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Reading Eagle Death Penalty Series Day 1
Reading Eagle Death Penalty Series Day 1
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A STELLAR CAST OF
CHARACTERS AWAKENS
IN COUPON
SAVINGS
TODAY
READING EAGLE
readingeagle.com
Nations OK
global pact
on warming
Executing Justice
D E AT H P E N A LT Y P E R S P E C T I V E S A F I V E - P A R T S E R I E S
Th e A s s o c i at e d P r e s s
A DYING
SENTENCE?
READING EAGLE:
CRAIG SCHAFFER
the ban until a referendum next year. Then there were states, scrambling to get increasingly scarce lethal injection drugs, illegally purchasing supplies from overseas
that federal agents seized. And in Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf put a moratorium on
executions. The death penalty grabbed headlines across the nation all year long.
Since capital punishment was reinstated nationally in 1976, Pennsylvania has
executed only three people while hundreds have been sentenced. Consequently,
the commonwealths dysfunctional death penalty system has created a slew of new
victims family members waiting for an execution that never comes.
With 2015 having seen the fewest executions in nearly a quarter century amid
waning support, even among the staunchest proponents, it begs the question: Is
the death penalty on life support?
Of course its under attack. Youd have
to be an idiot not to recognize that, said
renowned death penalty expert and supporter Robert Blecker, a New York Law
School professor.
Blecker testied this year before the
Pennsylvania House
Judiciary Committee Slain officers
in a Harrisburg hear- widow adamant in
ing to examine capital support of capital
punishment. He told punishment. A6
lawmakers that the nations highest court is Cop killer describes
itching to dissolve the harsh conditions on
death row. A7
death penalty.
In a recent telephone
conversation with the Reading Eagle, he
added, Theyre one vote short in the
United States Supreme Court.
Opponents increasingly talk of bringing a case to the U.S. Supreme Court to
challenge its constitutionality. Associate
Justice Stephen Breyer in a June dissent
invited as much.
Court watchers say abolition could
be as few as ve years away.
[ See Dying >>> A4 ]
TODAY
Tri-County
KUTZTOWN LEGION
FIGHTS TO SURVIVE
Members of Post 480 get
together to discuss the
future of the struggling
veterans organization. B1
Kids and moms and dads turn out for an afternoon of holiday festivities put on by nonprots
and businesses in the downtown. B6
Weather report
Times of clouds and
sun. A14
48 68
TWO
YEARS
IN A
ROW
Index
ADVICE
AUTOMOTIVE
D12
H1
Sports
Money
LOCAL FORECASTERS
FROSTY OUTLOOK
HENRY WINS
HEISMAN TROPHY
PIECE OF HISTORY
COMES BACK TO LIFE
BRIDGE
D9
CLASSIFIED E1, G5, H4
HOROSCOPE
D9
MONEY
F1
OBITUARIES B9B11
OPINION
B12
PUZZLES
D9
REAL ESTATE
G1
TRAVEL
D10D11
A4
Executing Justice
A dying sentence?
[ From A1 >>> ]
Overall public support for
the death penalty has taken
a hit.
While 61 percent of Americans support capital punishment, that number has
dropped significantly since
two decades ago, when 80 percent favored the death penalty,
according to national polls.
A state poll in March by
York College of Pennsylvania
showed 54 percent of respondents in the commonwealth
preferred life in prison to the
death penalty.
The wide support nationally coincided with the peak
in sentences, driven by the
tough-on-crime movement
of the 1990s. The number of
death sentences in Pennsylvania and across the nation has
been declining ever since.
I think the scales have
tipped, said Richard Dieter,
senior program director for
the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.
Founded in 1990, the center
conducts national research
and reports on capital punishment. The organization takes
no official stance on the death
penalty.
Its clear we dont need
the death penalty, Dieter
said. Ninety-nine percent
of murderers dont get the
death penalty.
Pennsylvania hasnt executed anyone in 16 years.
The three men who were given the needle in the modern
era all gave up their appeals
and begged the court to be
executed. With 181 inmates
on death row roughly 75
percent of whom have been
awaiting execution for a decade or more the commonwealth has the lowest number
of condemned prisoners in
H GH
HIGH
80%
%
70
60
61%
59%
59%
FAVOR
A
50
40
38
38
38%
8%
%
37
3
37%
7%
7
%
30
LOW
OW
13%
3%
OPPOSE
20
10
0
1936 40
Source: Gallup
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
90
95
2000
05
10
10
15
5 9
1887
MAINE
WASH.
3 2
35
2
N.D.
IDAHO
WIS.
3 10
NEB.
7 9
12
1965
2015
ILL.
COLO.
20
14
IOWA
86
13
UTAH
MICH.
2011
31
OHIO
N.J.
W. VA.
KY.
124
112
12
OKLA.
N.M.
37
2009
ARIZ.
