Explaining Pennsylvanias death penalty

Pennsylvanias death penalty system hasnt worked for decades.

Its failings are undisputed, as hundreds of defendants have been
sentenced yet only three executions have been carried out in the
modern era.
Executing Justice, a five-part series by Reading Eagle reporter
Nicole C. Brambila was published in December 2015. It gave
readers a deep and varied look into the capital punishment system
through the eyes of people affected by it.
Among the subjects were a man who was exonerated while on
death row, the wife of a murdered police officer and the convicted
murderer himself, interviewed in the prison where he was being
held on death row.
The idea for the five-day package of perspectives came out of an
interview done more than a year earlier with the wife of the slain
police officer. She spoke of how the convicted killers children
were growing up without a father, just as her sons were. This led to
the concept of presenting many points of view focusing on the
death penalty.
The Reading Eagle has filled a void in public knowledge about a
system with deep flaws a system that must get it right because
there is no room for error when a persons life is at stake.

SundayDecember 13, 2015Reading, Pennsylvania

$2.00

WOLF, LAWMAKERS FACING MORE BATTLES ON BUDGET State, A9

UP TO

250

A STELLAR CAST OF
CHARACTERS AWAKENS

IN COUPON
SAVINGS
TODAY

GUIDE TO NEW FACES IN STAR WARS / Life, D1

READING EAGLE
readingeagle.com

Nations OK
global pact
on warming

Executing Justice
D E AT H P E N A LT Y P E R S P E C T I V E S A F I V E - P A R T S E R I E S

Th e A s s o c i at e d P r e s s

LE BOURGET, France Nearly 200 nations

adopted the rst global pact to ght climate
change Saturday, calling on the world to collectively cut and then eliminate greenhouse
gas pollution but imposing no sanctions on
countries that dont.
The Paris agreement aims to keep global
temperatures from rising another 1 degree
Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) between now
and 2100, a key demand of poor countries
ravaged by rising sea levels and other effects
of climate change.
In the pact, the countries pledge to limit the
amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil
and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at
some point between 2050 and 2100.
In practical terms, achieving that goal
means the world would have to stop emitting greenhouse gases, most of which come
from the burning of oil, coal and gas for energy,
altogether in the next half-century, scientists
said. Thats because the less we pollute, the
less pollution nature absorbs.
Achieving such a reduction in emissions
would involve a complete transformation of
how people get energy, and many activists
worry that despite the pledges, countries are
not ready to make such profound and costly
changes.
The deal now needs to be ratied by individual governments at least 55 countries
representing at least 55 percent of global
emissions before taking effect. It is the
rst pact to ask all countries to join the ght
against global warming, representing a sea
change in U.N. talks that previously required
only wealthy nations to reduce their emissions.
Its a victory for all of the planet and for
future generations, Secretary of State John
Kerry said, adding that the pact will prevent
the worst most devastating consequences of
climate change from ever happening.
History will remember this day, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said. The Paris
agreement on climate change is a monumental
success for the planet and its people.
Global warming: Countries set high goals. A8

A DYING
SENTENCE?
READING EAGLE:
CRAIG SCHAFFER

Support for capital punishment is waning, and some

legal observers believe it could be abolished by the
Supreme Court in the not too distant future.
By Nicole C. Brambila
Reading Eagle

ts been a tough year for the death chamber.

Take Nebraskas conservative legislature, which deed a governors veto
and abolished capital punishment only to have a petition drive later suspend

the ban until a referendum next year. Then there were states, scrambling to get increasingly scarce lethal injection drugs, illegally purchasing supplies from overseas
that federal agents seized. And in Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf put a moratorium on
executions. The death penalty grabbed headlines across the nation all year long.
Since capital punishment was reinstated nationally in 1976, Pennsylvania has
executed only three people while hundreds have been sentenced. Consequently,
the commonwealths dysfunctional death penalty system has created a slew of new
victims family members waiting for an execution that never comes.

With 2015 having seen the fewest executions in nearly a quarter century amid
waning support, even among the staunchest proponents, it begs the question: Is
the death penalty on life support?
Of course its under attack. Youd have
to be an idiot not to recognize that, said
renowned death penalty expert and supporter Robert Blecker, a New York Law
School professor.
Blecker testied this year before the
Pennsylvania House
Judiciary Committee Slain officers
in a Harrisburg hear- widow adamant in
ing to examine capital support of capital
punishment. He told punishment. A6
lawmakers that the nations highest court is Cop killer describes
itching to dissolve the harsh conditions on
death row. A7
death penalty.
In a recent telephone
conversation with the Reading Eagle, he
added, Theyre one vote short in the
United States Supreme Court.
Opponents increasingly talk of bringing a case to the U.S. Supreme Court to
challenge its constitutionality. Associate
Justice Stephen Breyer in a June dissent
invited as much.
Court watchers say abolition could
be as few as ve years away.
[ See Dying >>> A4 ]

