blessed to meet a Christian woman. We became best friends and next we fell in love and on April 27, 1992 we were married with a contact marriage at State Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh.

My wife is a Born Again Christian and together we serve the Lord with our lives. 

On November 7, 1995 the United States District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania, vacated my death sentence and granted the relief of a new sentencing hearing. Numerous pretrial appeals have followed and now the new sentencing hearing is set to commence on July 5, 2005. 

Once again a jury of my peers will be impaneled who will decide on either a sentence of life imprisonment or death.

Address:

Michael Jay Travaglia #AP-5319
SCI Greene 
175 Progress Drive 
Waynesburg , PA. 15370-8090
USA

Click here to read Michael's writings / poems