SCOTUS hears arguments re: Ayestas & rights of the indigent
November 9, 2017
Carlos Ayestas was sentenced to death in Texas in 1997 for the murder of 67-year-old Santiaga Paneque two years earlier. But because a judge did
Carlos Ayestas was sentenced to death in Texas in 1997 for the murder of 67-year-old Santiaga Paneque two years earlier. But because a judge did
In Texas, 47-year-old Ruben Ramirez Cardenas, a Mexican citizen, was executed on Wednesday for the 1997 killing of his 16-year-old cousin, Mayra Laguna. He was
“We have lost one of the best among us, but each day when we do something good for a client, we are renewing our connection
In an op-ed in AZ Central, Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice president Amy Kalman explains why she and more than 20 former Arizona judges, former
Jack Greene was granted an emergency stay by the Arkansas Supreme Court on Tuesday, two days before he was scheduled to be executed. Greene’s attorneys
“Plagued by wrongful convictions, high costs, and delays, the death penalty has proven to be ineffective and incompatible with a number of core conservative principles.
Americans’ support for the death penalty is now at 55 percent, the lowest number since 1972, according to a poll released by Gallup late last
Death Penalty Focus is partnering with CharityBuzz to bring you two new charity auctions–your chance to meet Ed Asner and Ed Begley, Jr.–all while supporting our
Last night, members of the Bay Area death penalty community gathered to honor the late Scharlette Holdman, a woman who, as SF attorney Andy Love
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide soon whether to accept Hidalgo v. Arizona, which not only challenges Arizona’s death penalty statute, but the death penalty nationwide. Lawyers for Abel Hidalgo argue that there are so many aggravating circumstances for which a defendant can be sentenced to death in Arizona, the sentence is unconstitutional based on the conditions the high court laid out in Gregg v. Georgia. There are 14 factors,
Late last month, federal prisoner Ulysses Jones, Jr. was sentenced to life in prison for the 2006 murder of another inmate at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mis-souri. It was a huge defeat for the U.S. government, which had tried for 11 years to have Jones sentenced to death. Why it took 11 years for Jones to come to trial is just one of the many
In California, Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye told a group of reporters that she expects Proposition 66, which passed in November 2016 on the dubious promise to speed up executions, to face more legal challenges. The state’s high court upheld the measure earlier this year, but Cantil-Sakauye did not take part in the ruling because she is on the Judicial Council, which will be implementing it. Capital Public Radio
In “Two Murder Convictions for One Fatal Shot,” in the November 13 issue of the New Yorker, Ken Armstrong examines a disturbingly frequent practice by prosecutors in which they present contradictory theories of how a crime was committed. “The most common scenario involves a fatal shot: the prosecutor puts the gun in the hand of one defendant, then another,” he writes. “At least twenty-nine men have been condemned in cases
“In the Executioner’s Shadow” is a documentary that examines the death penalty from the per-spective of three very different people, and their very different experiences: The parents of a young woman who was raped and murdered; a middle-aged woman who was injured in the Boston Marathon bombing; a corrections officer who performed 62 executions. The two filmmakers, Maggie Burnette Stogner and Richard Stack, have been working on the film for
Application Deadline: January 22, 2018 Death Penalty Focus (DPF), a national nonprofit organization founded in 1988 to abolish the death penalty, is seeking an Executive Director with excellent leadership, advocacy, organizing, management, fundraising, and public speaking skills. The successful candidate will have the vision and commitment to lead the fight to end to the death penalty in California and throughout the country. Based in California, DPF is one of the
It’s not just amazing art that’s being produced on San Quentin’s death row, there is also some insightful, thought-provoking literature and poetry being written as well. One example can be found at the website Sacred Eye of the Falcon, which features the work of Steve Champion. He’s been on death row since 1981, and since that time, he has immersed himself in studying African history, philosophy, political science, and comparative
It’s not often we can share inspiring or uplifting information these days, but Nicola White, a London-based artist, has been working with prisoners at San Quentin to help them get their paintings, essays, poetry and other writings out in the world. So she created this beautiful website to showcase the work. It will take your breath away. Each artist has his own page, and the artwork ranges from pencil and
Death Penalty Focus is partnering with CharityBuzz to bring you FOUR new charity auctions–your chance to meet Patty Jenkins, Jeff Goldblum, Ben and Jerry, and Misha Collins–all while supporting our work. Meet Wonder Woman Director Patty Jenkins & Visit the Set of TNT’s New Series One Day She’ll Darken in LA Patty Jenkins is a writer and director best known for directing Wonder Woman, the Warner Bros./DC Comics blockbuster of