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North Union man accused in stabbing death wants death penalty stricken

By Susy Kelly skelly@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read

A North Union Township man who could face execution if he is convicted of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of a North Union Township woman wants a judge to preclude the prosecution from seeking the death penalty.

Henry Clay Crawford, 57, is incarcerated in the Fayette County Prison, awaiting trial for allegedly stabbing 49-year-old Lisa Tupta to death inside her home on Jan. 28, 2013.

If Crawford is convicted of first-degree murder in the guilt phase of his trial, jurors would move on to the sentencing phase.

There, prosecutors would argue that certain aggravating factors — including prior violations of protection-from-abuse orders, allegations that the killing was committed during the course of an alleged felony, use of torture in commission of the alleged killing and a significant history of felony convictions — should result in a death sentence for Crawford.

Judge Steve P. Leskinen earlier this month denied Crawford’s motion to dismiss the case for lack of evidence, as well as motions to suppress statements and evidence gathered by police.

On Tuesday, Crawford’s attorney, Public Defender Jeffrey Whiteko, filed a motion challenging capital proceedings on several grounds. A similar motion was filed in April, and the commonwealth filed a brief in opposition to those challenges in May. In the most recent filing, Whiteko argued that the jury should be instructed throughout the trial that life imprisonment, the sentence that would be imposed if the jury decides against the death penalty, means that Crawford would have no chance of being released from jail during his natural life.

“In the absence of information provided to the jury that a life sentence in (Pennsylvania) is, in fact, a sentence of life without parole, the defendant believes . . . that the jury will become predisposed to a sentence of death as opposed to the potential of a life sentence which they erroneously believe results in less than lifetime imprisonment,” wrote Whiteko.

The attorney also objected to the process by which a jury panel becomes “death qualified.”

Jurors in a capital trial are questioned at length about their understanding of the death penalty and their ability to impose it impartially. Whiteko argued that the process of qualifying jurors to sit on a capital panel results in those jurors being less likely to consider mitigating evidence about the defendant. Whiteko asked in the motion for the jury to be split, if the death penalty remains on the table. According to Whiteko, empaneling separate jurists for the guilt and penalty phases of the trial would ensure a fair trial. Crawford’s attorney also indicated that the jury instructions regarding the death penalty are difficult to understand for jurors, which amounts to a violation of his due process rights under the U.S. Constitution.

Whiteko wrote that studies show jurors misunderstand and misapply the law in considering the complexities of aggravating and mitigating circumstances during the penalty phase.

“For example,” he wrote, “there exists substantial social science data that death-qualified juries equate the elements of first-degree murder with aggravating factors for the purpose of the death penalty.”

Finally, Whiteko argued against the death penalty generally, stating that the criminal justice system is fallible, thereby subjecting innocent and/or inappropriate people to execution.

“The death penalty is, in and of itself, cruel and unusual punishment, especially where the alternative of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole exists, as it does in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” wrote Whiteko.

A judge will rule on the motions at a later date.

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