The death sentences of 52 people were commuted to life in prison last year in historic acts of clemency on the federal and state levels,
South Carolina plans to execute Marion Bowman on Friday in what will be the first of 13 executions planned by six states (so far) in
The president’s executive order “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety,” issued on the day he assumed office, repeals the federal moratorium on executions,
Like many of you, we’re shocked at President Trump’s executive order, “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety,” and believe it is a publicity
President Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row today, declining to commute the sentences of Robert D.
DPIC In its new report, “Fool’s Gold: How the Federal Death Penalty Has Perpetuated Racially Discriminatory Practices Throughout History,” the Death Penalty Information Center makes
In Alabama, corrections officials executed Carey Grayson last week by nitrogen hypoxia, al.com reports. The 50-year-old Grayson was convicted of the killing of 37-year-old Vicki
When California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Racial Justice Act into law in 2020, its author, Assemblymember Ash Kalra, hailed it as “an historic foundational
A Sacramento jury deadlocked 11-1 earlier this month on whether to sentence Adel Ramos, who pleaded guilty to killing Sacramento police Officer Tara O’Sullivan in
“Whether you support capital punishment or oppose it, one thing is clear. Oklahoma’s system is so fundamentally flawed that we cannot know that someone who has been condemned to death actually deserves the ultimate penalty,” writes former U.S. Judge Andy Lester in a letter to the editor in nondoc.com. Lester was one of three co-chairs of the Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission that, in 2017, called for a moratorium on
In South Carolina, executions are on hold until at least February, when the supreme court will hold a hearing over a lawsuit filed by four people on death row who argue that electrocution and firing squad are unconstitutional methods of execution, WIS10 reports. The state’s default method of execution is the electric chair but offers the option of a firing squad or lethal injection if the drugs are available, according
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 supported by all the Democrats and one of the Republicans on the committee. Democratic state Rep. Chris Rabb sponsored the bill, arguing that the repeal is imperative for many reasons, including its astronomical cost and the high risk of executing an innocent person. City &
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, the state executed David Renteria. The state killed a total of eight men this year. It has executed 579 individuals since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Brewer was executed for the April 1990 death
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 of 66-year-old Robert Laminack during a robbery. He was 19 at the time. In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Brewer’s 1991 death sentence, finding that finding that the court failed to give his jurors the instructions that they could consider mitigating factors in his
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 was fairly applied, 50% said it was not fairly imposed, while 47% believe it is. “This represents a five-point increase in the percentage who think it is applied unfairly since the prior measurement in 2018,” Gallup stated. The pollsters noted that the number of those
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, CBS News reports. It was a 6-2 decision by the all-Republican court. No other state has ever attempted to kill a person using nitrogen gas, although Oklahoma and Mississippi have also included the method in their execution protocols. Smith, who is one of two men
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 earlier this month. The bill, which establishes a minimum sentence of life without parole, was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May. The law defies the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008), which found that “the Eighth Amendment categorically rules
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 a sham” in their op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle last weekend. They argue that a 250-page report by a law firm appointed by California Gov. Newsom to investigate the case of Kevin Cooper, sentenced to death in 1985 for a quadruple murder in San
Death Penalty Focus
500 Capitol Mall
Suite 2350
Sacramento, CA 95814
Tel: 415-243-0143
information@deathpenalty.org
Federal Tax ID# 95-4153420
DPF is a 501C3 non-profit organization
In Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council since 2017
