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In brief: January 2023

In Oklahoma, Scott Eizember was killed last week. Eizember was sentenced to death in 2003 for the murders of A.J and Patsy Cantrell. His execution

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Alabama to tinker with the machinery of death again

Three months after a series of botched executions caused Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to call for a pause in state killing to allow time for a “top-to-bottom review,” of the state’s broken execution protocol, the state is ready to try again.  In a letter to state Attorney General Steve Marshall last Friday, Ivey said it “is time to resume our duty of carrying out lawful death sentences,” AL.com reports. According

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The execution of Donald Dillbeck

Florida corrections officials killed Donald Dillbeck last Thursday. They did so despite the extensive evidence of his horrific sexual and physical abuse as a child, the brain damage he suffered from his mother’s alcohol abuse during her pregnancy, and his serious mental illness. They did so despite the pleas of 29 evangelical Christian leaders, and hundreds of people around the country who signed petitions, called the governor, and marched in

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Donald Spoto

Former Death Penalty Focus board member Donald Spoto died earlier this month. He was 81. His death from a brain hemorrhage was announced by his husband, Danish artist, and school administrator Ole Flemming Larsen. The couple lived near Copenhagen in Denmark.  A prolific writer, whose dozens of books included biographies of prominent men and women from the fields of politics, show business, and religion, he was as complex and brilliant

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While we’re on the subject . . .

“Justice Department standards on federal death penalty called confusing,” was the headline in a recent Washington Post article. The paper interviewed federal defense lawyers and legislators about President Biden’s and Attorney General Merrick Garland’s inconsistent policy on the issue of the death penalty and the cases in which the DOJ decides to seek it. The paper notes that “Garland has deauthorized 25 death penalty cases that were started under previous

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In brief: February 2023

The Death Penalty Information Center reports that the first state killing this year occurred on January 3, when Missouri executed Amber McLaughlin. Texas followed one week later with the execution of Robert Fratta, and Oklahoma two days later with the killing of Scott Eizember. Texas killed Wesley Ruiz and John Balentine this month, Missouri executed Leonard Taylor, and Florida killed Donald Dillbeck last week. Four more executions are scheduled for

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The incomprehensible injustice of the Andre Thomas case

The State of Texas plans to execute Andre Thomas on April 5. Throughout his life, Thomas sought treatment for his severe mental illness symptoms, including up to two days before the murders of his estranged wife, Laura Boren, his four-year-old son, and her one-year-old daughter in Sherman, Texas, in 2004. No one responded to his increasingly desperate pleas for help, and the jury that sentenced him to death never heard

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Pennsylvania governor continues moratorium; calls on legislature to abolish the death penalty

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced earlier this month that he will not sign any execution warrants while he is in office; he will continue the moratorium on executions that former Gov. Tom Wolf declared in 2015 and called on the state General Assembly to abolish the death penalty. Shapiro made the announcement at West Philadelphia’s Mosaic Community Church because, he said, six months ago, before he was elected, it was

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Poll: Majority of Oklahomans support a moratorium on the death penalty

A poll commissioned by Oklahoma Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, released last week, shows that 78% of Oklahoma voters support a moratorium on the death penalty. The poll, conducted last month, also found that replacing capital punishment with a sentence of life without the possibility of parole is supported by 51% of those surveyed, “strong enough to be the starting point for a campaign,” according to Cole Hargrave Snodgrass

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CA AG Rob Bonta establishes a conviction integrity unit

In an effort to “remedy cases where there have been miscarriages of justice,” California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced earlier this month that he is creating a Post-Conviction Justice Unit — a first for California — to investigate past criminal convictions. The unit will work with local district attorneys to review and investigate cases to “resolve wrongful or improper criminal convictions, including matters where there may be evidence of significant

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