TODAY
Tri-County

Berks & Beyond

FAMILIES MAKE CHRISTMAS

MEMORIES IN POTTSTOWN

KUTZTOWN LEGION
FIGHTS TO SURVIVE
Members of Post 480 get
together to discuss the
future of the struggling
veterans organization. B1

Kids and moms and dads turn out for an afternoon of holiday festivities put on by nonprots
and businesses in the downtown. B6
Weather report
Times of clouds and
sun. A14

48 68
TWO
YEARS
IN A
ROW

Index
ADVICE
AUTOMOTIVE

D12
H1

Sports

Money

LOCAL FORECASTERS
FROSTY OUTLOOK

HENRY WINS
HEISMAN TROPHY

PIECE OF HISTORY
COMES BACK TO LIFE

Despite the warm weather,

Berks County prognosticator Lester Moyer is calling
for a white Christmas. B5

Alabamas Derrick Henry is

just the third running back
in the last 16 years to claim
the award. C1

The Potts & Penn Family

Diner opens at the site of a
onetime landmark in downtown Pottstown. F1

BRIDGE
D9
CLASSIFIED E1, G5, H4
HOROSCOPE
D9

MONEY
F1
OBITUARIES B9B11
OPINION
B12

PUZZLES
D9
REAL ESTATE
G1
TRAVEL
D10D11

2015 READING EAGLE COMPANY

READING HEALTH IS PROUD TO BE A RECIPIENT OF THE HEALTHGRADES

DISTINGUISHED HOSPITAL AWARD FOR CLINICAL EXCELLENCE
This award places Reading Health among the top 5% of hospitals in the nation for clinical performance
across 27 common conditions and procedures.

A4

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2015

READING EAGLE, READING, PA.

Executing Justice

A dying sentence?
[ From A1 >>> ]
Overall public support for
the death penalty has taken
a hit.
While 61 percent of Americans support capital punishment, that number has
dropped significantly since
two decades ago, when 80 percent favored the death penalty,
according to national polls.
A state poll in March by
York College of Pennsylvania
showed 54 percent of respondents in the commonwealth
preferred life in prison to the
death penalty.
The wide support nationally coincided with the peak
in sentences, driven by the
tough-on-crime movement
of the 1990s. The number of
death sentences in Pennsylvania and across the nation has
been declining ever since.
I think the scales have
tipped, said Richard Dieter,
senior program director for
the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.
Founded in 1990, the center
conducts national research
and reports on capital punishment. The organization takes
no official stance on the death
penalty.
Its clear we dont need
the death penalty, Dieter
said. Ninety-nine percent
of murderers dont get the
death penalty.
Pennsylvania hasnt executed anyone in 16 years.
The three men who were given the needle in the modern
era all gave up their appeals
and begged the court to be
executed. With 181 inmates
on death row roughly 75
percent of whom have been
awaiting execution for a decade or more the commonwealth has the lowest number
of condemned prisoners in

Favoring death penalty

A majority of Americans favor the death penalty. However, support nationally
has declined from an all-time high of 80 percent in 1994.
80%

H GH
HIGH
80%
%

70
60

61%

59%
59%

FAVOR
A
50
40

38
38
38%
8%
%

37
3
37%
7%
7
%

30

LOW
OW
13%
3%

OPPOSE

20
10
0

1936 40
Source: Gallup

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

2000

05

10
10

15

READING EAGLE: GARY VISGAITIS

Of course its under attack. Youd have

to be an idiot not to recognize that.
Robert Blecker, a New York Law School professor and
renowned death penalty expert and supporter

Its clear we dont need the death

penalty. Ninety-nine percent of murderers
dont get the death penalty.
Richard Dieter, senior program director for the Death
Penalty Information Center in Washington

the National Association of

legislative sessions.
We dont really have a death Evangelicals in 1972 called
upon the states and Congress
penalty in Pennsylvania.
to enact legislation to re-esSupport shifting away
tablish the death penalty, sayFor decades, the death ing, The gravity of any crime
penalty enjoyed its greatest is measured by the penalty it
support among evangelical incurs.
Christians.
The groups resolve helped
In a rather brief statement, lay the groundwork for the

more than 20 years.

Its important to keep in
mind weve not executed
anyone in Pennsylvania who
has not asked to be executed
in 53 years, said state Sen.
Daylin Leach, a Montgomery
County Democrat who has
introduced bills to repeal the
death penalty the past four

tough-on-crime policies that

followed and have since seen
more than 9,000 inmates nationally sentenced to death.
Bible Belt states Texas,
Oklahoma, Virginia, Florida
and Missouri among them
account for more than 85
percent of the executions carried out in the U.S.
The death penalty succeeded in America not in spite of
Christians but because of us,
said Shane Claiborne, author
of Executing Grace: Why It Is
Time to Put the Death Penalty
to Death and co-founder of
the Simple Way, an inner-city
faith community in Philadelphia.
Claiborne added, What we
have done is create a really
bad theology that has backed
the death penalty.
That might be changing,
though.
In October, the National
Association of Evangelicals
did an about-face and penned
a new resolution changing its
long-held, unwavering support of capital punishment
to one that is more nuanced.
That statement, although acknowledging some members
continue to support capital
punishment to deter future
crimes, also reflected growing concerns among others
over its systematic problems
while calling for criminal justice reform.
A growing number of evangelicals call for government
resources to be shifted away
from the death penalty, said
Leith Anderson, president of
the National Association of
Evangelicals, following the
board of directors Oct. 15
vote.
Formed in 1942 to give
voice to conservative, evangelical Protestants, the asso-

