Pennsylvania AG blasts Wolf death penalty stand

Pennsylvania’s attorney general says Gov. Tom Wolf’s death penalty moratorium is blatantly unconstitutional, and she wants the state Supreme Court to clear the way for the state’s first execution since 1999.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane filed a request Monday for extraordinary relief in the case of Hubert Lester Michael Jr., on death row for killing 16-year-old Trista Eng in York County nearly 22 years ago.

The filing attacks Wolf’s policy of issuing a series of reprieves in death row cases, at least until he can review the findings of an overdue study of capital punishment.

Kane’s office said that practice “falls well outside the realm of his constitutional authority” and the justices should “reinstate the proper operation of the criminal justice system.”

Wolf and Kane are both Democrats.