Duane Buck gets life sentence instead of death in Texas racial bias case
October 13, 2017
Duane Buck was sentenced to life in prison last week, 20 years after he was first sentenced to death. In a plea deal, the 54-year-old
Duane Buck was sentenced to life in prison last week, 20 years after he was first sentenced to death. In a plea deal, the 54-year-old
The death penalty “is inextricably linked to poverty. Social and economic inequalities affect access to justice for those who are sentenced to death for several
“This is a horrible collection of half-truths, and misleading information. It is shameful.” The “horrible collection of half-truths” that Dale Recinella, a Catholic chaplain on
In Texas, 38-year-old Robert Pruett was executed last night, convicted of murdering a prison guard in 1999. He had been in prison since he was
In “Fighting an Oncoming Train,” in the September 29th issue of “Slate,” Susannah Sheffer, a clinical mental health counselor and researcher, reveals what she learned
When Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals sentenced the man who killed her sister, wounded her mother, and killed seven others in the worst
John Thompson died early this month of a heart attack at the age of 55. He had spent 14 years on death row at the
October 2 was the fourth annual International Wrongful Conviction Day. Around the world, exonerees, attorneys, and activists spoke out about wrongful convictions, their impact on
The California Supreme Court’s decision last month to uphold Proposition 66, possibly green-lighting the resumption of executions in the state, was not surprising, but it
A report published today by the ACLU, “A Closer Look at Los Angeles County’s Troubling Death-Penalty Track Record,” finds that under LA District Attorney Jackie Lacey, the DA’s office “continues to waste the jurisdiction’s precious time and resources on death penalty prosecutions.” And, the report notes, these capital sentences reveal “stunning racial disparities that eviscerate any claim Lacey may make about representing constituents or delivering what the people of L.A.
Early last month, a small group of California district attorneys organized what it called a “Victims of Murder Justice Tour” in a few cities around the state in which they held news conferences with family members of victims to protest Governor Gavin Newsom’s moratorium on the death penalty. Several of the DAs are from counties that fall within what law professor Robert J. Smith called the “Death Belt” of the United
“I have no reason to believe government officials are deliberately hiding the way they pay for capital trials, but I do believe taxpayers in death penalty states are paying for these trials in ways they would not realize.” And some of the ways they’re paying, according to West Virginia University Economics Professor Alexander Lundberg in his recently published paper, “On the Public Finance of Capital Punishment,” is by paying higher property
Twenty-one years after New Hampshire legislator Renny Cushing introduced his first bill to repeal the death penalty, he was finally successful last month when the legislature overrode Gov. Chris Sununu’s veto, and abandoned capital punishment. Twenty one states have now outlawed the barbaric punishment, and four others have moratoria in place. In addition, the repeal means no state in New England has the death penalty. “Our efforts do pay off
The machinery of death was in high gear in the South in May. Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida each killed a man, and Alabama executed two. Georgia began the month by executing Scotty Garnell Morrow on May 2 for the 1994 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Barbara Ann Young, and her friend, Tonya Woods. He was also convicted of shooting a third woman, LaToya Horne, who survived. Morrow, who apologized to the
Stating that, “After the Florida Supreme Court’s decision on the death penalty, it became abundantly clear to me that the death penalty law in the state of Florida is in direct conflict with my view and my vision for the administration of justice,” Aramis Ayala announced that she will not seek re-election as Orange-Osceola State Attorney. Ayala made the announcement in a video posted on her Facebook page. Soon after
“I can’t think of a more exciting time to be part of the movement to abolish the death penalty,” new DPF Executive Director Nancy Haydt says. “With New Hampshire’s repeal just a few weeks ago, 25 states — half the states in the nation — are without a death penalty or with a moratorium in place right now. It’s clear the tide is turning and consensus is building that this
In Virginia, the Washington Post reports that progressive challengers defeated longtime incumbent prosecutors in Fairfax and Arlington counties on Tuesday. “The shift marks a stunning change: Neither challenger has prosecuted a case in state court, but they bested incumbents with more than 60 years of experience between them in the court system,” the Post reports. In North Carolina, the Winston-Salem Journal reports that two experts, Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal
In his New York Times column, “When We Kill: Everything You Think You Know About the Death Penalty is Wrong,” Nicholas Kristof cites cases (including Kevin Cooper’s and Todd Willingham’s), and statistics to show just how wrong — morally, spiritually, and practically — the death penalty is. It is a powerful and emotional indictment of a punishment so barbaric it is incomprehensible that it wasn’t abolished in this country long ago.
