HARRISBURG — Philadelphia’s top prosecutor and the state district attorneys’ association have staked out opposing positions in a case that will determine if Pennsylvania’s death penalty will remain in effect.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Tuesday his review found the death penalty violates the state constitutional prohibition on cruel punishment and disproportionately applies to black defendants and the poor.

The Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association also filed a brief with the state Supreme Court this week, arguing that the justices should respect the Legislature’s role in establishing state law and keep the system in place.

Pennsylvania currently has 140 men on death row, although Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf imposed a moratorium against carrying out any death sentences shortly after taking office in 2015. Three people have been executed since the state reinstituted capital punishment four decades ago, the most recent in 1999, but all three had voluntarily given up on appealing their sentences.

The state Supreme Court in December consolidated two appeals by death row inmates to decide if the state’s system of capital punishment violates constitutional protections.

The filings from the two inmates, convicted of separate 1990s murders in Philadelphia and Northumberland County, have argued that arbitrary factors determine who gets sentenced to death in Pennsylvania, and they say there is no legitimate justification for the system in terms of punishment.