In brief: August 2017
August 11, 2017
In Texas, TaiChin Preyor was executed late last month, after his appeal was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court. Preyor, who was convicted of the
In Texas, TaiChin Preyor was executed late last month, after his appeal was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court. Preyor, who was convicted of the
“To spend 20 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, and emerge with his humanity and dignity intact … to spend 20 years, day in and day out, fighting for his freedom, it was just so extraordinary. It was totally compelling.”
A petition drive that was started by five men exonerated from Ohio’s death row culminated today with the delivery of 100 thousand signatures to the
A diverse group of death penalty opponents held a news conference at the state capitol in Ohio on Wednesday to ask Gov. John Kasich to
Scharlette Holdman, who died last week, was renowned in the criminal justice world as one of the foremost death penalty mitigation specialists in the country.
“The execution of a man suffering from severe mental illness is an act of particular barbarism — especially if his condition may have been misdiagnosed
“We will now reverse the district court’s denial of appointed counsel and expert funding . . . vacate its factual findings relating to Panetti’s competency,
The U.S. Supreme Court sent a condemned Alabama inmate’s case back to a lower court late last month because he did not have access to
After a three-and-a-half-year hiatus, Ohio is again free to tinker with the machinery of death. Ohio has not executed anyone since January 2014, when Dennis
Carlos Ayestas was sentenced to death in Texas in 1997 for the murder of 67-year-old Santiaga Paneque two years earlier. But because a judge did not allocate the funds that the federal Criminal Justice Act allows “upon a finding that investigative, expert, or other services are reasonably necessary for the representation of the defendant,” no witnesses were presented during Ayestas’ penalty phase to testify that he was a diagnozed schizophrenic,
In Texas, 47-year-old Ruben Ramirez Cardenas, a Mexican citizen, was executed on Wednesday for the 1997 killing of his 16-year-old cousin, Mayra Laguna. He was the seventh prisoner to be executed in Texas this year. ABC News reports that his execution was delayed for four hours while attorneys filed last ditch appeals for new DNA testing of trial evidence. In Florida, also on Wednesday, 53-year-old Patrick Hannon was executed for
“We have lost one of the best among us, but each day when we do something good for a client, we are renewing our connection with Rob.” Death penalty attorney Richard Burr wrote those words to the defense community in late September, shortly after his close friend, defense attorney Rob Nigh, died at the age of 57. Burr and Nigh were two of the three attorneys who initially represented Timothy
In an op-ed in AZ Central, Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice president Amy Kalman explains why she and more than 20 former Arizona judges, former prosecutors and legal experts, including the former judge who co-authored the state’s death penalty statute, are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to end capital punishment not just in Arizona, but nationwide. “There are now so many aggravating factors that Arizona prosecutors can seek the death
Jack Greene was granted an emergency stay by the Arkansas Supreme Court on Tuesday, two days before he was scheduled to be executed. Greene’s attorneys requested the stay so the court could consider a lower court ruling that dismissed their challenge to a state law that says a death row prisoner can be found incompetent to be executed only if the prison’s director asks for a mental health evaluation. “The
“Plagued by wrongful convictions, high costs, and delays, the death penalty has proven to be ineffective and incompatible with a number of core conservative principles. It runs afoul of conservative commitments to limited government, fiscal responsibility, and a culture of life.” That’s according to a report published by the four-year-old organization, “Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty,” that maintains that “more Republicans are recognizing that the death penalty is a
Americans’ support for the death penalty is now at 55 percent, the lowest number since 1972, according to a poll released by Gallup late last month. The number continues “a trend toward diminished death penalty support as many states have issued moratoria on executions or abolished capital punishment,” Gallup says. The poll shows that support among Democrats has been steadily decreasing for the past five years, with just 39 percent
Death Penalty Focus is partnering with CharityBuzz to bring you two new charity auctions–your chance to meet Ed Asner and Ed Begley, Jr.–all while supporting our work. Lunch with Award Winning Actor Ed Asner in Los Angeles Enjoy lunch in Los Angeles with Ed Asner, legendary actor and seven time Emmy Award winner. Ed Asner is perhaps best known for his comedic and dramatic crossover as the gruff but soft-hearted journalist ‘Lou Grant,’ the
Last night, members of the Bay Area death penalty community gathered to honor the late Scharlette Holdman, a woman who, as SF attorney Andy Love said, “forever changed not just the way death penalty cases were litigated but for those lucky to work with and be mentored by her, how to confront injustice in all its forms. . . .” The celebration of Scharlette’s extraordinary life and work, sponsored by