Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) announced Friday that he has placed a moratorium on the state's death penalty.
Wolf said the moratorium will remain until has reviewed an upcoming report by the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Commission on Capital Punishment, which was established in 2011 to review the death penalty policy.
"This moratorium is in no way an expression of sympathy for the guilty on death row, all of whom have been convicted of committing heinous crimes," Wolf said in a statement. "This decision is based on a flawed system that has been proven to be an endless cycle of court proceedings as well as ineffective, unjust, and expensive."
Wolf's action put the execution of Terrance Williams on hold. Williams, who was convicted of a 1984 murder, was scheduled to be executed on March 4. Williams would have been the first person executed in the state since 1999.
According to the state, Pennsylvania currently has 186 inmates on death row.
Read Wolf's full announcement below:
Death Penalty Moratorium Declaration by Governor Tom Wolf
