- Death Penalty FOCUS

Philadelphia County exonerates another person from death row; its 13th since 1973

March 9, 2024

Fifty-four-year-old Daniel Gwynn was freed from Pennsylvania’s death row on February 29, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office announced. He served nearly 30 years for a crime he didn’t commit. Gwynn was convicted of the 1994 arson murder of Marsha Smith based on false witness identification, Gwynn’s false confession, and withheld evidence. Police testified that witnesses identified Gwynn in a photo lineup, but the photos were never turned over to

Oklahoma inches closer to a death penalty moratorium

March 5, 2024

Last Wednesday, the Oklahoma House Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee cleared House Bill 3138, the Death Penalty Moratorium Act, making it eligible to be heard on the House floor, Oklahoma Watch reports. The bill was introduced by Republican Rep. Kevin McDugle, who, although a death penalty supporter, has been troubled by several cases in which individuals were sentenced to death, most prominently Richard Glossip’s. “We cannot trust the system, period,

Sister Helen Prejean on Witnessing the Killing of Ivan Cantu

March 5, 2024

In this powerful and poignant update, Sister Helen Prejean, fueled by her outrage at the barbarism of capital punishment and her unwavering commitment to its abolition, shares the final, tragic moments of Ivan’s life through a lens filled with both tender compassion and fervent resolve. This is Sister Prejean’s firsthand account, deeply personal yet universally resonant, urging us to see beyond the immediate tragedy to the larger call to action

Idaho botched its attempted execution of Thomas Creech today

February 28, 2024

Idaho corrections officials attempted to kill 73-year-old Thomas Creech today, but after an hour of repeated attempts to find a vein for its lethal injection drugs, they called it off. It was the state’s first execution attempt since 2012. “We are angered but not surprised that the State of Idaho botched the execution,” Creech’s lawyers said in a statement after the attempt, according to the New York Times. “This is

A plea from Mike Farrell to sign a petition to save Ivan Cantu before Texas kills him

February 26, 2024

Please join Sister Helen Prejean, DPF President Mike Farrell, and TCADP in urging Collin County DA Greg Willis, Gov. Greg Abbott, and the Texas Ct of Criminal Appeals not to kill Ivan Cantu this Wednesday, February 28. [Unfortunately, his execution was carried out.] Ivan was convicted of the 2001 killing of his cousin, James Mosqueda, and Mosqueda’s fiancée, Amy Kitchen. But there is so much wrong with the case against

“The death penalty must disappear from the entire world as it is a shame for humanity.”

February 9, 2024

Robert Badinter, the former French Minister of Justice and the man who, in 1981, in one of his first acts as justice minister in the government of President François Mitterrand, wrote the law that abolished capital punishment in France, died early on Friday. He was 95. At a commemoration ceremony on the 40th anniversary of that historic achievement last September, with French President Macron at his side, Badinter declared, “I

Two men facing death penalty charges in Riverside County are granted evidentiary hearings under Racial Justice Act

February 3, 2024

In California’s Riverside County, two Black men challenging their separate death penalty prosecutions under the California Racial Justice Act (AB 256) were granted evidentiary hearings by a California Court of Appeals late last month. Russell Austin and Michael Mosby argued that “the death penalty in Riverside County is tainted with racial inequality — and offered statistical studies, along with other evidence, reaching that conclusion,” the ACLU Southern California announced in

Oklahoma attorney general asks for 90-day intervals before next six executions

January 31, 2024

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Department of Corrections Executive Director Steven Harpe are asking the state Court of Criminal Appeals to set the execution dates for the next six people it plans to kill at 90-day intervals. The state had scheduled 12 executions for 2024. “The present pace of executions, every 60 days, is too onerous and not sustainable,” DOC ED Harpe stated in the joint motion https://www.oag.ok.gov/sites/g/files/gmc766/f/documents/2024/in_re_execution_dates_1.30.24.pdf to

“SCOTUS’ guardrails have given way to removing roadblocks,” says a USF law professor

January 24, 2024

In her essay in Politico Magazine, USF School of Law Professor Lara Bazelon says the downward trend in death sentences that began after hitting a peak in the mid-1990s, “is beginning to reverse.” She notes that in 2021, there were 11 executions in the U.S. and one year later, in 2022, there were 18. In 2023, there were 24 people executed, the highest in five years. The reason for the

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