Wolf Halts Death Penalty in Pa.

Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday placed a moratorium on the death penalty in Pennsylvania, saying it is a “flawed system” that needs additional study.

“Today’s action comes after significant consideration and reflection. This moratorium is in no way an expression of sympathy for the guilty on death row, all of whom have been convicted of committing heinous crimes,” Wolf said.

Wolf said the moratorium will remain in effect until he has received and reviewed a report from the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Commission on Capital Punishment.

“This decision is based on a flawed system that has been proven to be an endless cycle of court proceedings as well as ineffective, unjust and expensive,” Wolf said, noting that “since the reinstatement of the death penalty, 150 people have been exonerated from death row nationwide, including six men in Pennsylvania.”

Wolf on Friday also granted a temporary reprieve to inmate Terrance Williams, who was scheduled to be executed on March 4.

Williams was convicted in Philadelphia County Court of first-degree murder for the beating death of Amos Norwood during a robbery on June 11, 1984, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections said.

Pennsylvania executes people by lethal injection.

Pennsylvania has not executed anyone since 1999, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections said, when Gary Heidnik was executed for the murders of Deborah Dudley and Sandra Lindsay.

Heidnik is one of only three people executed in Pennsylvania since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

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