In Colorado, a judge dismissed the first-degree murder conviction of Stephen Martinez earlier this week, the Korey Wise Innocence Project (KWIP) at the University of Colorado Law School reported. Martinez was sentenced to life in prison in 2000 for killing his then-girlfriend’s four-month-old daughter. Martinez’s conviction was based mainly on the junk science theory of shaken baby syndrome. A team of medical experts hired by the Denver DA’s office concluded that the baby died from pneumonia and related lung disease, according to KWIP.
In Pennsylvania, a man accused of killing a police officer will not be charged with capital murder, the Mon Valley Independent reported. According to another paper, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office rescinded its notice to charge Johnathan Morris with the death penalty after it received Morris’s psychiatric records.
So far this year, eight people have been executed in three states: Florida (5), Oklahoma (1), and Texas (2), the Death Penalty Information Center reported. There are 13 active death warrants pending in six states: Florida (2), Texas (4), Tennessee (4), Oklahoma (1), Arizona (1), and Alabama (1), according to DPIC.
In Tennessee, the ACLU filed a motion in the state Supreme Court for post-conviction DNA testing of unidentified fingerprints found at the scene of a 1994 triple murder. The ACLU says the results could prove the innocence of Tony Carruthers, one of two men found guilty of the murders and sentenced to death. Carruthers’ execution is scheduled for next month. “There has never been any physical evidence linking Mr. Carruthers to the crime and the case against him was built on testimony from jailhouse informants, widely known to be one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions,” the ACLU said in a press release.