Test Drive Our New Site! We have some improvements in the works that we're excited for you to experience. Click here to try our new, faster, mobile friendly beta site. We will be maintaining our current version of the site thru the end of 2024, so you can switch back as our improvements continue.
Legislation Quick Search
Advanced Search
Pennsylvania State Senate
04/25/2024 04:23 PM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20150&cosponId=17760
Share:
Home / Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

Subscribe to PaLegis Notifications
NEW!

Subscribe to receive notifications of new Co-Sponsorship Memos circulated

By Member | By Date | Keyword Search


Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: March 16, 2015 09:30 AM
From: Senator John C. Rafferty, Jr.
To: All Senate members
Subject: Resolution - Condemn Halt to Death Penalty
 
I will be introducing a Senate Resolution condemning the governor’s actions regarding the death penalty moratorium and calling upon him to faithfully enforce the laws of our Commonwealth.

It is important to note less than 1 percent of convicted murderers in Pennsylvania receive a death sentence. This shows just how rarely this punishment is carried out. Capital punishment is reserved for the most horrific and despicable criminals.

The victims of violent crimes should be able to rest assured that a sentence, properly imposed, will be faithfully carried out. The citizens of Pennsylvania deserve to know that their laws, properly enacted, will be faithfully executed by the governor.

The governor’s actions could deny justice in the cases of the following charged or convicted murderers:
  • Eric Frein, who is charged with the pre-meditated, cold-blooded murder of Pennsylvania State Police Corporal Bryon Dickson, and of seriously wounding Trooper Alex Douglass, and who terrorized two counties for weeks and was only captured after a massive manhunt;
  • Gary Fellenbaum and Jillian Tait, who have been charged with brutally and repeatedly beating a 3-year-old boy, and then leaving him to die in a Chester County trailer park while they had sex and went out for pizza;
  • Hubert Michael, who confessed to and was convicted of kidnapping, raping, and murdering a 16-year-old girl simply because she was female;
  • Mark Spotz, who went on a killing spree that wreaked devastation upon four victims, broke the hearts of their families, and shocked communities through a swathe of central Pennsylvania; and
  • Stephen Rex Edminston, who kidnapped a two-year-old girl and proceeded to rape, scalp and murder her with such violence that her burned body exhibited a practical obliteration of her genital area.

I urge you to join me in sponsoring this resolution.