Harrisburg, May 1, 2007 - State Senator Jim Ferlo (D-Pittsburgh) today announced legislation that would suspend executions in Pennsylvania for two years and form a study commission to look into every aspect of the state’s capital punishment system.

“Unequal justice is being meted out in Pennsylvania,” Ferlo said. “Many individuals have found themselves victims of our justice system, rather than the beneficiaries of it.

“The deplorable truth is that incarcerated but innocent prisoners, most often minorities, find themselves behind the eight ball of economic disparity when it comes to arranging their defense,” Ferlo added.  “They are the collateral damage of a system that is determined to convict, sometimes recklessly.”

Appearing alongside Senator Ferlo were several individuals who described how they have suffered under Pennsylvania’s capital punishment system. They included a mother of a murder victim, a father of a murder victim, and a former death row inmate.

“Suspending the execution of inmates, until we can be certain that Pennsylvania is innocent of the heinous act of killing its own innocent citizens, is fair and just,” Ferlo said. “History has shown we are guilty  -- and that is unacceptable.”

Since 1986, a half-dozen former death row inmates have been freed from death row in Pennsylvania after incontrovertible evidence proved them innocent.

Other senators who co-sponsored the bill and are members of the Pennsylvania Moratorium Coalition (PMC) joined Ferlo.

The PMC is a newly formed collaborative of 15 organizations dedicated to addressing the flaws in Pennsylvania’s death penalty system.

“It sickens me to think that even one innocent Pennsylvanian has been put to death by a state government sworn to protect and preserve their human and legal rights,” Ferlo said.  “And it pains me still more to think we would do nothing about it.”

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