ciation represents more than

45,000 churches from nearly
40 denominations across the
nation.
The polls are starting to
reflect these evolving attitudes.
A Barna Group opinion
poll in 2014 showed younger
Christians do not support the
death penalty as frequently
as older members of their
faith. Fewer than a third of
Christian millennials, those
born between 1980 and 2000,
said the government should
have the option to execute the
worst criminals compared to
42 percent of Christian baby
boomers, born between 1946
and 1964.
Theres a real sense that a
new generation is not just regurgitating the same rhetoric
of the culture wars from the
80s, Claiborne said.
The battle lines appear to
be shifting.
In the clash over the death
penalty, the lines had long
been drawn between conservatives and liberals. But now,
with mounting scal concerns
among conservatives, the lines
are becoming blurred. For the
rst time in four decades, the
two sides in the death penalty
conict are nding common
ground, even if they are arriving at the need for abolition
for different reasons.
We have to look at it pragmatically, said Marc Hyden,
national advocacy coordinator for Conservatives
Concerned About the Death
Penalty, a network originally
formed in Montana in 2010.
Do you trust an error-prone
government to properly and
efficiently execute the program?
Increasingly, the answer
[ >>> A5 ]
is no.

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN AMERICA

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty (although Nebraska has suspended the ban pending a voter
referendum next year). Since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment, there have been more than 1,400 executions,
with Bible Belt states accounting for the bulk of those put to death. Across the country, there are nearly 3,000 inmates on death row today.
Pennsylvania's 181 condemned inmates make the commonwealth's death row population the fth largest in the nation.

5 9

1887
MAINE

WASH.

3 2

35
2

N.D.

IDAHO

WIS.

3 10
NEB.

7 9

12

1965
2015

ILL.

COLO.

20
14

IOWA

86

13

UTAH

MICH.

2011

31

OHIO

N.J.

W. VA.

KY.

124

112

12

OKLA.

N.M.

37

2009

ARIZ.

531

6
72

27

195

48
21

56

1957

HAWAII
U.S. GOVERNMENT
Note: data as of Dec. 9.

2013
D.C.

KEY

60

NUMBER OF
EXECUTIONS
SINCE 1976

FLA.

62
3

84

400

LA.

265

Source: Death Penalty Information Center, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections

44

MISS.

28
1957

43

ARK.

83

ALASKA

GA.

MD.

17

43

S.C.
ALA.

16

1981

N.C.

TENN.

36
50

TEXAS

MO.

DEL.

156

VA.

KAN.

13

111
8

1965

34

12 2012

2007

53

IND.

PA.

1984

MASS.
CONN. R.I.

N.Y.

1846

146

12
NEV.

181

1853

S.D.

WYO.

78

746

2007

MINN.

3 3
11

CALIF.

N.H.

1911

3 11

ORE.

1964 1
VT.

1973

MONT.

91

#
NUMBER OF
PRISONERS ON
DEATH ROW

YEAR

THE STATE
ABOLISHED THE
DEATH PENALTY
READING EAGLE:
GARY VISGAITIS (GRAPHIC)
NICOLE C. BRAMBILA (REPORTING)

READING EAGLE, READING, PA.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2015

A5

Executing Justice
Punishment in America.
At some point the death
penalty is going to have to be
ended by the Supreme Court,
he said.
But the concern is with
four reliable abolition votes
on the court and a possible
swing vote in Justice Anthony
Kennedy that not acting
could result in missing what
Mandery calls the Kennedy
Moment.
Whether the Supreme
Court weighs in or not, few
would disagree that capital
punishment itself is slowly
dying.
We should be more humble
about our legal system and
what it can do, said Stephen
Bright, president and senior
counsel for the Southern Center for Human Rights, an advocacy group in Atlanta. Its
just human beings and its not
fail-proof.
What I think is really going to happen to the death
penalty, is its going to die on
the vine.

Old Smokey
Capital punishment in the
Keystone State dates to the
colonists arrival in the late
1600s. Public hanging was
used for a number of crimes
then from burglary and robbery, to piracy and rape, as
well as murder.
The electric chair replaced
the gallows in 1913. Since, the
state has electrocuted 348
men and two women in the
same chair. The last electrocution was Elmo Lee Smith in
1962. Pennsylvania changed
the execution method to lethal injection in 1990.
Today the chair, nicknamed
Old Smokey, sits in storage
in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. It has
never been on display.

