Shapiro calls for ban of death penalty in Pennsylvania

Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Thursday he will continue Pennsylvania’s moratorium on the death penalty and will not issue any execution warrants during his term, and he is calling for the Legislature to pass a bill banning the practice altogether.

Pennsylvania has not seen an execution since 1999, and only three since 1976, which all occurred under former Gov. Tom Ridge, R-Erie.

At a news conference in Philadelphia, flanked by lawmakers, community activists and criminal justice advocates, Shapiro said the response from Pittsburgh’s Jewish community to the Tree of Life mass shooting in Squirrel Hill changed his thoughts about capital punishment.

He said many family members of the victims did not want to seek the death penalty.

“It’s hard to imagine a more heinous crime than murdering 11 people as they pray. And, candidly, my first reaction was that the killer deserved to be put to death,” Shapiro said. “Over time, however, my belief on this topic has evolved.”

Shapiro said the state’s capital punishment system is “fallible, and the outcome is irreversible” and he won’t support any executions while he is in office.

Shapiro follows his predecessor, former Gov. Tom Wolf, in announcing an official moratorium on state executions. Wolf announced a moratorium at the start of his first term in 2015.

Pennsylvania governors have the power to sign death warrants for people convicted of first-degree murder if aggravating factors are present in the conviction, Shapiro said. Death warrants must first be approved by a jury and clear the appeals process before reaching the governor’s desk.

There is no law currently regulating the governor’s ability to sign off on executions.

In addition to a death penalty moratorium, Shapiro is calling on the Legislature to pass a bill abolishing the death penalty in Pennsylvania. He said 25 states already have passed bans, and Pennsylvania should join them.

“This must be bigger than studying this issue or reviewing the system. We shouldn’t aim to just fix the system,” Shapiro said. “The Commonwealth shouldn’t be in the business of putting people to death. Period.”

While Wolf was governor, from 2015 until last month, judges delivered eight more death sentences. In the meantime, Wolf issued eight reprieves to inmates who had been scheduled to be put to death.Wolf had said he would continue the reprieves until lawmakers addressed inequities in the use of the death penalty, but lawmakers never did and Wolf’s reprieves remain in effect.

Wolf’s use of reprieves was upheld by the state Supreme Court in a legal challenge brought by county prosecutors, who argued Wolf was unconstitutionally turning what had been intended to be a temporary tool into a permanent one.

Pennsylvania has 101 men and women on its shrinking death row, according to statistics from the Department of Corrections. The state has executed three people since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, as courts, and now governors, have blocked every other death sentence thus far.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.