On September 27, a fed­er­al jury in Puerto Rico reject­ed the death penal­ty for Edison Burgos Montes, who was con­vict­ed in August of the mur­der of his girl­friend in 2005. The jury delib­er­at­ed for two days before sen­tenc­ing Montes to life in prison for this drug-relat­ed crime. Puerto Rico’s con­sti­tu­tion for­bids cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, but U.S. pros­e­cu­tors can seek the death penal­ty under fed­er­al law. This is the fourth cap­i­tal case tried by U.S. author­i­ties since the fed­er­al death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in 1988. None of the cas­es has result­ed in a death sen­tence. Governor Luis Fortuno and Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico’s sole rep­re­sen­ta­tive to the U.S. Congress, spoke out recent­ly against the death penal­ty. In addi­tion, one of the can­di­dates for gov­er­nor, Senator Alejandro Garcia Padilla, promised to try to stop the use of the fed­er­al death penal­ty for Puerto Rico res­i­dents. There also have been pop­u­lar demon­stra­tions against this use of the death penal­ty in the Commonwealth.

(“Puerto Rico jury rejects death penal­ty,” Huffington Post, September 27, 2012; ​“Puerto Rico jury delib­er­at­ing rare death penal­ty case,” Reuters, September 27, 2012). See Federal Death Penalty.

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