A failed experiment?

Source: State Museum of

Pennsylvania
READING EAGLE: SUSAN L. ANGSTADT (PHOTO)

[ A4 >>> ]
Hyden described capital
punishment in the U.S. as
an utterly failed government
program, a sentiment echoed
by others.
He added, Being against
the death penalty isnt just for
bleeding-heart liberals.

moratoriums on executions
since Illinois Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences
of 167 death row prisoners
in 2003.
While support for abolition
has been building, similar to
the marriage equality ght, it
is distinct in at least one very
important way: Death penalty
Its not fail-proof
opponents have already sufFour governors includ- fered a major setback. Just as
ing Wolf have implemented the U.S. was poised to abolish

capital punishment, the Supreme Court in 1976 crafted

a compromise that reinstated
it.
Death penalty opponents
are even more risk-averse
because of the constitutional history of capital punishment, said Evan Mandery, a
John Jay College of Criminal
Justice professor and author
of A Wild Justice: The Death
and Resurrection of Capital

Nearly 100 countries have

abolished the death penalty,
many since the United States
reinstated capital punishment nearly four decades
ago. The U.S. is one of nearly
60 countries with an active
death penalty system, keeping
company with such nations as
Afghanistan, China, Iran, Iraq
and North Korea.
While abolitionists have exerted tremendous inuence
on the fight here putting
pressure on drug makers and
health care organizations it
has not gone unchallenged.
Capital punishment supporters in Nebraska pushed back
by collecting enough signatures to put the issue of abolition before voters.

OYSTER PERPETUAL SUBMARINER DATE

rolex

oyster perpetual and submariner are trademarks.

Utah legislators brought

back the ring squad in the
event ever-scarce execution
drugs cannot be obtained.
California Gov. Jerry
Browns administration announced a single-drug protocol to restart executions after
a nearly 10-year hiatus following a court ruling last year
that found that states death
penalty system unconstitutional because of system-wide
delays similar to Pennsylvanias. A federal appeals court
has since overturned the
lower courts ruling.
And in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia District Attorney
Seth Williams led a lawsuit
challenging the governors
authority to issue temporary reprieves to death row
inmates.
Wolf has said he will issue
reprieves until a long-overdue
report on the states death
penalty system is completed.
The report is expected this
spring. A decision from the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court,
which heard oral arguments
in September, is pending.
Even as these factions battle over this divisive policy, it
has grown increasingly frustrating for those on both sides
of the issue from the victims
families, the defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges
and even among those sentenced to death.
Its been 40 years of experimenting with a new death
penalty, said Dieter, the
Death Penalty Information
Center program director. I
dont think that anybody
could say the experiment has
been a rousing success.
Pennsylvania has been an
example of how hard it is to
x all the problems.
Contact Nicole C. Brambila: 610-3715044 or nbrambila@readingeagle.com.

Executing
Justice
About this series: A ve-day
look at Pennsylvanias controversial death penalty system from the perspectives of
those it touches victims
families, a prosecutor and
defense attorney, judges and
the condemned.
Today: The widow of a slain
Reading police officer shares
her pain, and the convicted
killer apologizes.
Monday: A defense attorney
shares why he opposes the
death penalty.
Tuesday: A former prison
chaplain talks about a convicted killers nal hours before execution.
Wednesday: An exoneree makes peace with the 16
years he lost in prison, 10 on
death row.
Thursday: A murder victims
son extends forgiveness to
his familys killer.
Online at
readingeagle.com:
View an interactive timeline of Reading
police officers killed in the
line of duty since 1900.
Watch a video about the
death penalty in Pennsylvania.
Listen to reporter Nicole
Brambila and photographer Susan L. Angstadt talk
about the series in a WEEU
interview.
Read our previous coverage on the death penalty.

A6

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2015

READING EAGLE, READING, PA.

Executing Justice

Officers widow
voices support
of death penalty
Tricia Wertz says she is still suffering the
effects of her husbands killing nine years later
and is anxious to see justice nally served.
By Nicole C. Brambila
Reading Eagle

The early morning doorbell

chime changed everything.
Hours before, Tricia Wertz
had packed for a weekend
getaway, a family beach trip
planned with friends from the
police department. Sometime
after 2 a.m., she dragged herself out of bed to answer the
doorbell.
Peering out of bleary eyes,
Tricia said she struggled to
understand why her husbands
colleagues were standing outside her door in the middle of
the night when the beach trip
was still hours away.
Why are they here so early?
Wertz said she thought at the
time. Then she saw the uniformed officer with them, and
the reason became painfully
clear. Reading police officers
were there to inform her that
her husband had been killed.
Scott A. Wertz was shot
and killed on Aug. 6, 2006,
responding in plain clothes
with his partner to gunshots
near a convenience store at
Eighth and Walnut streets.
The nine-year department
veteran had been working
undercover on an auto theft
detail at the time and was not
wearing a bulletproof vest. He
was 40 years old.
Her shrieks woke up her
eldest son, Jared, who said
he wasnt sure at rst whether
the screams he heard were the
TV or his mother crying. Once
downstairs, the two cried together at the kitchen table.
I never thought to myself, I
wonder if hes going to come
home, said Jared, now 21.

