Aug 28, 2025 By Mike Jones 5 min read

Lawyers for Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh say the state Supreme Court should reject any attempts to restrict the prosecutor’s ability to pursue capital murder cases because it would “haphazardly create an entirely new system for death penalty cases” in the county that could have ramifications across the state.

The special counsel attorneys representing Walsh argued in their response last week to the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation’s “king’s bench” petition to the high court that the Philadelphia-based advocacy group is looking to “fundamentally reorder the criminal justice system to suit their goals” as part of their challenge to Walsh’s prosecutorial powers.

The Atlantic Center has asked for a full-blown review of Walsh’s decision to pursue the death penalty against nearly a dozen defendants since he was elevated to district attorney in August 2021 – mostly during the leadup to his election in November 2023 – claiming he’s used it for political purposes or to gain leverage for plea negotiations.

The center wants the Supreme Court to restrict Walsh from pursuing it in the future and have an out-of-county judge review previous cases or hand over control to the state Attorney General’s office, which special counsel attorneys Joshua Voss and Shohin Vance said would be untenable.

“Because this scheme is constitutionally infirm, legally untenable, and inimical to basic democratic norms, it should be rejected,” Walsh’s special counsel argued in its response.

The attorneys argued that the center’s petition should be rejected because Walsh’s decision to pursue the death penalty against numerous defendants was based on the facts of the cases that had aggravating factors that allowed it. The center is representing defendants Jordan Clarke of Peters Township and Joshua George of Smith Township, both of whom are facing the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in the separate cases involving the deaths of their infant sons. Both children were under the age of 12, which is an aggravating circumstance that allows for the death penalty if the fathers are convicted by a jury of first-degree murder.

But the center also used Walsh’s decision to pursue the death penalty against Jah Sutton after her DNA was found on a bullet casing used in the fatal shooting of a Donora convenience store worker in February 2021. Washington County Judge Traci McDonald ultimately dismissed the case after finding there was no evidence Sutton was near the crime scene or conspired in the killing.

The special counsel argued that the decision illustrated the judiciary process is working as intended, although Walsh has appealed McDonald’s ruling to the state Superior Court.

“Such action by the Washington County Judiciary seems inconsistent with Petitioners’ allegation that the District Attorney ‘has not been held to account by the Court of Common Pleas in Washington County.’ In other words, the Sutton matter does little to support Petitioners’ claims for relief in this Court,” the special counsel wrote.

Frances Harvey, who is a staff attorney at the Atlantic Center, said the response did not explain other instances in which Walsh filed capital murder charges against defendants that the advocacy group denied were eligible for the death penalty.

“DA Walsh didn’t address the core of our argument. He’s pursuing the death penalty in cases that aren’t eligible for a death sentence, in violation of the constitution,” Harvey said in a written statement. “He’s abusing his discretion and power. And he doesn’t dispute that. That’s why the state Supreme Court must intervene, to stop this crisis in the Washington County courts.”

The special counsel’s response denied that, and issued a list of concerns that could lead to a slippery slope across the state, getting out-of-county senior judges to review cases or asking the Attorney General to become needlessly involved.

“This Court should decline Petitioners’ invitation to fundamentally reorder the criminal justice system to suit their goals,” the special counsel attorneys wrote in their response. “With no authority to support their proposed scheme, Petitioners have haphazardly created an entirely new system for death penalty cases in Washington County, whereby the District Attorney’s charging decisions in capital cases would be subject to the approval of an out-of-county judge and the Office of Attorney General.”

In addition to the special counsel’s 100-page response filed by last Friday’s deadline, the state Attorney General asked for another extension in order to be able to file its own brief backing Walsh’s position against placing restrictions on his pursuit of death penalty cases.

“This case affects the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), because if the petition for extraordinary jurisdiction had merit (though the Attorney General would argue to the contrary), it could theoretically result in Washington County cases being reassigned to this office,” Deputy Attorney General Hugh Burns Jr. wrote. “It could also have unanticipated consequences for capital litigation in criminal cases throughout the Commonwealth.”

The Supreme Court agreed to delay the closing of the record until Sept. 12, offering more time for other affected parties to intervene and file their own briefs in relation to the case.