Petition to state Supreme Court says Washington County DA is abusing power to seek death penalty
A team of defense attorneys filed a petition against the Washington County district attorney on Tuesday, claiming he's abused his power to seek the death penalty.
Frances Harvey is with the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation, a non-profit organization that offers support for defendants in death penalty cases. The organization is now petitioning the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on behalf of two people currently facing the possibility of death in Washington County.
"He can't exercise discretion to choose what we usually think of as the worst of the worst cases," Harvey said. "In every case, we see that he's making this decision about the death penalty in a way that's not related to the actual facts of the case."
In the court filing, the organization argues that since Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh took office in 2021, he's sought the death sentence in 11 out of 18 homicides, and has misused the prospect of the death penalty to pressure defendants into guilty pleas, force their cooperation, and as a political tool.
The attorneys also say at one point Walsh was prosecuting about a quarter of the capital cases in the state, despite the county representing only 1.6 percent of the population.
The petition is requesting for "some or all" of the following changes: for Walsh to be required to have an out-of-county judge, the state Attorney General's office, or a court-appointed special master to review death penalty decisions; to prohibit Walsh from seeking death sentences in the petitioners' cases; and to get an outside judge to review every capital case since 2021.
"It's absolutely ludicrous, nonsensical, without merit, filed by a liberal think tank that's anti-death penalty from Philadelphia," Walsh said.
Despite the petition arguing Walsh has frequently failed to show evidence of first-degree murder and aggravating factors, Walsh said the vast majority of his cases have dealt with babies, and that age as an aggravating factor can easily be argued in court.
"This office will protect the most vulnerable in society, which children fit into," Walsh said. "We will seek justice and punish to the highest extent of the law people who brutally beat babies."
The DA has 14 days to respond to the petition.
It's important to note that since the 1970s, only three people have been executed in Pennsylvania, and a moratorium remains in effect.