READING EAGLE: SUSAN L. ANGSTADT

Trisha and Jared Wertz hold the uniform and badge of husband and father Scott A. Wertz, far left, a Reading police officer killed in the line of duty.

I was just so ignorant to the

possibility of it.
In 2008, a Northampton
County jury bused in to
Berks County because of the
intense news coverage the killing garnered found Cletus
C. Rivera guilty and sentenced
him to death.
Rivera, 33, is one of 181
condemned inmates in Pennsylvania, making the commonwealths death row the
fth largest in the nation. He
is one of 11 death row inmates
prosecuted for murders committed in Berks.
More than 400 people have
been sentenced to death in
the commonwealth since 1978,
when capital punishment was
reinstated. Only three have
faced the needle, all after giving up their appeals and begging to be executed.
The state hasnt executed
anyone since 1999.
In February, shortly after taking office, Gov. Tom
Wolf called the death penalty system in Pennsylvania
error-prone, expensive and
anything but infallible when

Reading police officers killed on duty

Scott A. Wertz was the sixth Reading policeman to be killed
while on duty. The others were:
Michael H. Wise II: On June 4, 2004, Wise,
32, was accidentally shot by another officer
who mistook the undercover policeman for
a suspect in a shootout.
Olin J. Wait: Wait, 24, and
two other officers were
guarding the Reading Air
Show grounds on Sept. 2, 1972, when an offduty officer shot and killed Wait before killing himself.
Henry L. Stoudt: On July
1, 1924, Stoudt, 59, was waiting at the corner of 11th and Pike streets for a paddy wagon after arresting 22-year-old Grant Adams,
who then shot Stoudt in the stomach. On
April 6, 1925, Adams was electrocuted at
the State Correctional Institute at Rockview,
despite more than 28,000 signatures on a
petition asking for mercy for the convicted killer.
John W. Kissinger: Responding to a domestic call on Sept. 16, 1911, Kissinger, 54, was
shot and killed. Warren McWilliams, 26,
was tried twice for Kissingers killing, the
second ending in an acquittal.
Charles F. Finn: Finn, 28,
with several other officers
was investigating a string of burglaries at a
feed store when he was shot in the abdomen on May 11, 1905. At the time of Finns
death, only about two-thirds of officers carried a revolver, arousing taxpayer support
for furnished weapons. Joe Ryan, 48, was
convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20
years in prison.
Source: Officer Down Memorial Page, Reading Eagle archives
Photos courtesy of Office Down Memorial Page, except Michael Wise

he called for a moratorium on

executions.
The system is definitely
flawed, but I dont feel its
awed for the criminals, said
Tricia, 45, of Spring Township.
Its awed for the victims and
their families.
The average Pennsylvania
inmate has been on death row
for more than 16 years, six
years longer than in Texas, the
execution capital of the U.S.
Without signicant changes,
it is unlikely Tricia will see
Riveras sentence carried out
any time soon.
Tricia has said she sometimes wished she lived in the
Lone Star State, which by far
has executed more prisoners
than any other state, so the
process would not drag out
for many years to come.
She said: Why arent we
putting more people to death?
Why is Texas so different than
Pennsylvania in that they execute people and we arent?

Got what he deserved

Prosecutors with the state
attorney generals office had
offered Rivera a plea deal that
would have given him life in
prison.
Tricia said she and her family were sitting in court the
day Rivera was to plead guilty
when he instead did an aboutface and pushed for a trial.
We had a deal in place
that would have avoided the
trial, Tricia said, noting she
had supported the plea deal
because it would have saved
her family the uncertainty of
a trial and its emotional toll.
At trial, Rivera asserted that
he did not know Scott Wertz
was a police officer and, after
the foot chase, shot and killed
him in self-defense.
The jury didnt buy it.
He changed his mind, so I
feel he denitely got what he
deserved, Tricia said.
She has been outspoken in
her support of capital punishment, especially after Wolf
announced his moratorium.
Though she agrees Pennsylvanias death penalty system
needs scrutiny, she disagrees
with the governors moratorium. Wolf has said he would
grant temporary reprieves until a long-overdue state Senate
report on capital punishment
is complete sometime next
year.
Since 2011, the state has
been studying a laundry list
of issues that include, among
others, its fairness and accuracy, racial bias and cost, of
which a Reading Eagle analysis conservatively estimated
at $350 million.
I do think it needs to be
looked at, Tricia said. I

Waiting for execution in Pennsylvania

The majority of family members with their loved ones killer on Pennsylvania death row strongly
support the death penalty. Shortly after Gov. Tom Wolf issued his moratorium on executions in the
commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Office of the Victim Advocate conducted a survey of 418 victims
family members. Forty percent responded to the survey. Here are the ndings:

91
%
93.6
%
60.7
%
supported the
said the death
said they had

63.2
%
disagreed

91.6
%
said there

death penalty; 5.1 percent

disagreed or
strongly disagreed.

with abolishing the death

penalty, while
28.4 percent
favored replacing it with
life without
parole.

should be a
specic time
frame on the
appeals process, while 3.9
percent disagreed.

sentence imposed by the

court should
be carried out.

an opportunity during the

sentencing
phase to voice
their wishes, while 23.6
percent said
they had not.

