Albert Woodfox
August 29, 2022
Albert Woodfox, who spent 42 years in solitary confinement in Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angola Prison) for a crime he didn’t commit before
Albert Woodfox, who spent 42 years in solitary confinement in Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angola Prison) for a crime he didn’t commit before
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has issued a 60-day stay of execution for Richard Glossip. The stay is effective September 22, the day Glossip was scheduled
A former victim of James Coddington is asking Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt for mercy for Coddington, who is scheduled to be executed next Thursday. KWGS
A number of people on California’s death row could be resentenced in the wake of a state Supreme Court ruling earlier this month. The unanimous
Oklahoma’s plan to kill 25 men between next month and December 2024 has been met with outrage and disbelief. Former Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry and
In California, three death sentences were overturned by state and federal courts in the past few weeks, the Death Penalty Information Center reports. “Richard Clark,
Fifty years ago this week, the United States took a historic step toward a more fair, humane, less racist criminal justice system. On June 29,
The Oklahoma City law firm that conducted a pro bono independent investigation into the case of Richard Glossip, the second in line of the 25
Three California district attorneys are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that denied their right to intervene
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
Legislators anxious to reinstate the death penalty in their states hope their trump card will be police and public safety issues. But the facts stand in their way. The Death Penalty Information Center reports that Virginia lawmakers tried and failed to reinstate the death penalty for killing police officers last month. Several legislators in Illinois also recently introduced bills to reinstate it, arguing that “law enforcement is under attack.” However,
CBS News’ “48 Hours” reporter Erin Moriarty updates the Kevin Cooper case in an interview and article, noting that “It’s very difficult to believe that one person” could have committed the 1983 San Bernardino quadruple murder Cooper was convicted of and sentenced to death for, in 1985. California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered an innocence investigation in the case in May 2021. Moriarty has covered the case since 2000. She hopes