Death Penalty

With nearly 300 people across the nation exonerated after being sentenced to death, the risk of executing an innocent person is a reality in the 33 states, including Pennsylvania, where capital punishment remains legal. That risk alone should be enough to persuade responsible elected officials to scrap the death penalty — as Connecticut did in April, following the lead of Illinois, New Mexico, and New Jersey. There can be no more compelling reason for taking that step than evidence that the wrong person has been executed for a crime.

Year after year, polls show that about 60 percent of U.S. citizens support executing people convicted of murder. Until those citizens become jurors. An Inquirer analysis of almost 2,000 Pennsylvania homicide cases filed between Jan. 1, 2007, and Feb. 3 shows that just 3 percent of first-degree murder cases - the only charge for which capital punishment is possible - that went to a jury ended with the jury's choosing death. A third of all first-degree murder cases ended with a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole, the remainder with guilty verdicts on lesser degrees of homicide, guilty pleas, acquittals, or dismissal of charges.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of Arthur Bomar, who murdered college athlete Aimee Willard in 1996, prompting calls for tougher federal and state parole guidelines. The justices unanimously rejected Bomar's appeal, which claimed, in part, that Delaware County discriminates racially when seeking the death penalty. The decision, dated Friday, was released yesterday. Bomar, 44, was convicted five years ago of kidnapping, raping and murdering Willard, 22, of Brookhaven.

A Mantua woman was convicted yesterday of second-degree murder after a jury heard her former lover describe how she had persuaded him to help her kill her elderly "sugar daddy" and then rob him so the two could have money to buy cocaine. Brenda Watkins, 26, of the 3800 block of North Olive Street, faces a mandatory life sentence in prison for the Dec. 20, 1985, slaying of Willie John Stokes, 70, a man who police said was lured to his death by a promise from Watkins that she would be his live-in companion.

I AGREE with letter- writer Lynn Thistlewood about the death penalty. My father was killed 28 years ago at his place of business. Our family life was destroyed by this. He was only 49 years young. The killers got life in prison. Big deal. They should have died the way my father did. Nancy Branca Philadelphia

Too few politicians today are willing to act in accordance with their conscience when doing so might risk their careers. Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is doing that, though, with his push to abolish the death penalty in his state. O'Malley faces a tough fight, but his cause is just. The majority of Maryland residents support capital punishment. The General Assembly in Annapolis remains divided over the issue. By forcing lawmakers to take a stand on the death penalty, O'Malley risks rankling lawmakers he may need for other legislative battles.

As a practicing Roman Catholic and an advocate of the death penalty for convicted murderers, I disagree with Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua's opposition. I am 100 percent behind Gov. Ridge. I voted for him because, in addition to his many good ideas, he promised to sign death warrants for convicted murderers. Convicted cold-blooded killers should pay the price for their inhuman actions. JAMES McDONNELL Philadelphia The church has always been against the death penalty, but there are people on death row for whom the death penalty is just.

RE BRUCE Castor's recent op-ed on Judge Sotomayor: I agree that Sotomayor's position on the death penalty and other politically charged issues must be vetted properly by the Senate. But the case cited, Beard v. Kindler, which will be heard this fall by the Supreme Court, is not a death-penalty case after all. The question to be decided is a technical one on the validity of a state criminal procedural rule. Notwithstanding this important distinction, Castor has trotted out the same ol' Republican scare tactics in an effort to curry public opposition to Sotomayor.

After the only man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing was reported to have died Sunday, two South Jersey families who lost daughters that day were left to wonder if anyone else would be brought to justice. Susan Cohen of Cape May Court House and Stan Maslowski of Haddonfield say there are lingering questions about who else was responsible for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 that exploded over Scotland, killing 259 onboard and 11 on the ground. Cohen - whose daughter Theodora, 20, a Syracuse University theater major, was among the dead - worries that the U.S. and British governments will see the death of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi as an excuse to stop investigating the bombing.

