Lawyers and pros­e­cu­tors in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania say that con­cerns about inno­cence and shift­ing pub­lic atti­tudes on the death penal­ty have caused jurors in the coun­ty to ​“lose their taste” for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. In each of the past 8 cap­i­tal cas­es tried, jurors spared the life of the defen­dant.

​“My per­son­al belief is that the heydey of the death penal­ty is over,” said Allegheny County attor­ney Caroline Roberto, for­mer pres­i­dent of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The trend away from sen­tenc­ing defen­dants to death is also evi­dent in oth­er Pennsylvania coun­ties and in juris­dic­tions around the nation. Nationally, the num­ber of annu­al death sen­tences hand­ed down in the U.S. has plunged to its low­est lev­el since the death penal­ty was rein­stat­ed. ​“We’re see­ing doubt from the guilt phase of the tri­al trick­le over to the penal­ty phase. Jurors are real­iz­ing the death penal­ty does­n’t accom­plish any­thing because the pub­lic is pro­tect­ed by a life sen­tence,” observed Butler County, Pennsylvania attor­ney David DeFazio. Experts have also cit­ed con­cern about wrong­ful con­vic­tions as anoth­er rea­son for the sharp decline in death sen­tences. Art Patterson, a jury con­sul­tant for more than 20 years and vice pres­i­dent of the Pennsylvania-based legal con­sult­ing firm DecisionQuest, added, ​“Every day (jurors) hear news of the irrefutable evi­dence of peo­ple on death row or in prison some­where being freed because they did­n’t belong there.”

An arti­cle in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review record­ed the jury deci­sions in recent cas­es:

Jan. 21, 2006: A jury dead­locks on the death penal­ty for Alvin Starks, 32, of Sheraden, result­ing in a life sen­tence for the fatal shoot­ing of his ex-girl­friend, Andrea Umphrey.

Oct. 3, 2005: Michael Michalski, 23, of Shaler, pleads guilty to three counts of 1st-degree mur­der in exchange for a life sen­tence. He killed his ex-girl­friend, her sis­ter and anoth­er man.

May 13, 2005: A jury dead­locks on the death penal­ty for Dion Horton, 27, of West Mifflin, after con­vict­ing him of killing his friend, Kenneth Sharp. He gets life in prison.

Feb. 18, 2005: A jury sen­tences Rodney Burton, 23, of North Braddock, to life in prison for the tor­ture and killing of Dana Pliakas.

Jan. 24, 2005: Prosecutors decide not to seek the death penal­ty dur­ing a 2nd tri­al for Andre Crisswell, 31, of Lincoln-Lemington, and William George Thompson, 35, of Homewood. A jury had dead­locked on the pair’s guilt in the fatal shoot­ings of an 8‑year-old girl, her father and a fam­i­ly friend.

April 26, 2004: Christopher Scott, 25, of Penn Hills, pleads guilty to killing 4 men in exchange for a life sen­tence.

March 4, 2004: A jury dead­locks on the death penal­ty for Carl Scott, 22, of Duquesne, result­ing in a life sen­tence for the slay­ings of his moth­er and 2 men.

Dec. 5, 2003: A jury dead­locks on the death penal­ty for Charles Sadler, 30, of Turtle Creek, who killed his elder­ly neigh­bor and her care­tak­er.

(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 27, 2006). See Sentencing, Life Without Parole, and Innocence.

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