Source: Pennsylvania Office of the Victim Advocate

dont think there needs to be

a moratorium while the system is being looked at.
The Berks widow wants to
see Rivera executed, she said,
not so much in the hopes of
nding closure as much as to
ensure justice is served for
her husband.
I want his killer to know
that he (Scott) is not forgotten
and never will be, she said. I
feel like he can no longer speak,
so I feel like I have to be and
should be the voice for him.
Shes not alone.
The majority of victims
family members with their
loved ones killer on Pennsylvanias death row want an
execution.
A March survey by the
Pennsylvania Office of the
Victim Advocate found:
Nine out of 10 family
members support the death
penalty.
94 percent said the imposed death sentence should
be carried out.
Nearly two in three disagreed with abolishing capital
punishment in the commonwealth.
The Office of the Victim Advocate is a state department
dedicated to representing and
protecting the rights and interests of crime victims.
Everyone has their opinion, Tricia said. Some are
not for the death penalty
and theyre entitled to their
opinion.
Until youre a victim of a
crime and you go through it,
they just dont know what its
like, and I hope they never
have to.
Since Scott Wertzs death,
44 police officers in the commonwealth have died in the

line of duty.
Six Reading Police Department officers have been killed
since 1905, according to data
compiled by the Officer Down
Memorial Page, which tracks
officer deaths nationally.
Scott Wertz was the most
recent officer in Reading
killed in the line of duty.
I think when we lose an ofcer, the impact on the community is overwhelming, said
Berks District Attorney John
T. Adams. Its just something
that should not happen.

You learn a new normal

Tricia had asked him not to
go into work that fateful night.
But Scott insisted he must.
You always think about the
what ifs, she said.
What if she had pressed him
more to stay home that night?
What if he had? What if hed
been wearing a bulletproof
vest? What if he had stayed in
the car and not chased Rivera?
What if?
His shift was supposed to
be routine sitting in the car
running license plates, searching for stolen vehicles. He was
supposed to come home that
night.
He always wanted to be a
cop, Tricia said. He grew up
in the city. He loved the city.
The Wertz boys Jared and
Joshua were 12 and 7 at the
time their father was killed.
Joshua, now 16, would not,
until recently, sleep over at
friends homes, as he was the
night his dad was killed. He
suffered from separation anxiety in the months and years
following, fearing something
might happen to his mother.
Tricia walked around in
a fog, trying desperately to

hold her now fractured family

together. Shes been in counseling since her husbands
murder and continues to take
anti-anxiety medication.
Eight years ago, I would
have been a blubbering idiot
talking about it, she said last
year in an interview. You
learn to live with it. You learn
a new normal.
The milestones that have
slipped by since the murder
havent gotten any easier with
time.
Holidays, birthdays, their
eldest graduating high school
and attending college, their
youngest sons 18-4 soccer
season, ranking his varsity
team 17th in the state are all
moments Scott Wertz should
have shared with his family.
Those are moments Rivera
stole from the Wertz family when he squeezed off two
rounds less than 100 yards
from City Hall.
It affects me every day, said
Jared, who is a senior studying
management at Penn State in
University Park. I havent had
a dad since I was 12.
Framed photos of Scott
playing softball, in uniform
dot the walls of their home,
and Tricia still talks about
him with the kids. They faithfully visit the cemetery where
his tombstone sits next to his
mother and grandparents.
Going to the cemetery for
a birthday and a holiday just
sucks, she said. Theres no
other way to say it.
When Jared stops by the
cemetery, he takes a bottle of
Coors Light beer with him.
Jared explained, Its not
my favorite, but it was his.
Contact Nicole C. Brambila: 610-3715044 or nbrambila@readingeagle.com.

READING EAGLE, READING, PA.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2015

A7

Executing Justice

Cop killer describes harsh conditions on death row

Cletus C. Rivera
discusses the
difficulties people face
as they endure years
of largely solitary
connement.
By Nicole C. Brambila
Reading Eagle

