In May of 1992, Kenneth Stewart, Jr. was sentenced to death for the May 1991 murders 
of his wife, Cynthia and his son Jonathan.  He was 36 at the time of the crime. 

 Stewart and his wife had separated before the crimes and Stewart was restricted in 
his visitation of his son.  Stewart was not allowed to be alone with Jonathan, being only 
allowed to visit him with the presence of Cynthia and he was never allowed to leave the 
house with him.  He was frustrated with his situation, both with his visitation privileges, 
and his marriage.  He had hoped that he and his wife could resolve their differences and 
get back together.  On the day of the murders, Stewart went over to the house to discuss 
the possibility of reconciling with his wife.  When she refused he shot her.  He then killed 
Jonathan who had been downstairs at the time of the crime.  Stewart claims that the 
murders were committed out of anger and frustration and were not premeditated acts. 
He believes that the Commonwealth never proved that he intended to kill Jonathan upon 
going over to the house.  However, the Appellate court ruled that the “heat -of-passion 
defense is justified only where the killing arises upon reasonable provocation” and 
because they did not find that Cynthia’s rejection of Stewart reasonable provocation, they 
denied his appeal. 

Stewart also believes that there was not enough evidence to meet the “future 
dangerousness” requirement necessary for administering the death penalty.  The 
psychological expert for the Commonwealth, Dr. Centor, did not use any of the 
statements made by Stewart during their interviews when ascertaining his future 
dangerousness.  Instead he based his opinion on the crime, his previous record and his 
psychological tests.  Stewart appealed on the grounds that  "it is absurd in the extreme to 
assume that" Dr. Centor did "not base his opinions on 'disclosures or statements by 
Defendant during the interview.'
The Appellate court disagreed with Stewart and rejected his appeal. 

Kenneth Stewart, Jr. entered death row on  May 7, 1992 and was executed on September 23, 1998.