On January 14, in one of his final acts as gov­er­nor, Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell wrote a let­ter to the state General Assembly urg­ing leg­is­la­tors to con­sid­er replac­ing the death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life with­out parole if it can­not be made more effec­tive than it has been. Gov. Rendell wrote that the death penal­ty in Pennsylvania is not a real­i­ty: ​“As a for­mer District Attorney and as a death penal­ty sup­port­er, I believe the death penal­ty can be a deter­rent – but only when it is car­ried out rel­a­tive­ly expe­di­tious­ly. However, a 15‑, 20‑, or 25-year lapse between impo­si­tion of a death sen­tence and the actu­al exe­cu­tion is no deter­rent… To crim­i­nals on the street, our death penal­ty is sim­ply not a real­i­ty.” The gov­er­nor said the cur­rent sys­tem was frus­trat­ing to both police and vic­tims’ fam­i­lies. He said if the process could not be stream­lined, while still pro­tect­ing defen­dants’ needs for a thor­ough appeal, it might be time to con­sid­er abo­li­tion: ​“If you con­clude that there is no avenue to achieve this [care­ful stream­lin­ing], then I ask you to exam­ine the mer­its of con­tin­u­ing to have the death penal­ty on the books – as opposed to the cer­tain­ty of a life sen­tence with­out any chance of parole, par­don or com­mu­ta­tion.” Read full text of Governor’s statement below.

Pennsylvania has not had an exe­cu­tion since 1999 and a total of three since the death penal­ty rein­stat­ed nation­wide in 1976. The three defen­dants who were exe­cut­ed expe­dit­ed their exe­cu­tions by choos­ing to waive their remain­ing appeals. Earlier the same day, Governor Rendell signed six exe­cu­tion war­rants, bring­ing the total num­ber he has signed to 119, but not­ing that none of the war­rants had been carried out. 

Jan. 14, 2011
To Members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly:

As of this date, I have signed 119 exe­cu­tion war­rants since tak­ing office in January
2003, and not one exe­cu­tion has been car­ried out dur­ing the last eight years. In
fact, none are even close to hav­ing a final date set. The only exe­cu­tions car­ried out
since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed in Pennsylvania in the late 1970s were two
in 1995 and one in 1999, and those three men – Keith Zettlemoyer, Leon Moser,
and Gary Heidnik – had waived their appeals and asked that their sen­tence be
carried out.

There are inmates on death row today who were con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death
dur­ing my tenure as District Attorney of Philadelphia County (1978 – 1986). As a
for­mer District Attorney and as a death penal­ty sup­port­er, I believe the death
penal­ty can be a deter­rent – but only when it is car­ried out rel­a­tive­ly expe­di­tious­ly.
Of course, great care must be tak­en to ensure the guilt of the offend­er, and every
advance in sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy should be made avail­able to the defen­dant.
However, a 15‑, 20‑, or 25-year lapse between impo­si­tion of a death sen­tence and
the actu­al exe­cu­tion is no deter­rent. In the public’s eye, the crime and the vic­tim
may be long for­got­ten. To crim­i­nals on the street, our death penal­ty is sim­ply not a
reality.

The time lapse between con­vic­tion and exe­cu­tion gen­er­al­ly results from cap­i­tal
defen­dants’ efforts to exhaust every legal chal­lenge to their con­vic­tion and death
sen­tence that is avail­able to them under state and fed­er­al law. That is the way it
should be; every mer­i­to­ri­ous issue must be raised and addressed. While Congress
and this body have enact­ed laws to help cur­tail and stream­line the appel­late
process in cap­i­tal cas­es, the length of time between the impo­si­tion of the sen­tence
and actu­al exe­cu­tion, if it occurs at all, can be decades and is still too long.
Victims’ sur­vivors are frus­trat­ed; the police are frus­trat­ed. The lengthy appeals
process not only costs tax­pay­ers sub­stan­tial mon­ey, but it also robs the vic­tims’
fam­i­lies and friends of peace of mind, and they get no clo­sure.
Therefore, it seems to me that the time has come to re-exam­ine the effi­ca­cy of the
death penal­ty under these cir­cum­stances. I would ask you to explore whether
there can be any addi­tion­al steps tak­en that allow for a thor­ough and exhaus­tive
review of the facts and the law in each case, but that would sig­nif­i­cant­ly short­en
the time between offense and car­ry­ing out the sen­tence. If you con­clude that there
is no avenue to achieve this, then I ask you to exam­ine the mer­its of con­tin­u­ing to
have the death penal­ty on the books – as opposed to the cer­tain­ty of a life
sen­tence with­out any chance of parole, par­don or com­mu­ta­tion. You should also
explore whether cre­at­ing that type of life sen­tence would require a Constitutional
amendment.

Sincerely,
Edward G. Rendell, Governor
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(E. Rendell, ​“To Members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly,” Pennsylvania Office of the Governor, January 14, 2011). See New Voices, Deterrence and Recent Legislative Activity.

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