"I don't think the death penalty is going away in Pennsylvania," said Eshbach, who handled the Banks appeal and said she was pleased by the court's ruling. In the Cooper case, the high court said a new sentencing hearing must be held because of "egregious and bizarre" remarks made by his attorney during the 2003 trial that essentially sanctioned the death penalty for Cooper.
Banks, now 65, has been awaiting execution since 1983. He was convicted of a 1982 shooting rampage that killed 13 people, including five of his own children. The court ordered a new hearing to determine whether he is mentally competent to be put to death.
Cooper and Banks are among 228 inmates awaiting execution in Pennsylvania, which has the fourth-largest death row in the nation. Just three inmates have been executed since the state reinstated the penalty in 1978, and all three essentially asked for execution after giving up their appeals.
The appeals pipeline remains clogged as remaining death-row inmates seek new trials or sentencing hearings. Many of these prisoners have won significant victories in state and federal courts because of legal errors in their trials, often because of poor defense representation.
Since 2000, about 50 inmates who had been facing execution have been resentenced to life in prison.
Among those now awaiting a pivotal ruling is Philadelphia's best-known death-row inmate, Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose case has been followed around the world.
He was sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of Police Officer Daniel Faulkner. His appeal is now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and a ruling could come early in the new year.
The U.S. Supreme Court will also hear arguments this month on a major death penalty issue - whether lethal injections are a form of cruel and unusual punishment.
