Five states, Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Florida, and Texas, have carried out five executions so far this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Earlier this month, a Johnston County judge in North Carolina found that race played a significant role in the death penalty trial of Hasson Bacote,
Last year, “California experienced the largest death-row population decline of any U.S. death penalty jurisdiction. Sixty-six people came off of the state’s death row, one
This year’s Capital Case Defense Seminar, scheduled for February 14-17 in Monterey, will feature a “Fireside Chat with California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu.” Liu
In his YouTube talk, “The death penalty is dying,” Robert D. Bacon, a California defense attorney who has represented death-sentenced individuals for 34 years, maintains
Indiana executed Joseph Corcoran last month, the state’s first execution in 15 years. A lethal injection of pentobarbital killed the 49-year-old Corcoran, the first time
In his article, “The Supreme Court and Intellectual Disability – Yet Again,” in Santa Barbara Lawyer Magazine,” criminal law specialist (and DPF board member) Robert
“Even as use of the death penalty remains historically low in Texas, it continues to be imposed disproportionately on people of color and dependent largely
In 2024, for the tenth year in a row, fewer than 30 people were executed (25), and fewer than 50 people were sentenced to death
In her essay in Politico Magazine, USF School of Law Professor Lara Bazelon says the downward trend in death sentences that began after hitting a peak in the mid-1990s, “is beginning to reverse.” She notes that in 2021, there were 11 executions in the U.S. and one year later, in 2022, there were 18. In 2023, there were 24 people executed, the highest in five years. The reason for the
The American Bar Association (ABA) has sent a compelling letter to Governor Gavin Newsom concerning the case of death-row inmate Kevin Cooper. In this letter, the ABA expressed ongoing concerns about Cooper’s conviction and the transparency of the investigation process. The ABA highlighted that all law enforcement files were not disclosed during the investigation, urging the Governor to ensure full disclosure of relevant evidence. They emphasized the importance of due
U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker rejected Kenneth Smith’s request for an injunction to stop Alabama from executing him with nitrogen gas late last month, making his execution, scheduled for January 25, more likely, although the constitutionality of using nitrogen gas in state killing could be raised in the U.S. Supreme Court. No other state has ever attempted to kill a person using nitrogen gas, although Oklahoma and Mississippi have
Florida prosecutor seeks death penalty in sex abuse case in a test of a new state law A Florida prosecutor announced late last month that he will seek the death penalty in a child sexual assault case. The indictment is a test of a new state law that allows a person convicted of the rape of a minor to be sentenced to death. In a statement on his website, State
“Texas remained an unfortunate outlier as just one of five states to carry out executions in 2023, leading the nation with eight people put to death this year,” the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty stated in its annual report, “Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2023: The Year in Review.” The report noted that the majority of the eight men killed by the state in 2023 had “significant intellectual
Our conversation on “Making a Murderer: False Confessions, Wrongful Convictions” was such an enlightening discussion between DPF President Mike Farrell and Dr. Richard Leo, Professor of Law and Social Psychology at the University of San Francisco School of Law. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQhfA9_yW54&t=42s Quick Facts Since 1989 there have been at least 3,431 exonerations. Fully 13% of these – 434 cases – contained false confessions or admissions. That percentage soars to 23% in
2023 was the ninth consecutive year that fewer than 30 people were executed in the United States, and fewer than 50 people were sentenced to death, the Death Penalty Information Center states in its 2023 annual report. Twenty-nine states — the majority — have either “abolished the death penalty or paused them by executive action,” according to DPIC. And only five states, Alabama, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, conducted executions,
Earlier this week, the Alabama Department of Corrections released additional details about its plan to become the first state to use nitrogen hypoxia in state killings. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled in October that the state attorney general could proceed with his plan to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith with nitrogen gas in a 6-2 decision by the all-Republican court. In their post in Substack, Lauren Gill and Dan Moritz-Rabson report
Alabama executed Casey McWhorter earlier this month. He was convicted and sentenced to die in 1994 for the robbery and murder of Edward Lee Williams in 1993. McWhorter was one of three teenagers, one of whom was Williams’ son, charged with the murder. But he was the only one sentenced to death because he was the only defendant who was 18 at the time of the crime. The other two,
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