LEACH TO HOST PRESS CONFERENCE TO ANNOUNCE DEATH PENALTY LEGISLATION

            HARRISBURG, March 15 – State Sen. Daylin Leach (D-Delaware/Montgomery) will hold a press conference in the Capitol Building Media Center Tuesday, March 16 at 2 p.m. to announce the introduction of a groundbreaking bill that would repeal the death penalty in Pennsylvania.

            The bill, which is currently circulating for co-sponsorship, would eliminate the option of capital punishment during criminal sentencing. Instead, the legislation would only allow for a maximum sentence of life in prison.

            The press conference will coincide with a lobby day by the nonprofit organization Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. Over forty advocates plan to meet with state legislators regarding the death penalty and urge the suspension of executions until a thorough study of the capital punishment system can be conducted.

            Scheduled speakers include Leach; Ashlee Shelton, Executive Director of Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty; Vicki Schieber, board member of Maryland Citizens Against State Executions and speaker for The Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty. Schieber, whose daughter Shannon was murdered in 1998, has been a vocal supporter of repealing the death penalty since 2002; and Ray Krone, a former death row inmate who was later proven innocent and exonerated from the crimes for which he was charged. Krone is now an advocate for the abolition of the death penalty.

WHAT:   Death Penalty Press Conference

WHEN:   Tuesday, March 16
              2 p.m.

WHERE: Capitol Building
              East Wing Media Center 

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