Voices: Edward Zwick
May 10, 2019
“Inchoate rage” is what compelled writer, director, producer Edward Zwick to co-produce and direct “Trial by Fire,” a feature film about the conviction and execution
“Inchoate rage” is what compelled writer, director, producer Edward Zwick to co-produce and direct “Trial by Fire,” a feature film about the conviction and execution
Norman Lear, the legendary writer and producer known for such sitcoms as “All in the Family,” “One Day at a Time,” and “The Jeffersons,” is
In “Why We Can’t Let Rural Prosecutors Fly Under the Radar” in Filter, Rory Fleming uses Monroe County (Rochester, NY) District Attorney Sandra Doorley, who he
Global executions fell by almost 31 percent last year, the lowest figure in at least a decade, according to Amnesty International’s annual report, also released
“Gorsuch just handed down the most bloodthirsty and cruel death penalty opinion of the modern era” read the headline in ThinkProgress. “Unusual Cruelty at the
When Gavin Newsom assumed office just four months ago, he promised Californians his administration would “be bold” and would “aim high.” With his decision to
On March 13, California Governor Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on the death penalty, ensuring there would be no executions while he is in office.
“Governor Gavin Newsom’s heroic act of declaring a moratorium on executions in our state has inspired us all,” DPF President Mike Farrell said in his
Two weeks after Gov. Newsom issued an Executive Order imposing a moratorium, two California Supreme Court justices issued their own critique of the death penalty system,
A lawyer for one of the five men the Trump Administration announced it plans to execute in December and January is challenging the legality of executing his client, Alfred Bourgeois, in two separate lawsuits. Reuters reports that Alexander Kursman got the go-ahead on Thursday to add his federal lawsuit challenging the DOJ’s lethal injection procedures to a larger lawsuit already filed by a group of other federal death row prisoners.
“Justice Thurgood Marshall was correct in 1972 when he predicted that if people were better informed about the death penalty, they would reject it. That is why the norms are changing, why capital punishment is in decline, and why eventual abolition is inevitable.” Four days after University of Colorado Sociology Professor Michael L. Radelet wrote those words in an essay for Medium, the Department of Justice announced that the government
In his book, book, Six Amendments, U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens called for revising six of the amendments to the Constitution, including the Eighth Amendment, which he said should be modified to read, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments such as the death penalty inflicted.” The declaration was the culmination of years of increasing doubt about the use of
Death Penalty Focus has filed an amicus letter in support of a motion filed last month by death penalty lawyer and DPF board member Robert M. Sanger and Sarah Sanger in the California Supreme Court arguing that while the moratorium is in place in California, prosecutors should be prohibited from seeking the death penalty. As we reported in the July Focus, Sanger argues that the moratorium Gov. Gavin Newsom announced
“Anyone who claims to believe in the sanctity of life, truth, or justice cannot seriously defend the application of the death penalty in Pennsylvania,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner wrote in a brief to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court last month. Krasner based his argument on how the death penalty has been applied in Philadelphia, “the jurisdiction that has sought and secured more death sentences than any other county in the
In Tennessee, the Tennessean reports Stephen West was executed by electric chair last night. He opted for electrocution over lethal injection, a choice available to prisoners sentenced to death for a crime committed before 1999. The 56-year-old West was convicted of the 1986 murder of 61-year-old Wanda Romines and her 15-year-old daughter Sheila Romines. This was Tennessee’s fifth execution, and the third execution by electric chair, in the past year.
In his multi-part series, “We need to fix forensics. But how?” in the Washington Post, Radley Balko poses six questions to 14 experts who work in the areas of law, science, and forensics on how to fix the problems with the way forensics are used in criminal cases. “In covering these issues, I have found that there are lots of people willing to talk about the problems with forensics in
The “machinery of death” will shift into high gear in the next few months if the Department of Justice gets its way. On Monday, Attorney General William Barr announced that the Department of Justice will propose legislation to speed up death penalty trials for defendants accused of mass murder, or the killing of a law enforcement officer. “There will be a strict timetable for judicial proceedings that will allow the