In brief: January 2022
January 10, 2022
In Texas, the oldest person imprisoned on death row is scheduled to be executed on April 21. Carl Wayne Buntion, who is 77, has been
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In Texas, the oldest person imprisoned on death row is scheduled to be executed on April 21. Carl Wayne Buntion, who is 77, has been
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
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 was almost delayed because of his request to have his spiritual advisor in the execution chamber with him. The Oklahoma State Department of Corrections had denied the request, citing his advisor’s social activism, but reversed its decision after a discussion with the Cantrell family, whom
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is moving ahead with its plan to dismantle its death row in San Quentin State Prison and move the 671 individuals to various prisons throughout the state. CDCR made its announcement on the two-year anniversary of the launch of its pilot program in which the transfer of those on death row was on a voluntary basis. Approximately 160 people volunteered in that period.
“The death penalty is beyond redemption. It is unfair and unfixable, and it turns states into killers in the name of vengeance against killers,” the LA Times writes in a recent editorial, “Death penalty’s retreat is excruciatingly slow.” The editorial board cites the courage of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, who commuted the sentences of the 17 men on death row in December, “the most expansive instance of death penalty clemency
“2022 can be called ‘the year of the botched execution,’” the Death Penalty Information Center stated in its annual report on capital punishment in the United States. Of the 20 executions scheduled, seven were problematic, “an astonishing 35%,” DPIC said, “a result of executioner incompetence, failures to follow protocols, or defects in the protocols themselves.” In all,18 men were killed in six states. Two Alabama executions, Alan Miller’s in September