WAYNESBURG Its difficult to sleep on death row. Not

because of the sequence of
events that led a person there
or a nagging conscience, but
because the lights never really go out.
Convicted cop killer Cletus
C. Rivera said he sleeps with
his head wrapped in a T-shirt
and covered in a sweater to
block out the fluorescent
beams, which are only dimmed
at night.
The lights are on 24 hours
in the cell; thats a form of
torture, Rivera said of the
State Correctional Institution at Greene, where he is
imprisoned while appealing
his death sentence for the
2006 murder of Reading police Officer Scott A. Wertz.
That can even lead to cancer, he said. They wont even
acknowledge it.
He is correct about the potential risks of constant light.
While the consequences of
nighttime light on the human
body is still an emerging eld,
studies in animals suggest 247 light exposure can increase
the risk of certain types of
cancer because it disrupts
the production of melatonin,
which is made during sleep.
The 33-year-old didnt specifically mention this study,
but it is apparent Rivera has
read up on the subject.
Rivera is one of 181 men and
women sentenced to death in
Pennsylvania. Berks County
has 11 inmates on death row,
the third most in the commonwealth behind Philadelphia and York counties.
Hes been on death row
since a Northampton County
jury bused in daily because
of heavy Berks County news
coverage of the case deliberated more than 10 hours
in 2008 and returned with a
death sentence.
Rivera agreed to an interview to discuss the conditions
on death row while acknowledging the pain he caused the
Wertz family and offering to
apologize if he could speak
with them.
The maximum security prison, which houses the bulk of
the states death row inmates,
sits on a sloping 128 acres
surrounded by tree-covered
hills in Franklin Township in
Greene County. The facility, located in the southwest corner
of the state about 280 miles
from Reading, is busting at the
seams. SCI Greene has a bed
capacity of 1,478 but houses
more than 1,700 inmates.
On L block behind the

READING EAGLE: CRAIG SCHAFFER

Prison officials did not allow the Reading Eagle to

photograph Cletus C. Rivera during this interview.

READING EAGLE: SUSAN L. ANGSTADT

Most Pennsylvania death row

inmates are housed in the
State Correctional Institution at Greene in Waynesburg,
Greene County, located in the
southwest corner of the state.

rings of coiled barbed wire

that run the fence line, Rivera
can watch officers leave the
prison from a small window
in the cell to which he is conned 22 hours a day.
For all the public discussion about the death penalty
from execution methods
and dwindling lethal injection
supplies to Gov. Tom Wolfs
moratorium on the sentence
the conditions of death row
connement, including solitary, rarely are discussed.

Looking at issue from

many perspectives an
illuminating approach

either ruling by name as a

jailhouse lawyer might, but
its clear hes been using his
time on death row to get acquainted with the issues surrounding his incarceration.
I wasnt sentenced to solitary confinement, Rivera
said. We were just sentenced
Courts are beginning to to death.
weigh in on the issue.
Two years ago, U.S. District It can get to you
Life on death row is a seCourt Judge Leonie Brinkema for the Eastern District quence of tight spaces a
of Virginia found in Prieto v. roughly 8-foot-by-10-foot cell,
Clark that Virginia had vio- the prison yard and library,
lated the Constitution by au- shower stalls Rivera described
tomatically placing death row as phone-booth size.
inmates in indenite isolation. Everywhere you go youre
A federal appeals court this boxed in, he said.
year, though, ruled solitary
In his tidy, 85-square-foot
connement does not violate cell, Rivera has a typewriter
prisoners rights.
and a small collection of books
Rivera doesnt mention The GED for Dummies, the

Its a groundbreaking style Ive borrowed,

rst using it to write about an unfolding abortion drama in Texas more than a decade ago
and now in telling the story about Pennsylvanias death penalty system. Both are as deeply
personal as the issues are controversial.
What I didnt expect, though, was how nuanced the points of view concerning the death
penalty could be.
By Nicole C. Brambila
I also didnt realize that the story would
Reading Eagle
take me across Pennsylvania (twice) and as far
away as Virginia, as I logged more than 2,200
NBC in 2002 created a onemiles most of it with staff photographer
of-a-kind police drama told
Susan L. Angstadt, who documented nearly
from the various perspectives
all the perspectives with photos and video, a
entangled in a single criminal
herculean task in itself.
investigation.
Along the way, we talked to some of the very
Set in Los Angeles and staring Donnie Wahl- same people who might have been ctionalberg, Boomtown was innovative storytelling ized in the short-lived Boomtown series,
at its best.
such as victims families, a defense lawyer and

