Late last month, Pennsylvania House Bill 999 to repeal the death penalty passed out of the Judiciary Committee on a vote of 15-10. It was
Texas killed 53-year-old Brent Ray Brewer by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville on November 9. And one week later, on November 16,
Texas killed 53-year-old Brent Ray Brewer by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville last week. Brewer was executed for the April 1990 death
Gallup released a poll this week that found that for the first time since 2000 when it began asking whether respondents believed the death penalty
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled last week that the state attorney general can proceed with his plan to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith with nitrogen gas,
In Florida, a new law that would allow a person convicted of the rape of a minor to be sentenced to death went into effect
University of San Francisco School of Law professors Lara Bazelon and Charlie Nelson Keever explained “Why California’s reinvestigation of an infamous quadruple murder case is
In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey scheduled an execution date for Casey McWhorter for a 30-hour window between midnight November 16, and 6 a.m., November 17,
We wanted to update you on the Kevin Cooper case, which we have written extensively about over the years. Cooper, who has been on California’s
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