In a bizarrely-worded statement, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey called for a temporary halt to executions last week. She announced the decision after corrections officials botched
“What has happened to Mr. Hastings is a terrible injustice,” Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said at a news conference announcing Maurice Hastings’ release
In Texas, Tracy Beatty was killed early last month despite valid questions about whether his crime qualified for the death penalty. Beatty was found guilty
For the second time in two months, Alabama botched an execution. Corrections officials ended their attempt to kill Kenneth Smith on November 17 after trying
The problems with Alabama’s July execution of Joe Nathan James, Jr., during which it took the execution team three hours to kill him because of
The U.S. Supreme Court shot down an attempt by three California district attorneys to intervene in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s lethal
When the jury in the death penalty trial of Nikolas Cruz, who pled guilty to killing 17 students and teachers and wounding 17 others at
In California, a new report from the U.S. Department of Justice describes how the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department
In his piece, “The Supreme Court Shows No Signs of Slaking Its Thirst for Capital Punishment,” in The New Republic, Matt Ford points out that
On Thursday, February 23, 2023, DPF presented a discussion about “Lethal Injection Lies,” the myth that there is a painless, humane way to kill a human being. Death Penalty Chair Mike Farrell moderated the discussion with three lethal injection experts, all of whom have unique experiences with the death penalty and can eloquently attest to the barbarity of the execution process in the United States. References: 1) Dr. Hansten’s Lethal Injection
The news media may be permitted to visit and interview individuals imprisoned in California prisons and jails for the first time since the mid-1990s, under a bill introduced by state Sen. Nancy Skinner. “The news media plays a vital role in providing information to the public and policymakers about how our government operates. California used to allow the news media much greater access to state prisons, enabling us to learn
A group of faith leaders is asking Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to appoint an independent review board to investigate the state’s execution protocol, AL.com reports. “Our beliefs are varied and our communities diverse, but we all agree that the unnecessary pain and suffering at the hands of the state where we live and worship demands our response,” the interfaith group of about 170 leaders wrote in a letter hand-delivered to
Four men sentenced to death in Texas have filed a class-action lawsuit against the state corrections department alleging that subjecting the 185 men on death row to “mandatory and indefinite solitary confinement [is] a psychologically and physically damaging practice that violates the[ir] federal and state constitutional rights.” Mark Robertson, George Curry, Tony Egbuna Ford, and Rickey Cummings filed the lawsuit against Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice Executive Director Bryan Collier,
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals granted a motion filed by newly-elected Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond to slow down the state’s frenzied plan to execute seven men in seven months between February 16 and August 3, 2023. The new execution dates are scheduled for every 60 days between May 18 and June 6, 2024. Richard Glossip, whose February 16 date has been changed to May 18, his ninth execution
Stating that Arizona’s recent history of executions by lethal injection “has caused many, including courts, to express concerns regarding whether executions are being carried out constitutionally, humanely, and in compliance with the State’s own laws and procedures,” Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has ordered an independent review of the state’s execution procedures and protocols with a final report and recommendations to be made to her and the attorney general. Attorney General
2022 was the “year of the botched execution,” according to the Death Penalty Information Center. And now, a 166-page report from a law firm commissioned by Tennessee’s Gov. Bill Lee to analyze that state’s execution protocol could help explain why. Released late last month by the governor, it was authored by former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton, whose law firm was tasked with conducting an independent investigation into the Tennessee Department
The California Supreme Court granted review earlier this month on whether people serving life-without-parole sentences for crimes committed when they were between the ages of 18 and 25 should be entitled to parole hearings after they’ve spent 25 years in prison. That right already exists for those sentenced to life for crimes committed when they were 18 – 25. The review will not include those in that age range who
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an Executive Order in May 2021, calling for an investigation into Kevin Cooper’s 1985 death penalty conviction for a quadruple murder in San Bernardino County in 1983. The order tasked the Los Angeles law firm Morrison Foerster to “conduct a full review of the trial and appellate records in this case, and of the facts underlying the conviction, including facts and evidence that do not