531
6
72
27
195
48
21
56
1957
HAWAII
U.S. GOVERNMENT
Note: data as of Dec. 9.
2013
D.C.
KEY
60
NUMBER OF
EXECUTIONS
SINCE 1976
FLA.
62
3
84
400
LA.
265
44
MISS.
28
1957
43
ARK.
83
ALASKA
GA.
MD.
17
43
S.C.
ALA.
16
1981
N.C.
TENN.
36
50
TEXAS
MO.
DEL.
156
VA.
KAN.
13
111
8
1965
34
12 2012
2007
53
IND.
PA.
1984
MASS.
CONN. R.I.
N.Y.
1846
146
12
NEV.
181
1853
S.D.
WYO.
78
746
2007
MINN.
3 3
11
CALIF.
N.H.
1911
3 11
ORE.
1964 1
VT.
1973
MONT.
91
#
NUMBER OF
PRISONERS ON
DEATH ROW
YEAR
THE STATE
ABOLISHED THE
DEATH PENALTY
READING EAGLE:
GARY VISGAITIS (GRAPHIC)
NICOLE C. BRAMBILA (REPORTING)
A5
Executing Justice
Punishment in America.
At some point the death
penalty is going to have to be
ended by the Supreme Court,
he said.
But the concern is with
four reliable abolition votes
on the court and a possible
swing vote in Justice Anthony
Kennedy that not acting
could result in missing what
Mandery calls the Kennedy
Moment.
Whether the Supreme
Court weighs in or not, few
would disagree that capital
punishment itself is slowly
dying.
We should be more humble
about our legal system and
what it can do, said Stephen
Bright, president and senior
counsel for the Southern Center for Human Rights, an advocacy group in Atlanta. Its
just human beings and its not
fail-proof.
What I think is really going to happen to the death
penalty, is its going to die on
the vine.
Old Smokey
Capital punishment in the
Keystone State dates to the
colonists arrival in the late
1600s. Public hanging was
used for a number of crimes
then from burglary and robbery, to piracy and rape, as
well as murder.
The electric chair replaced
the gallows in 1913. Since, the
state has electrocuted 348
men and two women in the
same chair. The last electrocution was Elmo Lee Smith in
1962. Pennsylvania changed
the execution method to lethal injection in 1990.
Today the chair, nicknamed
Old Smokey, sits in storage
in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. It has
never been on display.
A failed experiment?
[ A4 >>> ]
Hyden described capital
punishment in the U.S. as
an utterly failed government
program, a sentiment echoed
by others.
He added, Being against
the death penalty isnt just for
bleeding-heart liberals.
moratoriums on executions
since Illinois Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences
of 167 death row prisoners
in 2003.
While support for abolition
has been building, similar to
the marriage equality ght, it
is distinct in at least one very
important way: Death penalty
Its not fail-proof
opponents have already sufFour governors includ- fered a major setback. Just as
ing Wolf have implemented the U.S. was poised to abolish
rolex
Executing
Justice
About this series: A ve-day
look at Pennsylvanias controversial death penalty system from the perspectives of
those it touches victims
families, a prosecutor and
defense attorney, judges and
the condemned.
Today: The widow of a slain
Reading police officer shares
her pain, and the convicted
killer apologizes.
Monday: A defense attorney
shares why he opposes the
death penalty.
Tuesday: A former prison
chaplain talks about a convicted killers nal hours before execution.
Wednesday: An exoneree makes peace with the 16
years he lost in prison, 10 on
death row.
Thursday: A murder victims
son extends forgiveness to
his familys killer.
Online at
readingeagle.com:
View an interactive timeline of Reading
police officers killed in the
line of duty since 1900.
Watch a video about the
death penalty in Pennsylvania.
Listen to reporter Nicole
Brambila and photographer Susan L. Angstadt talk
about the series in a WEEU
interview.
Read our previous coverage on the death penalty.
A6
Executing Justice
Officers widow
voices support
of death penalty
Tricia Wertz says she is still suffering the
effects of her husbands killing nine years later
and is anxious to see justice nally served.
By Nicole C. Brambila
Reading Eagle
Trisha and Jared Wertz hold the uniform and badge of husband and father Scott A. Wertz, far left, a Reading police officer killed in the line of duty.
91
%
93.6
%
60.7
%
supported the
said the death
said they had
63.2
%
disagreed
91.6
%
said there
should be a
specic time
frame on the
appeals process, while 3.9
percent disagreed.
line of duty.
Six Reading Police Department officers have been killed
since 1905, according to data
compiled by the Officer Down
Memorial Page, which tracks
officer deaths nationally.
Scott Wertz was the most
recent officer in Reading
killed in the line of duty.
I think when we lose an ofcer, the impact on the community is overwhelming, said
Berks District Attorney John
T. Adams. Its just something
that should not happen.
A7
Executing Justice