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State And Federal Info

Pennsylvania

History of the Death Penalty

Pennsylvania began carrying out executions in the early 1600s in the form of public hangings. In 1834, Pennsylvania became the first state in the U.S. to outlaw public executions and move the gallows to county prisons. In 1913, the state’s capital punishment statute was amended to bring executions under the administration of the state rather than individual counties, and also changed the method of execution to electrocution. Between 1915 and 1962, there were 350 executions in Pennsylvania, including two women. The last prisoner executed by means of the electric chair was Elmo Smith in 1962. Pennsylvania passed a law in 1990 that changed the method of execution from electrocution to lethal injection, the current means of execution. Prior to 1976, Pennsylvania carried out 1,040 executions, the third highest number of any state. Only three executions have actually been carried out since reinstatement in 1976 despite the size of the state’s death row, which for more than two decades was the fourth largest in the nation. The Commonwealth’s death row has declined steadily in size from 246 in October 2001 to 175 in July 2016, without any executions, primarily as a result of death sentences being overturned in the courts and defendants being resentenced to life or less or acquitted. It is now the country’s fifth largest death row.

The Reading Eagle reported in June 2016 that from the time the Commonwealth enacted its current death penalty statute in September 1978 through 2015, Pennsylvania had sentenced 408 prisoners to death. Of those, 191 had subsequently been resentenced to life or less or released (46.8%), including 169 resentenced to life (41.4%); 16 resentenced to a term of years (3.9%); and 6 exonerated (1.5%). 181 remained on death row (44.4%), including 28 whose convictions or death sentences had been overturned but who were awaiting further court proceedings. 33 had died on death row other than by execution (8.1%). 3 had been executed (0.7%).

Famous Cases

Mumia Abu-Jamal was charged with the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner and both the conviction and the subsequent death sentence sparked fierce controversy. Throughout his three-decade stay on Pennsylvania’s death row, Abu-Jamal’s supporters maintained that he is innocent. Organizations including Amnesty International and the City Government of Paris have alleged that the trial was tainted by racial discrimination and prosecutorial misconduct. While on death row, Abu-Jamal published many works, including a collection of memoirs Live From Death Row. His death sentence was overturned by a federal court as a result of an unconstitutional jury instruction in the penalty phase of his trial. That ruling was initially reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which directed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to consider the implications of a recent case it had decided. On remand, the Third Circuit again overturned Abu-Jamal’s death sentence and the Supreme Court declined to review that ruling. Maureen Faulkner (wife of Daniel Faulkner), as well as the Fraternal Order of Police, continued for many years to push for the sentence of death to be carried out. However, after the Supreme Court’s decision, she said she was willing to accept a life sentence, and the Philadelphia District Attorney agreed to withdraw the death penalty from the case. Abu-Jamal is now serving a life sentence.

Notable Exonerations

Nicholas Yarris was convicted in 1982 for the abduction, rape and murder of a young woman returning home from a day of work at the local mall. DNA evidence was collected at the crime scene but wasn’t the primary evidence in Yarris’ conviction. Multiple eyewitnesses testified to having seen a man resembling Yarris loitering in the vicinity of the shopping mall from which the victim was abducted. The prosecution also presented testimony from a prison guard and a jailhouse informant claiming that Yarris had confessed. Blood evidence was found that was the same blood type as Yarris. In 1989, Yarris sought postconviction DNA testing that was deemed inconclusive. Years later, in 2003, more sophisticated DNA testing had been developed. DNA evidence from blood on the killer’s gloves, skin under the victim’s fingernails, and semen from the victim’s panties were determined to have come a single unidentified source, who was not Nick Yarris. Yarris was released from death row, making him the 13th person exonerated from death row based on DNA evidence. The real perpetrator in the case has yet to be determined.

Six other men have been exonerated from Pennsylvania’s death row, and Frederick Thomas died on the row of terminal cancer while the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office appealed a judge’s ruling that no jury would have convicted him had it known a variety of facts that were not disclosed to it at the time of trial.

Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement

In Commonwealth v. Bradley (1972), the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled the Commonwealth’s death penalty sentencing procedures unconstitutional, implementing the Supreme Court’s decision in Furman v. Georgia​. Death row was emptied and sentences were judicially reduced to life. In 1974, overriding Governor Shapp’s veto, the legislature reenacted the death penalty, but this law was also found unconstitutional in 1977.

In 1978, a revised version of the death penalty statute was passed, again over Governor Shapp’s veto, reinstating the death penalty in Pennsylvania.

In 2011, the state legislature passed SR 6, initiating a study of the death penalty in Pennsylvania. The study is currently underway.

On February 13, 2015, Governor Tom Wolf announced a moratorium on executions, citing concerns about innocence, racial bias, and the death penalty’s effects on victims’ families. Governor Wolf indicated that the moratorium would be implemented by granting reprieves to each death row prisoner who did not receive a stay of execution from the courts.

Other Interesting Facts

Pennsylvania has the most onerous clemency prerequisites of any state, requiring the five-member Board of Pardons, which includes the Attorney General, the Lt. Governor, a corrections expert, a victim advocate, and a mental health expert, to unanimously recommend clemency before the Governor has the power to consider commutation. It has not granted any death row inmate clemency since Furman v. Georgia.

Pennsylvania has an automatic death warrant statute that requires the Governor or Corrections Secretary to prematurely set execution dates at the conclusion of the direct appeal process and within 30 days of the termination of any judicial stay. This results in a series of death warrants being signed before statutorily and constitutional mandated state and federal appeals have been filed. As a result, courts have stayed more than 95% of the death warrants. Governor Wolf has refused to sign death warrants; his Secretary of Corrections has issued notices of execution.

The three prisoners executed since 1978 have all been volunteers with serious mental health issues, whom courts found to have waived their rights to an appeals process.

Reading Eagle illustration by Bob Schneider (6/20/2016). Republished, courtesy of The Reading Eagle. See Nicole Brambila, Executing Justice: The discretionary nature of the death penalty in Pennsylvania, The Reading Eagle (June 20, 2016).
Reading Eagle illus­tra­tion by Bob Schneider (6/​20/​2016). Republished, cour­tesy of The Reading Eagle. See Nicole Brambila, Executing Justice: The dis­cre­tionary nature of the death penal­ty in Pennsylvania, The Reading Eagle (June 20, 2016).
Philadelphia skyline. Public domain photo.
Philadelphia sky­line. Public domain photo.

Resources

  • American Bar Association Pennsylvania Death Penalty Assessment
  • Department of Corrections
  • Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
  • Atlantic Center for Capital Representation
  • Defender Association of Philadelphia
  • Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association
  • Victims’ services
  • United States Court of Appeals (Third Circuit) death penalty case list

The administration of Pennsylvania death penalty has been the subject of a number of reports and analyses. You can find links to several of them below:

  • The Pennsylvania Supreme Court and Third Judicial Circuit of the U.S., Report of the Joint Task Force on Death Penalty Litigation in Pennsylvania (July 1990)
  • The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System, Final Report of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System (2005), Chapter 5, Indigent Defense in Pennsylvania, and Chapter 6, Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Imposition of the Death Penalty

DPIC Testimonies at Pennsylvania Legislative Hearings

Testimony before the Pennsylvania Senate Government Management and Cost Study Commission (June 7, 2010)

Testimony before the House Judiciary Committee (June 11, 2015)

Pennsylvania Execution Totals Since 1976

News & Developments


Conditions on Death Row

Feb 23, 2021

NEWS BRIEF — Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Death-Row Exoneree's Solitary Confinement Lawsuit

NEWS (2/​16/​21) — Pennsylvania: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has rein­stat­ed death-row exoneree Roderick Johnson’s lawsuit 

NEWS BRIEF — Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Death-Row Exoneree's Solitary Confinement Lawsuit

Innocence

Feb 12, 2021

Former Pennsylvania Death Row Prisoner Christopher Williams Released From Prison After Being Cleared of Another Murder

