Dead Man Walking?

As Marcel Johnson sits in a jail cell in Bucks County Prison awaiting, what looks to be a string legal hearings, the Bucks County District Attorney’s office has a very significant decision to make. Should they seek the death penalty as part of their prosecution of Johnson?

Whether or not prosecutors file the intent to pursue the death penalty, many say should face the state’s ultimate  punishment for the triple homicide he is accused of.

Bucks County Assistant District Attorney  Matt Wenitraub said at Friday’s press conference he believes the case fits the criteria set forth by the commonwealth to file intent t0 seek the death penalty paperwork.

According to the state, there are 18 mitigating/aggravating factors to be considered when notifying the court of the prosecutor’s intent to file for a death penalty case.

Weintraub used one of the key words, “heinous,” which is outlined on the list  several times at Friday’s press conference to announce Johnson’s arrest.

For the  list 18 factors as disseminated by Pennsylvania Law are comprehensive and cover an array of circumstances. From the information provided in court documents and investigators below is a list that seems to fit the factors needed in the case against J0hnson. 

1. The murder was especially heinous, atrocious, cruel or depraved (or involved torture)
2. The capital offense was committed during the commission of, attempt of, or escape from a specified felony (such as robbery, kidnapping, rape, sodomy, arson, oral copulation, train wrecking, carjacking, criminal gang activity, drug dealing, or aircraft piracy)
3. The defendant knowingly created a grave risk of death for one or more persons in addition to the victim of the offense
4. The victim was a child under 12 years of age
5. At the time of the killing the victim was in her third trimester of pregnancy or the defendant had knowledge of the victim’s pregnancy

Capitol Punishment in Pennsylvania: A Brief Current Review 

Capital punishment was reinstated in Pennsylvania in 1978 and in November of 1990 Governor Robert P. Casey signed a measure changing the method the state used on death row inmates from electrocution to lethal injection, according to state records.

Since 2007, eight people in Pennsylvania have been sentenced to death, state documents say.

Three people have been executed since 1978 in the commonwealth with the last being in 1999, state records show. Philadelphia torture killer Gary Heidnik abandoned his appeals and asked  for death.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, there are currently 191 death row inmates throughout the corrections system.

Published reports prior to Gov. Tom Corbett taking office predicted the opposite would happen due in part to his prosecutor background and pro death penalty stance.

Corbett has signed 29 death warrants since taking office, signing off on two just weeks ago.  Robert Gene Rega who was convicted for the murder of a night watchman in January of 2000 was one of the two warrants Corbett affirmed, is scheduled to be executed  on Jan. 28, 2014.

The federal court of appeals that covers Pennsylvania is more liberal and tends to reverse death sentences Corbett said in a 2011 radio interview.  

Currently there are  five  people on death row who were judged for their crimes in Bucks County: Frank Chester (1989), Robert Diamond (2009), Robert Flor  (2006), Richard Laird (1989), and Alfonso Sanchez  (2008).

There are three phases for death penalty cases that defendants go through, according to the department of corrections. The first is conviction and sentencing, which places the convict in solitary confinement for 22 hours a day. The second phase occurs when a governor signs the death warrant. The third is the inmate’s transfer to Rockview State Prison, near State College, where executions take place

If the District Attorney’s office files notice of intent to seek the death penalty and Johnson is convicted of first -degree murder he will  he go through the justice system before he  is in fact a dead man walking. Only time will tell.

The last person put to death against his will in Pennsylvania was in 1962. Elmo Smith of Montgomery County was electrocuted just 18 months after he was convicted of murdering and raping a schoolgirl.

Previous:

• Man Charged for ‘Brutal’ Murders of Pregnant Mother, Daughter
• Vigil Held for Murdered Pregnant Mother, Daughter
• Father Starts Memorial Fund & Foundation for Murdered Daughter in Time of Grief
• Mother, Daughter Killed in Bristol Twp.
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• PHOTOS: Double Murder Investigation in Bristol Twp.
• Vigil Held for Murdered Pregnant Mother, Daughter
• Investigation Into Murder of Pregnant Mother, Young Daughter Continuing
• ‘Person of Interest’ in Killings Arrested for Drugs, Cops Say