After Alabama corrections officials botched their third execution in four months on November 17, Gov. Kay Ivey called a hiatus, saying it wasn’t the fault
In one week, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals denied two petitions filed by Richard Glossip for an evidentiary hearing to consider new evidence of
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
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
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
After Alabama corrections officials botched their third execution in four months on November 17, Gov. Kay Ivey called a hiatus, saying it wasn’t the fault of law enforcement or corrections departments, but ” I believe that legal tactics and criminals hijacking the system are at play here.” So she’s now gone to the state Supreme Court, asking it to extend the length that an execution warrant is in effect, giving
Missouri killed Kevin Johnson on Tuesday evening. He was sentenced to death for killing Kirkwood police officer Sgt. William McEntee in 2005, a crime he admitted and expressed remorse for repeatedly over the years. Johnson was 19 at the time and under severe stress brought on by the sudden death of his 12-year-old brother at the scene shortly before the shooting. There is no question that what occurred that day
A judge’s order late last month means a man on Tennessee’s death row, who slit his wrists before severing his penis in early October, will finally get the bare minimum of care. Henry Hodges had been kept naked and in restraints on a thin pad on a concrete slab for at least a week. His lawyer, assistant federal public defender Kelley Henry, had been denied visitation since Hodges’ suicide attempt
In one week, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals denied two petitions filed by Richard Glossip for an evidentiary hearing to consider new evidence of innocence in his case. Glossip was scheduled to be killed on September 22. But Gov. Kevin Stitt stayed his execution until February 16, 2023, to allow time for the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to review his petitions for a new hearing. Both of those
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 the failed execution of Kenneth Smith on November 17, the third execution this year that was botched and the fourth since 2018. (You can read a full account in the following article.) “For the sake of the victims and their families, we’ve got to get
