Philadelphia DA asks Court to declare death penalty system unconstitutional
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner—who vowed as a candidate not to seek the death penalty—has asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to declare that the sentence, as applied, violates the state’s Constitution.
"Because of the arbitrary manner in which it has been applied, the death penalty violates our state Constitution's prohibition against cruel punishments," states a brief filed by Krasner's office tonight in the case Jermont Cox v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
"It really is not about the worst offenders," Krasner told The Appeal. "It really is about poverty. It really is about race."