Press release template for a city/county council resolution

Resolution Urges Moratorium On Executions

Hometown City Council Joins Nationwide Call for Temporary Halt to Executions

The resolution comes as the death penalty has come under greater scrutiny in Pennsylvania. A new study by the state’s largest University recently revealed that Pennsylvania’s death penalty system could execute an innocent person.

“More and more Pennsylvanians are deeply concerned that the death penalty is broken,” said Councilman Geoff Dunley, who sponsored the council’s resolution. “The council is just doing its job to represent our city’s residents as part of that growing chorus.”

Pennsylvania has had several people sentenced to death who were later found innocent. At least one of those exonerated, Sam Smith, was from Nexttown, just over the river from Hometown. Smith was sentenced to death for the murder of Jenny Thomas in 1990. He was on death row for 12 years before his innocence came to light.

Hometown itself is responsible for over half of all death sentences pending in the state. Studies have shown that most people on Pennsylvania's death row were too poor to afford their own attorney.

Councilman Smith added, "We want to send a clear message to our leadership in Harrisburg that our city is deeply concerned that Pennsylvania's death penalty has made mistakes.”

Dorothy Jones, a local mother of two who was present for the city council’s vote, added, “My neighbors have many views on the death penalty, but we all agree that there’s no room for mistakes when a life is on the line.”

Other city council members expressed concern about the money being spent on the death penalty. "We need to know just how much of our tax dollars we are spending on this system and whether we could put these funds to better public use, especially with the economic downturn here in Hometown," council member Don Davis said.

In passing tonight's resolution, Hometown, PA joins at least 152 city, town, and county councils nationwide that have called for a moratorium on executions, as well as 4,836 other organizations. The national listing of organizations passing moratorium resolutions is maintained by Equal Justice USA, a national organization. For information about the national campaign for a moratorium on executions, visit www.ejusa.org or call Equal Justice USA at (718) 801-8940.