Candidates sound off on death penalty, plea bargains
Incumbent candidate for Fayette County District Attorney Jack Heneks, Jr. comments during a debate with his opponent John Cupp, Jr.
Candidate for Fayette County District Attorney John Cupp, Jr. comments during a debate with his opponent Jack Heneks, Jr.
The following is the third in a four-part series on the race for Fayette County district attorney.
The death penalty has not been sought in a Fayette County homicide case since a 2005 double homicide in German Township.
John S. Cupp Jr. and Jack R. Heneks Jr., both Democratic candidates for the county’s chief prosecutor seat on Nov. 8, said that they would evaluate each case to determine if seeking it is appropriate. The death penalty only can be sought in cases where prosecutors believe there are at least one of several “aggravating factors” present.
Those factors have been delineated by the Legislature and include killing in the course of a felony, multiple killings or torture. A death sentence only can be imposed on someone convicted of first-degree murder, and only can be done by a unanimous jury vote.
“I think the death penalty is a necessary deterrent and a final solution in an appropriate case. I think the reason the death penalty has not been sought is because the prosecutor has not thought it was an appropriate case,” Cupp said. “I would exercise that discretion, and I would never suggest without knowing a plethora of facts whether I would think the death penalty is an appropriate sanction or not, but I believe it should be maintained as an appropriate sanction.”
Heneks, who has been the acting district attorney since his predecessor was elected to the bench, called the death penalty “the ultimate punishment, the ultimate vengeance.”
He noted that death penalty cases will be litigated for a long time, citing the Mark Breakiron case. Breakiron, convicted in the 1987 stabbing death at a German Township bar, was sentenced to death. However, years of appeals ensued, and recently, a federal judge overturned his first-degree murder conviction.
“I think if the death penalty is truly to be used as a deterrent, you need to have a speedier disposition of those cases,” Heneks said.
During a meeting with the HeraldStandard.com editorial board, the candidates also offered their thoughts on plea bargains, which end criminal cases through a guilty or no contest plea as opposed to a trial.
“The system could not operate without the plea bargain process,” Heneks said.
He said that plea bargains are done according to guidelines, and said with one, monthly criminal court week to conduct trials, pleas are a “necessary evil.”
“We try to be fair and consistent, but it’s something the criminal system could not do without,” Heneks said, noting that the ultimate goal is “to do justice for the victim.”
Cupp said that people misunderstand plea bargain to mean that someone gets a lesser punishment for entering into one.
“To the extent that the statewide guidelines are applied and someone is willing to acknowledge that they committed a crime and accept the punishment they would receive in a normal course of events, then it only makes sense for the commonwealth to accept that plea and allow a judge to impose the sentence,” Cupp said.
“That accounts for a great deal of judicial economy and makes the system work.”
See related video at www.HeraldStandard.com.