Oklahoma Executes Donald Grant
January 27, 2022
Oklahoma executed Donald Grant this morning, less than 24 hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay on Wednesday afternoon. He was killed by
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Teaser for a Kevin Cooper documentary is now streaming
January 10, 2022
“In his Defense,” a documentary on the Kevin Cooper case, is in the works right now, and California filmmaker Kenneth Carlson has released a teaser
While we’re on the subject . . .
January 10, 2022
In his editorial in Verdict, Austin Sarat says there is such significant “new progress in the effort to abolish America’s death penalty,” that it’s “not
In brief: January 2022
January 10, 2022
In Texas, the oldest person imprisoned on death row is scheduled to be executed on April 21. Carl Wayne Buntion, who is 77, has been
Executions and death sentences at near record lows in 2021, DPIC reports
January 10, 2022
“The death penalty in 2021 was defined by two competing forces: the continuing long-term erosion of capital punishment across most of the country, and extreme
Idaho governor denies commutation for Gerald Pizzuto, Jr.
January 10, 2022
Gerald Pizzuto, Jr. is 65 years old, dependent on a wheelchair, diabetic, and on hospice care because of advanced bladder cancer. He suffers from the
“Innocence isn’t enough here,” Arizona tells SCOTUS
January 10, 2022
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Shinn v. Ramirez. It’s a complicated case, involving two respondents, David Ramirez
Watch Now: The Death Penalty Brutalizes Us All
December 10, 2021
On Wednesday, December 8, 2021, we will presented “The Death Penalty Brutalizes Us All,” the fourth in our webinar series. Mike Farrell, DPF board president,
While we’re on the subject…
December 6, 2021
In his op-ed, “California halted executions, now it should abolish the death penalty,” in the Los Angeles Times, Scott Martelle says the moratorium on executions
In brief: December 2021
December 6, 2021
In Mississippi, David Cox died by lethal injection late last month in the state’s first execution since 2012. Cox, who had asked the court to
Doyle Lee Hamm dies
December 6, 2021
Doyle Lee Hamm, who survived a horrifically botched execution in Alabama’s Holman Correctional Facility in 2018, died late last month in prison. The cause was
Pervis Payne resentenced due to intellectual disability
December 6, 2021
Pervis Payne, who has been on Tennessee’s death row for 34 years, and has always maintained his innocence, will be resentenced to life in prison
While we’re on the subject . . .
October 26, 2023
University of San Francisco School of Law professors Lara Bazelon and Charlie Nelson Keever explained “Why California’s reinvestigation of an infamous quadruple murder case is
In brief: October 2023
October 26, 2023
In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey scheduled an execution date for Casey McWhorter for a 30-hour window between midnight November 16, and 6 a.m., November 17,
Update on the Kevin Cooper case
October 25, 2023
We wanted to update you on the Kevin Cooper case, which we have written extensively about over the years. Cooper, who has been on California’s
Louisiana pardons board denies clemency hearing for first five appeals; Sister Helen sues the board
October 25, 2023
The Louisiana Board of Pardons rejected clemency hearings for the first five people sentenced to death who submitted applications earlier this month. The five men
CDCR releases new solitary confinement policy
October 25, 2023
“Does CDCR have solitary confinement?” is the first question on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s “restricted housing” webpage. The answer? “No.” That answer
CA state appeals court upholds Racial Justice Act
October 16, 2023
In a 2-1 ruling, a state appeals court upheld California’s Racial Justice Act earlier this month. The law, which took effect in 2021, prohibits the
On-Demand: A Conversation on “The Torture of Solitary Confinement”
October 12, 2023
As of 2020, 12 states automatically housed death-sentenced people in indefinite solitary confinement, in violation of the UN’s Nelson Mandela Rules. The rules “restrict the
Federal judge finds Scott Panetti unfit to be executed by Texas
October 2, 2023
Scott Panetti, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia 35 years ago, was convicted of killing his wife’s parents in 1992 and sentenced to death in 1995 in
Death penalty states may have difficulty finding lethal injection medical equipment
September 27, 2023
The Intercept reports that four companies that manufacture medical equipment, including Baxter International Inc., B. Braun Medical Inc., Fresenius Kabi, and Johnson & Johnson, are
