In brief: May 2022
May 19, 2022
There was a “worrying rise in executions and death sentences” last year, Amnesty International announced in its annual report this week. In 2021, at least
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There was a “worrying rise in executions and death sentences” last year, Amnesty International announced in its annual report this week. In 2021, at least
A little over a week after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced he was staying five state killings planned for this year, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine
The state of Arizona killed Clarence Dixon on Wednesday morning, despite his long history of mental health challenges and the abuse he suffered as a
Stating that, “The death penalty is an extremely serious matter, and I expect the Tennessee Department of Correction to leave no question that procedures are
Death Penalty Focus is hiring a new Executive Director. We’re looking for a dynamic and thoughtful person to support our mission to end California’s death
Two days before Lucio was scheduled to be executed, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (the equivalent of a state supreme court) issued a stay.
“Why Is Toforest Johnson Still on Alabama’s Death Row?” former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court Drayton Nabers, Jr., asks in his op-ed in
Two of three planned executions for this month were stayed, while Texas held its first of five planned for this year. Texas executed Carl Buntion
The Rev. Caroll Pickett, who, as prison chaplain on Texas’s death row, witnessed 95 executions, died earlier this month. He was 88. He told the
Death Penalty Focus lost a dear friend and one of its most loyal supporters last week. Actor, activist, and all-around good guy, Ed Asner, died late last month at his home in Los Angeles. He was 91.
Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor has tentatively scheduled executions for seven men in five months, starting in October and continuing into February. If carried out, they will be the first executions in the state since 2015.
Two bills that would go a long way toward reforming California’s seriously flawed criminal justice systems are on hold until January.
When the California Supreme Court, late last month, upheld a state law that does not require a unanimous jury vote when sentencing a defendant to death, it not only disappointed many criminal justice advocates it surprised them as well.
“We are disappointed the Court didn’t take this step to address one of the many serious flaws in California’s capital punishment system,” Death Penalty Focus Board Chair Sarah Sanger stated. “The Court could have taken a big step toward confronting a deeply biased death penalty system.”
Read DPF’s statement here regarding the disappointing decision announced by the CA Supreme Court today.
“After the execution of 13 federal prisoners by the Trump administration last year, we knew we had to redouble our efforts to abolish the death penalty on the federal level and urge the President to commute the sentences of the men on death row, while continuing to educate, advocate, and organize for abolition here in California and around the country,” DPF Board Chair Sarah Sanger says. “We believe the best
In “The Trump Executions,” in a University of Texas Law, Public Law Research Paper, Lee Kovarsky analyzes the Trump Administration’s killing spree from July 2020 to January during which 13 federal prisoners were executed by the government. In three parts, Kovarsky puts the executions in historical context, looks at the legal disputes surrounding the government’s actions, and considers the implications of the executions that “smashed into the legal landscape like 13 hurricanes.”
In California, a 22-year-old man who pleaded guilty to a fatal shooting at a San Diego synagogue in April 2019 will be sentenced to life in prison without parole next month. CBS News reports that John T. Earnest agreed to plead guilty to opening fire at Chabad of Poway during Passover services, killing 60-year-old Lori Gilbert-Kaye, and wounding three others, in exchange for avoiding a possible death sentence. The agreement had
Support for the death penalty declined to 60% from 2020 when 65% were in favor, although a majority of Americans still support capital punishment “despite widespread doubts about its administration, fairness, and whether it deters serious crimes,” according to a recent Pew Research poll. According to the poll, released in June, 60% favor capital punishment for people convicted of murder, with 39% opposed. Surprisingly, 78% say there is some risk