Pennsylvania death-row exoneree Christopher Williams (pic­tured) was released from prison on February 9, 2021, after being exon­er­at­ed in a sec­ond mur­der case. The sec­ond wrong­ful mur­der con­vic­tion had kept Williams incar­cer­at­ed aft…

Former Pennsylvania Death Row Prisoner Christopher Williams Released From Prison After Being Cleared of Another Murder

Innocence

Jan 27, 2021

Philadelphia Boxer Sent to Death Row by Unrebutted False Medical Testimony Released After 28 Years

Former light­weight and junior wel­ter­weight box­ing con­tender Anthony Fletcher (pic­tured) has been released from prison, 28 years after he was wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed of first-degree mur­der and sent to Pennsylvania’s d…

Philadelphia Boxer Sent to Death Row by Unrebutted False Medical Testimony Released After 28 Years

Innocence

Dec 17, 2020

Former Pennsylvania Death-Row Prisoner Roderick Johnson is Freed After ‘Egregious’ Prosecutorial Misconduct Bars Retrial

A for­mer Pennsylvania death-row pris­on­er has been freed, one month after the tri­al court barred his retri­al because of ​“egre­gious” pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct by the coun­ty dis­trict attor­ney. On December 1, 2020, Berks County…

Former Pennsylvania Death-Row Prisoner Roderick Johnson is Freed After ‘Egregious’ Prosecutorial Misconduct Bars Retrial

Arbitrariness

Nov 02, 2020

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of October 26, 2020

NEWS (10/​30/​20) — Florida: The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the con­vic­tion and death sen…

Representation

Oct 26, 2020

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of October 19, 2020

NEWS (10/​22/​20) — Florida: The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the con­vic­tion and death sen­tence for Daniel Craven, Jr.

Innocence

Jul 06, 2020

Kareem Johnson Becomes Nation’s 170th Death-Row Exoneree Since 1973

Former Pennsylvania death-row pris­on­er Kareem Johnson has been exon­er­at­ed, thir­teen years after being wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death by a Philadelphia jury. On July 1, 2020, the Phila…

Kareem Johnson Becomes Nation’s 170th Death-Row Exoneree Since 1973

Arbitrariness

Jul 01, 2020

Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of June 29, 2020

NEWS (7/​2/​20) — Florida: The Florida Supreme Court denied relief to death-row pris­on­er Lero…

Upcoming Executions

Jun 13, 2020

Death Warrant Update — Courts Halt Executions in Tennessee, Pennsylvania; Vacate Stay in Texas

NEWS (6/​12/​20) — Texas: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit lift­ed a stay of exe­cu­tion the fed­er­al d…

Innocence

Jun 09, 2020

Walter Ogrod Exonerated After 23 Years on Pennsylvania's Death Row

Twenty-eight years after Philadelphia pros­e­cu­tors first sought to take his life for the mur­der of four-year-old Barbara Jean Horn, Walter Ogrod (pic­tured, sec­ond from right, with mem­bers of his defense team) has b…

Walter Ogrod Exonerated After 23 Years on Pennsylvania's Death Row
View More

View Information by State

Additional Information


  • Death Penalty: Yes
  • Number of Executions Since 1976: 3
  • Number of Executions Before 1976 (may include federal and military executions): 1040
  • Current Death Row Population: 142
  • Women on Death Row: 1
  • Number of Innocent People Freed From Death Row: 10
  • Number of Clemencies Granted: 0
  • Date of Reinstatement (following Furman v. Georgia): March 26, 1974
  • First Execution After Reinstatement: 1995
  • Location of Death Row (Men): SCI Greene (Wayneburg) or SCI Graterford
  • Location of Death Row (Women): SCI Muncy
  • Location of Executions: SCI Rockview
  • Capital: Harrisburg
  • Population: 12,702,379
  • Murder Rate (per 100,000 population): 5.8
  • Is Life Without Parole an Option?: Yes
  • Can a defendant get death for a felony in which s/he was not responsible for the murder?: No
  • Method of Execution: Injection
  • How is Sentence Determined?: Jury
  • Clemency Process: Governor has authority to grant clemency with advice of Board of Pardons and Paroles
  • Governor: Tom Wolf

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