We celebrate the life of Dr. King on Monday, so mentioning a milestone from
2013 seemed proper to me.
We had this milestone when, in a dreary Bucks County hearing room, the
prosecutor conceded that David Ramtahal should be resentenced to a sentence
other than death. Â David became the one-hundredth person scheduled for
state-killing in Pennsylvania whose death sentence was abolished.
Shortly after that, Brian Thomas’ death sentence was abolished (number
101). Â Ron Hanible’s death sentence was abolished (number 102). Â Lamont
Overby’s death sentence was abolished (number 103). Â And Cam Ly’s death
sentence was abolished (number 104).
Pennsylvania, with the fourth largest death row in the United States, has
had no sweeping judicial ruling, abolitionist legislation or commutative
executive action protecting condemned human beings from its killing regime.
This milestone was achieved one life at a time — one investigation,
petition, hearing, appeal, negotiation at a time.
We celebrate the life of Dr. King on Monday. Â He thinks we are pretty cool.
— Billy Nolas
Senior Litigator,
Capital Habeas Unit