Bible, a dictionary. Rivera said

he has a particular interest in
biographies, and Nelson Mandelas Long Walk to Freedom
is on his reading list.
Ive been using my time to
grow, Rivera said, noting he
was studying to take an exam
for a high school equivalency
diploma. Im a better me.
He also has in his cell some
pictures of family and the
beach, and a TV. He enjoys
watching the post-apocalyptic world of zombies in The
Walking Dead and Mr. Robot, a new thriller series that
follows a New York City hacker turned cybervigilante.
While he pays $17 a month
for 40 cable channels, Rivera
said he doesnt watch much
TV.
I see TV as a pacier, he
said. Its a distraction.
Most days he listens to music pop, jazz, rock, hip-hop,
anything but country. The radio helps drown out the loud
speakers and other inmates.
In isolation, Rivera said, inmates can start to hear things,
and some talk to themselves.
Its really, really horrible,
Rivera said. If youre not
strong mentally, it can get to
you.
What does penetrate Riveras cool exterior is his kids.
Since his arrest Rivera has
missed holidays, get-togethers,
even the funeral last spring for
his grandmother, the nucleus
of the family. When the father
of four was taken into custody,
his youngest child was an infant and his oldest just 8.
Over the past nine years,
Rivera also has missed all the
pivotal moments parents witness as their children grow
up from his youngest child
learning to walk and his rst
word to the countless football
games his older boys played
and his daughters cheerleading days.
He has had to watch his kids
grow up from behind a thick
window in the prisons visiting
room. Burned into Riveras
memory was a visit when his
oldest son cried inconsolably,
wishing his dad could come
home. Because death row inmates are not permitted to
make contact with visitors, all
Rivera could do was watch as
his daughter hugged his son.
That broke my heart, Rivera said.
The visits are few and far between, and a hardship on his
children, who skip meals and
wind up eating snacks from a
vending machine to spend the
day with their dad. His cousin
Yvette Rivera said that while
the visits are a lifeline for Rivera, its difficult for his kids.
Theres nothing for them to
look forward to, said Yvette
Rivera, 32. They know that
hes never coming home.
Rivera thinks a lot about
that fateful night when he
shot and killed Wertz in a foot
chase near City Hall. Rivera
said its a teaching moment
for his kids when they make

prosecutor, an exoneree and convicted killer.

We also spoke with jurors who hold in their
hands the lives of these killers as well as the
family members who still love them, despite
having committed the unthinkable.
The idea for this came last year when I interviewed Tricia Wertz, widow of Reading
police Officer Scott A. Wertz. Her husbands
killer, Cletus C. Rivera, is on death row.
While sharing her painful story, she told me
the most unexpected thing about Rivera:
He has a child. He has a mother. So, I do feel
for them. Especially his child because my boys
are growing up without a father, and theyre
growing up without a father.
I knew then that I wanted to talk to Rivera.
But I didnt know then that Id be talking to
the Rev. Harry Covert, who spent the day with
convicted killer Keith Zettlemoyer on the date
he was executed in 1995.

the four-plus hour trek across

the state to cram into a small
visitors room.
I try to make myself an
example of what not to do,
Rivera said. I tell my son to
be a better Cletus.

Its easy to become hopeless

Gov. Ed Rendell signed
Riveras execution warrant
on Aug. 23, 2010. His execution date was set for Oct. 20
of that year.
I had a brief punch-in-thegut moment, Rivera said of
the death warrant. I didnt
dwell on it. I knew what to expect, so I braced myself for it.
Its a real moment. It brought
me back to being sentenced.
Family members said the
death sentence took them by
surprise.
I dont know that anyone
can prepare for a death sentence, Yvette Rivera said. It
was a huge shock for the entire family.
Rivera received a stay of execution a week after Rendell
signed his death warrant.
Pennsylvanias dysfunctional system has sent hundreds to
death row in the modern era
but has only executed three
people, all of whom gave up
their appeals. The commonwealths last execution was
in 1999.
The states capital punishment system has been criticized for its disproportionate
impact on poor and minorities
as well as its costs and accuracy all cited in the governors moratorium, which set
off a political restorm.
Its easy to become hopeless, Rivera said. Forget
about the politics about the
death penalty. When youre
in this position, you should
always be in the mindset that
it can happen.
Predictably, Rivera would
like to see the death penalty
abolished.
Though Rivera said he
would not discuss his case, he
returned to that night again
and again, saying he knows
his situation is self-made.
I know Im wrong, and I deserve to be in jail, Rivera said.
But I dont believe I deserve
the death penalty. My actions
were meant to save my life.
If he could talk to the slain
officers widow, Tricia Wertz,
Rivera said he would apologize for the killing.
It pains me that Im responsible for taking away a father
and a husband, he said.
Rivera has maintained
that he shot and killed Wertz
in self-defense. At the time,
Wertz was working an undercover auto detail in plain
clothes. It is for this reason
Rivera and his family believed
he would get a life sentence.
I know people are mad at
me, Rivera said. I hope they
pray to nd forgiveness, not
for me, but so that they can
move forward in life.
Contact Nicole C. Brambila: 610-3715044 or nbrambila@readingeagle.com.

Nor did I suspect that Id meet Larry RJ

Bobish Jr., whose family was killed in front
of him when he was 12 years old and he was
shot at and stabbed. His familys killer, Mark
Duane Edwards, spent nearly a decade on
death row until he was resentenced this year
to life in prison. Despite Edwards having left
him without a family, Bobish forgave the
killer. Incredibly, he did not want Edwards
executed.
I got to see up close in these interviews all
the shattered lives that surround Pennsylvanias death penalty system as well as the
resilience of the human spirit and the power
of forgiveness.
I am not naive, and I realize these stories
may not change an entrenched mindset. But I
do hope it contributes to the conversation.
Contact Nicole C. Brambila: 610-371-5044
or nbrambila@readingeagle.com.