Synagogue murders renew Pennsylvania capital punishment debate

The hate crime murders of 11 Pittsburgh synagogue members have brought capital punishment back into the forefront in Pennsylvania.

One of the first things Gov. Tom Wolf did after taking office in 2015 was issue a moratorium on executions in Pennsylvania.

Within hours of the synagogue shootings, both President Trump and Pennsylvania gubernatorial Republican candidate Scott Wagner had called for Robert Bowers' quick conviction and execution.

In an interview on WPHT Tuesday, Wagner said he would end Wolf's moratorium if elected.

Since Bowers is being prosecuted federally and not by Pennsylvania, Wolf may be able to avoid an 11th-hour, midterm election debate on capital punishment in the commonwealth.

"This was a heinous crime that deserves swift justice and Gov. Wolf has full confidence ... the U.S. Attorney's Office will ensure that for the victims," Wolf's press secretary, J.J. Abbott, said Tuesday.

"On the state level, the governor believes that continuing to issue reprieves is an implication of the recent report to the General Assembly and that the moratorium should continue until these problems are properly addressed and we are waiting to hear from the General Assembly on their plans to address the report and its recommendations for legislative changes."

The death penalty under Gov. Wolf

No one has been executed in the commonwealth since 1999, but Wolf, a Democrat seeking re-election, voiced his concerns early in his administration on whether the death penalty was fairly sought by prosecutors in Pennsylvania.

Wolf's concerns were that the death penalty system was "riddled with flaws, making it error prone, expensive, and anything but infallible."

In December, the state Supreme Court ruled on the case of Terrance Williams, who had been sentenced to death in 1986 for the beating death of church deacon Amos Norwood in Philadelphia in 1984. The court ruled that he be re-sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The court determined that the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office had violated Williams' Constitutional and civil rights by withholding evidence from Williams' jury that Norwood had repeatedly sexually abused Williams when he was a teen.

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Williams, now off of death row, continues to appeal his first-degree murder conviction.

When he established his moratorium, Wolf said he was awaiting a senate committee review -- that predated his election -- on the use of the death penalty in Pennsylvania.

More:Death row Pennsylvania: Condemned men with two death sentences

Although the Senate committee has since issued its recommendations on how to levy the death penalty in a racially balanced way, Wolf interpreted the committee report to mean that it supports his moratorium. 

Terrance Williams case

Terrance L. Williams was convicted of first-degree murder in Philadelphia in 1986 for the June 1984 killing of church deacon Amos Norwood. He was sentenced to death in 1987.

Williams and a co-conspirator had beaten Norwood, 56, to death in a Philadelphia cemetery during a robbery for gambling money. Williams returned some hours later and set Norwood's body on fire. According to court documents, Norwood allegedly had sexually abused Williams, 18 at the time of the murder, since age 13.

The murder was Williams' second killing. The standout Germantown High School quarterback had been convicted of third-degree murder for the stabbing and beating death of Herbert Hamilton, 51, in January 1984 in Williams' home. Williams was 17. Hamilton reportedly had been paying Williams for sex and threatened to make the relationship public.

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Williams received a reprieve from Wolf on Feb. 13, 2015.

In 2017, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office had withheld information from Williams' jury that Norwood was a sexual abuser of young males.

Williams was re-sentenced to life in prison without parole for Norwood's murder, and he was transferred off of death row. Williams' murder conviction remains on appeal.

More:Who's on death row in York County murders?

Corrections secretary signs death warrants

With Wolf abstaining from signing execution warrants, that duty was taken up by Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel, who has signed 32 warrants since January 2015.

Wolf is the first Pennsylvania governor to refuse to sign execution warrants since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1976.

Gov. Tom Ridge signed 220 death warrants, including those for Keith Zettlemoyer and Leon Moser, who both were executed in 1995, and Gary Heidnik, who was executed in 1999.

Gov. Ed Rendell signed 119 death warrants. Gov. Tom Corbett signed 48 and Gov. Bob Casey signed 21.

Acting Gov. Mark Singel, Casey's lieutenant governor, signed one warrant during the six months he filled in for Casey, who was recovering from surgery in 1993.

Since 2015, Wolf has issued five reprieves for death row inmates, including Williams,  facing imminent execution dates.

Other death row inmates reprieved by Wolf

Robert Diamond was convicted in Bucks County in 2009 of two first-degree murder charges for killing two former co-workers in 2008. Wolf issued a reprieve for Diamond on March 5, 2015. 

Death warrants for Williams and Diamond had been signed by Corbett.

Hubert Lester Michael pleaded guilty in 1994 in York County for the 1993 murder of 16-year-old Trista Eng. Michael, who came within hours of execution in 2012 before receiving a stay, got a reprieve from Wolf on June 3, 2015, 45 days after Wetzel signed Michael's fifth execution warrant.

Michael Ballard pleaded guilty in 2011 in Northampton County for killing his girlfriend, her father, her 87-year-old wheelchair-bound grandfather and a neighbor who heard screams and tried to intervene. Facing four death sentences, Ballard received a reprieve from Wolf on Oct. 7, 2015.

And, Antyane Robinson was convicted of first-degree murder in Cumberland County in 1997 for the murder of a romantic rival. He received a reprieve from Wolf on Dec. 16, 2015.

The warrants for Ballard and Robinson also had been signed by Wetzel.