House Bill 166
RAISING THE BURDEN OF PROOF TO IMPOSE THE DEATH PENALTY
House Bill 166 Bill Information
Description: HB 166 would modify the sentencing procedure for first-degree murder cases in Pennsylvania by adding the legal standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt" to the jury's decision-making process when determining whether aggravating circumstances outweigh mitigating circumstances. This change would add a higher legal standard of proof to a jury's sentencing deliberations, potentially making death penalty sentences more difficult to impose.
PA Justice Alliance Member Positions & Feedback
-
When a Pennsylvania jury finds both aggravating and mitigating factors during a capital sentencing proceeding, it then weighs those factors to determine whether to impose a death sentence or a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. HB 166 would require a jury to find that the aggravators outweigh the mitigators beyond a reasonable doubt before imposing the most severe punishment under law. It would ensure that a capital jury’s ultimate decision about the appropriate punishment, where the stakes are literally life or death, is made using a correspondingly serious standard.
The passage of HB 166 would bring Pennsylvania law into alignment with a principle vigorously and consistently repeated by the U.S. Supreme Court over the last few decades: that “death is different.” In short, just as we are sufficiently concerned that an innocent person might be wrongfully convicted, and thus require proof beyond a reasonable doubt, so must we be concerned that someone undeserving of the death penalty might nonetheless receive it. HB 166 guarantees that the same standard applies to both situations.
Read more:
-
'Beyond a reasonable doubt' is the burden of proof instruction given by the judge to the jury for deciding whether the accused is guilty or not guilty of the murder charge. Applying the same burden of proof to decide whether someone is executed establishes consistency in the jury instructions and fairness in the decision-making process. The Commonwealth should not take someone’s life unless there is no reasonable doubt in the decision of the jury that the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors.
As such, HB 166 would ensure that the Commonwealth meets the highest burden of proof under the law before a jury could impose the death penalty.
Read more:
-