After the only man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing was reported to have died Sunday, two South Jersey families who lost daughters that day were left to wonder if anyone else will be brought to justice. Susan Cohen, of Cape May Court House, and Stan Maslowski, of Haddonfield, say there are lingering questions about who else was responsible for the bombing of a Pan Am plane that exploded over Scotland, killing 259 onboard and 11 on the ground. Cohen, whose 20-year-old daughter Theodora, a Syracuse University theater major, was among the dead, worries that the U.S. and British governments will see the death of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi as an excuse to stop investigating the bombing.

With nearly 300 people across the nation exonerated after being sentenced to death, the risk of executing an innocent person is a reality in the 33 states, including Pennsylvania, where capital punishment remains legal. That risk alone should be enough to persuade responsible elected officials to scrap the death penalty — as Connecticut did in April, following the lead of Illinois, New Mexico, and New Jersey. There can be no more compelling reason for taking that step than evidence that the wrong person has been executed for a crime.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - The man who once bragged about planning Sept. 11 "from A to Z" may mount a defense after all to charges that he orchestrated the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, with families of the dead watching intently from the United States on closed-circuit TV. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, charged with four others with planning and helping to carry out the 2001 attack that sent hijacked jetliners into the World Trade...

In a low but steady voice, Donte Johnson on Monday rejected an offer from the District Attorney's Office to plead guilty and receive a life-without-parole prison sentence in the June 2010 rape and murder of Sabina Rose O'Donnell, the 20-year-old Northern Liberties woman whose slaying behind her apartment building rocked the trendy community. Johnson, 20, of 11th Street near Poplar, rejected the same offer in December 2010, when city prosecutors were talking about seeking the death penalty against him. They've since opted not to pursue the death penalty, which means Johnson, ironically, would face a life sentence if a jury finds him guilty of first-degree murder.

Conn. abolishes the death penalty HARTFORD, Conn. - Gov. Dannel P. Malloy quietly signed a law Wednesday that ends the state's death penalty for future crimes, making Connecticut the 17th state to abolish capital punishment. The Democrat signed the bill behind closed doors, without fanfare. An aide said Malloy was surrounded by lawmakers, clergy, and family members of murder victims. While he called it a "historic moment," Malloy said in a written statement that it was a time "for sober reflection, not celebration.

WASHINGTON - A Pentagon official signaled on Wednesday that the Army could lay off as many as 24,000 enlisted personnel and up to 5,000 officers within five years to meet a projected reduction in the force driven by budget cuts and the winding down of two wars. Pressed on the possibility of involuntary terminations, Thomas Lamont, an assistant secretary of the Army, told a Senate Armed Services panel that layoffs were possible as the Army shrinks from a peak of 570,000 to 490,000.

It's another edition of Global Tattle and we begin in India, where — don't let the kids read this one — Bollywood beauty Meenakshi Thapar was kidnapped, strangled and beheaded while shooting her latest film, "Heroine. " According to the London Telegraph, Thapar's killers were two actors she met on set. She had allegedly been bragging about her family's wealth when Amit Jaiswal and his lover Preeti Surin decided to invite her on a trip to see the Buddhist temples of Gorakhpur.

OSLO, Norway - The right-wing fanatic on trial for massacring 77 people in Norway says he wants either freedom or death, calling the country's prison terms "pathetic" and arguing for the return of capital punishment, which was last used here to execute Nazi collaborators after World War II. In the third day of his terror trial, Anders Behring Breivik was grilled by prosecutors about the anti-Muslim militant group he claims to belong to. ...

HARTFORD, Conn. - The vote to repeal Connecticut's death penalty brought a moment of triumph for Elizabeth Brancato, a lifelong opponent of capital punishment despite the murder of her mother in 1979. Brancato had lobbied lawmakers for years, becoming more resolved against capital punishment as she met families of other victims frustrated by endless appeals. She also started a blog to highlight the voices of other victims' relatives in favor of repeal that she felt were overshadowed in the debate.