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The scheduled execution of Harvey Robinson, a Lehigh Valley serial killer convicted of raping and murdering three women in the Allentown, Pennsylvania area during the early 1990s, has been stayed once again — this time by Governor Josh Shapiro.
Robinson, 51, had been set for execution on Tuesday (March 24), but Shapiro stepped in and blocked it, continuing a death penalty moratorium that Pennsylvania governors have maintained since 2015. According to The Morning Call, the state Department of Corrections confirmed the stay.
Robinson was convicted of killing Charlotte Schmoyer, 15, Jessica Jean Forney, 47, and Joan Burghardt, 29, between 1992 and 1993. He also attempted to rape and kill a woman and a young girl during the same period. He was sentenced to death for all three murders, though two of those sentences were later reduced to life in prison on appeal. He remains on death row for the killing of Forney.
In blocking the execution, Shapiro wrote that the state should not be "in the business of executing people," and called on lawmakers to end capital punishment in Pennsylvania altogether. The last execution carried out in the commonwealth was in 1999.
As reported by lehighvalleylive.com, Shapiro made his position on capital punishment clear early in his governorship, saying, "I will not sign any execution warrants as governor of the commonwealth. Today, I am respectfully calling on the General Assembly to work with me to abolish the death penalty once and for all in Pennsylvania."
Shapiro's moratorium continues a policy started by former Governor Tom Wolf, who first halted executions in February 2015. Pennsylvania has executed only three people since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970s, and all three had voluntarily given up their appeals.
Shapiro has said his views on capital punishment evolved over time, citing conversations with his family and advocates connected to the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue attack in Pittsburgh, where 11 people were killed. "When my son asked me why it was OK to kill someone who killed someone else, I couldn't look him in the eye and answer that question," Shapiro said.
Despite the ongoing moratorium, prosecutors in the Lehigh Valley and across Pennsylvania continue to seek the death penalty in some first-degree murder cases. It remains unclear when, or whether, the Pennsylvania General Assembly will take up legislation to formally abolish capital punishment in the state.