Florida plans to kill Bobby Joe Long tomorrow for the murder of Michelle Sims in 1984, although he pleaded guilty to killing eight women and
(Tennessee is planning to execute Don Johnson tonight for the murder of his wife, Connie, in 1984. Johnson is a very different man from the
Dear Governor Newsom, Do you have ANY IDEA how refreshing it is to the SOUL to have a politician seek public office, who promises to
California Gov. Gavin Newsom today ordered additional DNA testing on evidence in the case of Kevin Cooper, who was sent to death row almost 34
The Toledo Blade reports that Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is putting executions on hold because, he said today, “Ohio is not going to execute someone
This Saturday, January 26, at 9 p.m. (PST and EST), CBS will air a two-hour “48 Hours” program about Kevin Cooper’s case. Kevin has been
Check out this piece in the New Republic which looks at how (shamefully) few Democratic governors pardon or commute the sentences of prisoners, even though
Dear Governor Brown: On behalf of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ), the statewide organization of public and private criminal defense attorneys, we are writing
California Governor Jerry Brown today ordered new tests on items from the crime scene that sent Kevin Cooper to death row in 1985. The governor’s
Our Annual Awards Event last Thursday was a powerful reminder of how far we’ve come since we held our first event 30 years ago. And the accounts from those who were instrumental in getting Virginia’s and France’s death penalties abolished gave us renewed energy to continue our efforts to see it repealed not just here in California, but in all the remaining death penalty states in the country and around
On “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” Oliver explains just how overwhelmingly difficult it is to be exonerated for a wrongful conviction even in the face of overwhelming evidence of innocence. Focusing on cases including that of Joseph Amrine, exonerated in Missouri, Lamar Johnson and his 27-year fight to overturn his wrongful conviction, and Melissa Lucio, facing execution in Texas next month for a crime she didn’t commit, Oliver offers
In Kentucky, a bill prohibiting the execution of people with serious mental illness passed last week. HB 269 adds mental illness to the list of disabilities preventing the state from executing those convicted of capital murder. In Tennessee, officials announced plans to execute five people this year, with the first killing scheduled for next month, the Tennessean reports. Seventy-one-year-old Oscar Franklin Smith’s execution has been set for April 21. He
Death Penalty Focus Presents: 30th Awards Event (Virtual) Originally Aired: March 24, 2022 Watch On-Demand Tribute Journal Donate About While 2021 was difficult in many ways, it was an important year in the ever-growing movement to abolish the death penalty, not just here in the U.S. but also around the world. And it’s why our Death Penalty Focus 30th (Virtual) Awards Event honored the people and organizations whose tireless efforts
Last week, lawyers for Melissa Lucio submitted a clemency application to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole. And a bipartisan majority of legislators in the Texas House asked state officials to halt her execution. Lucio is scheduled to be executed on April 27, despite evidence that she was wrongly convicted for the accidental death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah, in 2007. In a news
South Carolina plans to execute its prisoners by firing squad, the first time a state has used this method since 2010 when Utah killed Ronnie Lee Gardner. The Department of Corrections this month that the electric chair will be its “primary means of execution,” but will allow prisoners to choose lethal injection or death by a firing squad of three men with rifles,“if those methods are available.” The state renovated
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month reimposed the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who set off one of the bombs at the 2013 Boston Marathon. The ruling reverses a 2020 federal appeals court decision nullifying the sentence and ordering a new penalty phase trial. The justices’ 6-3 ruling was in response to a Biden administration request to reinstate Tsarnaev’s original sentence, calling Tsarnaev a “terrorist” who caused “carnage at
The criminal justice community has lost a giant and Death Penalty Focus has lost a dear friend with Robert “Renny” Cushing’s passing. Cushing died Monday night from prostate cancer at the age of 69. The New Hampshire House Democratic leader, Cushing spent decades promoting legislation to abolish the death penalty, finally succeeding in 2019. The legislature overrode the governor’s veto, and on May 30, 2019, Cushing was responsible for New
Fifty-seven elected prosecutors from around the country, holding “varied opinions surrounding the death penalty,” issued a joint statement last month, declaring that they have arrived at the same inevitable conclusion: “Our country’s system of capital punishment is broken. It is time to work together toward systemic changes that will bring about the elimination of the death penalty nationwide.” The statement, released by Fair and Just Prosecution, a network of elected
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