Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens issued a stay of execution late last month for Marcellus Williams based on new DNA evidence. The stay was issued hours
In Ohio, 45-year-old Gary Otte is scheduled to be executed next Wednesday for two murders in 1992. Otte’s lawyers are challenging both the state’s lethal
John T. Thorngren is 76 years old, and has had three heart attacks and two open heart surgeries. But he had one last item on
In a guest editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Stephen Cooper calls on Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, who late last month stayed the execution of
The California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition 66, which will radically change the state’s current death penalty law, and will most likely open the door
A Kentucky Circuit Judge ruled last week that it is unconstitutional to sentence to death a defendant who is under the age of 21. He
After an 18-month hiatus following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hurst v. Florida decision, Florida is gearing up to begin executions again. Yesterday, the Florida Supreme
Ohio executed its first inmate in three-and-a-half years late last month, using a new three-drug protocol, including midazolam, rocuronium bromide, and potassium chloride. Forty-five-year-old Ronald
“There is no justification for executing the insane, and no reasoned support for it, as only a glance at the brief of amici—filed by able
Late last month, federal prisoner Ulysses Jones, Jr. was sentenced to life in prison for the 2006 murder of another inmate at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mis-souri. It was a huge defeat for the U.S. government, which had tried for 11 years to have Jones sentenced to death. Why it took 11 years for Jones to come to trial is just one of the many
In California, Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye told a group of reporters that she expects Proposition 66, which passed in November 2016 on the dubious promise to speed up executions, to face more legal challenges. The state’s high court upheld the measure earlier this year, but Cantil-Sakauye did not take part in the ruling because she is on the Judicial Council, which will be implementing it. Capital Public Radio
In “Two Murder Convictions for One Fatal Shot,” in the November 13 issue of the New Yorker, Ken Armstrong examines a disturbingly frequent practice by prosecutors in which they present contradictory theories of how a crime was committed. “The most common scenario involves a fatal shot: the prosecutor puts the gun in the hand of one defendant, then another,” he writes. “At least twenty-nine men have been condemned in cases
“In the Executioner’s Shadow” is a documentary that examines the death penalty from the per-spective of three very different people, and their very different experiences: The parents of a young woman who was raped and murdered; a middle-aged woman who was injured in the Boston Marathon bombing; a corrections officer who performed 62 executions. The two filmmakers, Maggie Burnette Stogner and Richard Stack, have been working on the film for
Application Deadline: January 22, 2018 Death Penalty Focus (DPF), a national nonprofit organization founded in 1988 to abolish the death penalty, is seeking an Executive Director with excellent leadership, advocacy, organizing, management, fundraising, and public speaking skills. The successful candidate will have the vision and commitment to lead the fight to end to the death penalty in California and throughout the country. Based in California, DPF is one of the
It’s not just amazing art that’s being produced on San Quentin’s death row, there is also some insightful, thought-provoking literature and poetry being written as well. One example can be found at the website Sacred Eye of the Falcon, which features the work of Steve Champion. He’s been on death row since 1981, and since that time, he has immersed himself in studying African history, philosophy, political science, and comparative
It’s not often we can share inspiring or uplifting information these days, but Nicola White, a London-based artist, has been working with prisoners at San Quentin to help them get their paintings, essays, poetry and other writings out in the world. So she created this beautiful website to showcase the work. It will take your breath away. Each artist has his own page, and the artwork ranges from pencil and
Death Penalty Focus is partnering with CharityBuzz to bring you FOUR new charity auctions–your chance to meet Patty Jenkins, Jeff Goldblum, Ben and Jerry, and Misha Collins–all while supporting our work. Meet Wonder Woman Director Patty Jenkins & Visit the Set of TNT’s New Series One Day She’ll Darken in LA Patty Jenkins is a writer and director best known for directing Wonder Woman, the Warner Bros./DC Comics blockbuster of
When Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last week to resentence Bobby Moore to life in prison, she may have finally put an end to an extremely controversial and bewilderingly unscientific evaluation that the CCA has been relying on to determine whether a capital defendant is intellectually disabled. “I’m doing what I believe the law requires,” the Houston Chronicle quoted Ogg as saying.