Rendell on executions: Fix process or end death penalty

HARRISBURG - Gov. Rendell said Friday that the state effectively has no death penalty because of an "endless appeal system." He called on the General Assembly either to streamline the process or do away with capital punishment.

Rendell, who steps down Tuesday when Gov.-elect Tom Corbett is inaugurated, made his remarks minutes after signing his final half-dozen death warrants, bringing his total to 119 since taking office in 2003.

"Not one of these individuals has been executed or is even close to a reasonable date," Rendell said at a Capitol news conference.

Rendell, a death-penalty advocate, said capital punishment must be expeditiously meted out or eliminated. Absent the death penalty, Rendell suggested, the state should institute life sentences without possibility of parole or pardon.

Since the death penalty was reinstated in Pennsylvania in 1978, five governors have issued 386 death warrants. Only three people have been executed in that time, including Philadelphia serial killer Gary R. Heidnik. Those executions were carried out because the inmates voluntarily gave up their appeals.

There are 213 men and four women on the state's death row.

Sixteen were prosecuted in Philadelphia while Rendell was district attorney between 1978 and 1986.

Rendell said that while he continued to support the death penalty as a deterrent if it is carried out "in an expeditious way," he blamed what he called the appeals system for delays that have lasted decades.

"It revictimizes victims' families and it's a waste of money," he said. "A 15-, 20-, or 25-year lapse between the imposition of the death penalty and actual execution is no deterrent."

Republican leaders who control the House and Senate were generally receptive to Rendell's request to examine the death-penalty process.

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware) said it was worth considering, along with other criminal justice issues. House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny) said he would send the governor's letter to the Judiciary Committee for consideration.

Corbett, the outgoing attorney general, supports the death penalty and does not favor changes to the system. Spokesman Kevin Harley said Corbett blames the delays in Pennsylvania on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and says there's nothing the state can do about a federal court's inaction.

"The problem is not with Pennsylvania or the Pennsylvania courts. The problem is with the Third Circuit Court, which has overturned many death penalties," Harley said.

Among the judges on the appellate court is Rendell's wife, Marjorie O. Rendell.

William DiMascio, executive director of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, a group that advocates for prisoners and their families, said that while he would like to eliminate the death penalty, until then there should be leeway in sentencing to consider, for instance, accomplices in murder cases.

Of the six death warrants signed Friday, three are for Philadelphians: Larry Brown, 33, convicted of the 2003 shooting death of Robert Crawford; Kareem Johnson, 26, for the 2002 shooting death of Walter Smith; and Christopher Smith, 29, for the 2002 shooting death of Rasheed Grant.