The Washington Post this week reported on a study commissioned by the National Registry of Exonerations that found that since 1989, some 2,000 exonerees spent a combined
A doctor who reviewed statements from witnesses to last month’s execution of Billy Ray Irick in Tennessee stated in court filings that their accounts indicate
In New Hampshire, the Senate failed to override Gov. Chris Sununu’s veto of a death penalty repeal bill. The vote was 14-10, just short of the
In its editorial, “Gov. Brown Needs to Speed Up the Review Process for Death Row Inmate Kevin Cooper,” the LA TImes editorial board says that
Nebraska executed its first prisoner in 21 years today. The state killed Carey Dean Moore with a four-drug lethal injection cocktail that included fentanyl –
When Pope Francis declared last week that “the death penalty is inadmissible,” because it is “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,”
Saying there were “fundamental flaws” in his sentencing, Ohio Gov. John Kasich commuted Raymond Tibbetts’ death sentence to life without parole late last month. The
In St. Louis, six civil rights organizations filed an amicii brief with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals last week on behalf of Charles Rhines
In Nevada, 48-year-old Scott Dozier apparently died by suicide on death row at Ely State Prison last Friday. The Huffington Post reports that Dozier apparently died by hanging. Dozier had been on death row since 2008 for the murders of Jeremiah Miller, who was killed in 2002, and Jasen Green, whose body was found in an Arizona desert in 2001. Dozier had given up all appeals, and had requested that his execution go
In his New Republic article, “Why Aren’t Democratic Governors Pardoning More Prisoners?”, Matt Ford looks at how few Democratic governors pardon or commute the sentences of prisoners, even though it is in their power to do so. Ford singles out former Gov. Jerry Brown, who ignored the 739 men and women on California’s death row while issuing pardons for at least 1,332 prisoners since 2011, “quadrupling the number issued by the preceding
(Editor’s Note: The front page of this newsletter spells Joe Giarattano’s name incorrectly in the headline. We would correct it, but the computer program we use won’t allow corrections once the email is sent. We apologize for the error.) “I am going to be faced with real challenges when I step beyond the prison gates. Life for me is not going to be easy. I am, essentially, beginning from scratch,” Joseph Giarratano
Check out this piece in the New Republic which looks at how (shamefully) few Democratic governors pardon or commute the sentences of prisoners, even though it is in their power to do so. The article takes full aim at Jerry Brown, leaving office today. While the TNR gives Brown full credit for pardoning at least 1,332 prisoners since 2011, “quadrupling the number issued by the preceding four governors combined,” it
Dear Governor Brown: On behalf of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ), the statewide organization of public and private criminal defense attorneys, we are writing to implore you as one of your final and most heroic acts as Governor of California to commute the death sentences of all persons currently on death row in California. The death penalty is a dark stain on our state. Virtually all of the developed
California Governor Jerry Brown today ordered new tests on items from the crime scene that sent Kevin Cooper to death row in 1985. The governor’s Executive Order calls for “limited retesting of certain physical evidence in the case and appointing a retired judge as a special master to oversee this testing, its scope and protocols.” The 60-year-old Cooper was sentenced to death for the murder of four people in a
Momentum is building, but time is running out. We need your help for one last push. Gov. Jerry Brown, please do not leave people behind on death row when you leave office.
Six former governors called on California Gov. Jerry Brown this week to grant clemency to the 740 men and women on death row, stating that “The achievement of high office demands that one be courageous in leadership.” In an editorial in Thursday’s New York Times, former governors Richard Celeste, John Kitzhaber, Martin O’Malley, Bill Richardson, Pat Quinn, and Toney Anaya acknowledged the “terrible responsibility” of signing a death warrant, “hard even to imagine until you’re asked
The California Supreme Court last week unanimously reversed the death sentence for Dora Buenrostro, who was convicted of killing her three children, Susana, Vicente, and Deidra (ages nine, eight, and four, respectively) in 1994 in Riverside County. The Court did, however, affirm Buenrostro’s conviction. The unanimous opinion, written by Justice Leondra Kruger, rejected a number of Buenrostro’s appeals, but found that a prospective juror was improperly excused based solely on her