More good things than bad things are happening in Pennsylvania regarding the death penalty.

One of the most important things is that Pennsylvania Abolitionists United Against the Death Penalty (PAUADP — www.pa-abolitionists.org) has continued to function and grow. It is a consortium of people and organizations who have come together for a common purpose. They are being heard.
 

Pennsylvania Legislation

Eleven death penalty bills were introduced in the State Senate this session. Many have companion bills in the House. Four are really active.

Senate Bill 589 would allow death row inmates to request that their DNA be tested against crime scene evidence. Such evidence is available in about 10 percent of the cases. Last month it saved York’s Ray Krone.

These tests are becoming cheaper, with costs falling from $5,000 last year to as little as $800 now. If the accused could not afford the test, the Commonwealth would pick up the tab. The Senate passed the Bill 50-0 on June 19, 2001. Apparently the Governor asked for an amendment which would make the test results part of the Federal databank, and therefore available in all criminal investigations. The House tabled it on June 18, 2002. The Bill is still expected to pass in this session.

One of the factors that got SB 589 out of committee was that all four Conferences of the United Methodist Church passed resolutions supporting it. I was able to go to the legislature on June 14 with those resolutions — and a serious stack of letters — asking for action. The letters had been distributed through organizations like The Thomas Merton Center and PAUADP, and the legislators remarked that they had been receiving about eight to ten of them a day. Letters came from all over Pennsylvania, and even from Europe.

SB 869 would provide training to capital defense attorneys. It has been held in the Senate Appropriations Committee since June 19. Gov. Ridge impounded the money for last session’s bill, at least partly because the instruction was to be given by Rob Dunham of Philadelphia’s Federal Defender’s unit. Legislators and activists pounded the Governor, and he eventually relented. Penn State School of Law at Dickinson College was ultimately designated as the location for the training.

Senate Bill 26 would exclude the mentally retarded from death row. Testimony on this Bill was taken on March 18, and I had the honor of testifying about the church’s position. (www.geocities.com/roger_tho-mas_edu/bib-liography/SB26.htm) We did not expect any action on the Bill until the U.S. Supreme Court decided the mental retardation issue in Atkins v. Virginia. (The Court decided the issue on June 20, barring execution of mentally retarded defendants.)

Senate Bill 25 would impose a moratorium on executions for two years while a four-point study is conducted. This idea was introduced as an amendment to another bill, but was roundly defeated. The Senate points out that there has been a de facto court moratorium since Elmo Smith’s execution in 1962. All 244 people on our death row are under some form of stay. The three men who were executed in the 1990s abandoned their appeals and submitted to execution. This may change in view of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week in Horn v Banks. (capitalde-fenseweekly.com)
 

Federal Actions

The Constitutionality of the death penalty is an implied issue in Ring v. Arizona. The Eighth Amendment prohibits "cruel and unusual punishments." It is not difficult to establish that execution — even by lethal injection — is cruel. The next step is to refer to Governor Keating’s quotation that it is imposed in less than 1/12th of 1 percent of the homicide cases. It is therefore "unusual," and not the standard remedy. The next step is that 152 of the 244 people on our death row are black. The penalty is not equitably applied according to the Fourteenth Amendment.

U..S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) and Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) have introduced the National Death Penalty Moratorium Act (H.R. 1038/S. 233) reflective of our SB 25, and the Illinois and Maryland moratoriums.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a former prosecutor, and Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.) have introduced the "Innocence Protection Act" (H.R. 912/S. 486), that would provide new safeguards in capital cases, including DNA testing and access to adequate counsel. Hearings are being held in the House and Senate to consider the legislation. Supporters say that 230 House members have now agreed to co-sponsor the measure.

What’s next?

There are several things we need to do now.

First, 15-year-old Steven Pannebaker is scheduled for capital prosecution in Juniata County. The Court has the case on hold until September. We are asking you to communicate with Juniata County District Attorney Andrew Winder, and Steven’s attorneys Donald Zagurskie and Steven Manbeck, to show that execution of minors is not the practice in Pennsylvania.

Second. Illinois’ Report of the Governor’s Commission on Capital Punishment, April 2002, provides 85 very specific recommendations to eliminate or reform the death penalty. Pennsylvania made a reasonable effort to implement the ABA’s 1989 Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Counsel in Death Penalty Cases. The Illinois Report now provides a new model. We need to design our 2003 legislation around those two reports. This is what we did in Arizona in 1973 when the Equal Rights Amendment was defeated.

Third. Four people have been released from Pennsylvania’s death row. We have released more than we have executed. It is up to us to pursue this trend and assure that the people on death row actually are guilty of the crimes for which they were sentenced.

Fourth. Pay a lot of attention to who becomes your next governor and your next State Supreme Court justices.