Voices: Marshall Frank
February 10, 2017
“I’m no bleeding heart. I worked in Dade County Homicide for 16 of my 30 years on the job, and saw it all….”
“I’m no bleeding heart. I worked in Dade County Homicide for 16 of my 30 years on the job, and saw it all….”
Whatever your view of the current political scene, President Trump’s nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court
The verdict was not a surprise, but it did leave many wondering what would be achieved by executing a clearly disturbed young man.
California’s new lethal injection protocol was rejected by a state regulatory agency that cited several problems with the proposal.
The U.S. Supreme Court sent Florida’s death penalty scheme into turmoil with a ruling last January, and things have just gotten more complicated since.
From Denver, where the new district attorney says she will not pursue the death penalty in murder cases, to North Carolina, which just marked 10 years since its last execution, the death penalty and its viability is being debated throughout the country.
For the past year-and-a-half, abolitionists, religious and political leaders, victims’ family members, and exonerees have shared their thoughts on the death penalty and why they work so hard to abolish it. Here are some of the highlights of those profiles.
In a surprise announcement, the US Department of Justice says it will investigate the scandal-plagued Orange County District Attorney and Sheriff’s office.
DPF President Mike Farrell wrote a letter to the governor of Alabama asking him to stop the execution of Ronald B. Smith because Smith’s jury recommended a life sentence, but the judge overrode the jury and sentenced him to death. Only Alabama allows a judge to override a jury’s sentence in a death penalty case.
Three events in the last few weeks are indicative of the turmoil still surrounding the death penalty in Florida. When the Florida Supreme Court acquitted Ralph Daniel Wright, Jr. of the murder of his ex-girlfriend and their son last week, he became the 159th person exonerated from death row in the United States since 1973, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The court’s unanimous decision said the case was
In Alabama on Thursday, the state Senate voted 26-3 to approve a bill already passed by the House that supporters say will trim years off the appeals process in death penalty cases. AL.com reports that the bill, known as the “Fair Justice Act,” “streamlines” the appeals process by requiring death row inmates to exercise their two appeals concurrently instead of consecutively, with appellate teams working simultaneously on behalf of the
In Philadelphia on Tuesday, a civil rights lawyer, who is opposed to the death penalty, has never worked as a prosecutor, and has defended Black Lives matter and Occupy Philadelphia protestors, won the Democratic primary for district attorney. The Associated Press reports that Larry Krasner said his victory was about “a vision of a criminal justice system that works for everyone.” In Georgia on Wednesday, J.W. Ledford, Jr. was executed
Last year, the editors of the Southwestern Law Review asked Stephen Rohde, a constitutional lawyer and DPF board chair, if he was interested in writing an article for an upcoming issue dedicated entirely to capital punishment. “I told them I’d like to write about my personal journey regarding the death penalty, and they were very open to that,” Rohde says. “It’s rare to have a law review article written in
While the state of Arkansas continues with its plans to execute Kenneth Williams by lethal injection tonight, his lawyers are trying to obtain a stay by arguing that they have “new and compelling evidence” that because of his medical problems, to execute him would cause “unconstitutional pain and suffering.” Williams suffers from organic brain damage, lupus, and has the sickle cell trait. His lawyers say the complaint they filed today
This month marks the 25th anniversary of the Los Angeles riots. It also marks the 25th anniversary of the resumption of executions in California after the U.S. Supreme Court “unabolished” the practice. The proximity of the two events was coincidental, at least at first glance. But 25 years later, the forces that led to the street violence following the Rodney King verdicts and to the upswell of public support for
Guardian reporter Jacob Rosenberg was one of the witnesses to the execution of Marcel Williams, who was the second man put to death by the state of Arkansas last night. His report is chilling. He describes Williams lying on a gurney with his head “locked in place,” lying on his side, facing the witnesses. It isn’t easy to read, and you will feel slightly sick inside knowing that this is
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe earlier today commuted the death sentence of Ivan Teleguz, who was scheduled to be executed this Tuesday. There was no physical evidence, and questionable witness testimony, of Teleguz’s guilt in the death of his ex-girlfriend in 2001. McAuliffe commuted the 38-year-old Teleguz’s sentence to life without parole. WHSV reported that McAuliffe said at a news conference,”Because the sentencing phase of Mr. Teleguz’s trial was flawed, I
Two Arkansas death row inmates, Bruce Ward and Don Davis, will not be executed tonight. The Arkansas Supreme Court this afternoon granted stays of executions for the two inmates by a vote of 4-3. The Arkansas Times reports that lawyers for the men asked the high court for the stay while the U.S. Supreme Court takes up a separate case next week concerning access to independent mental health experts by