In brief: November 2018
November 9, 2018
In Mississippi, a man who has been on death row for over 20 years, after being tried six times for a quadruple murder in 1996,
In Mississippi, a man who has been on death row for over 20 years, after being tried six times for a quadruple murder in 1996,
In his op-ed in the Fort Worth Star Telegram, “It’s Wrong for an Imperfect System to Impose an Irreversible Punishment,” former district attorney Tim Cole notes
Tennessee’s nine-year break in executions ended in August when the state killed Billy Ray Irick by lethal injection. Last week, Edmund Zagorski was executed by
Edmund Zagorski was executed in Tennessee last night by electric chair, the first time in 11 years the state has used that method. The 63-year-old
When the state has gotten the go-ahead to execute a man by electrocuting him, it’s difficult to understand why they would fight a request by
It’s foolish to hope for any sort of measured or nuanced response from Donald Trump, but his thoughtless, knee-jerk, all-too-predictable immediate demand that the man accused
The Tennessean has a story today on how the state will test the electric chair it will use to kill Edmund Zagorski next Thursday. The
The majority of Americans no longer believe the death penalty is applied fairly. For the first time since Gallup polled on this issue in 2000,
There is nothing new about comics depicting tragedy. Comics and graphic novels have been covering serious topics for years. Art Spiegelman’s classic graphic novel, Maus,
In Texas, 38-year-old Robert Pruett was executed last night, convicted of murdering a prison guard in 1999. He had been in prison since he was 15 years old, sentenced to 99 years in prison simply for being with his father when his father stabbed a neighbor to death. That conviction was the result of the state’s “law of parties” rule, which allows a person to be charged with murder, even
In “Fighting an Oncoming Train,” in the September 29th issue of “Slate,” Susannah Sheffer, a clinical mental health counselor and researcher, reveals what she learned after interviewing 20 death penalty attorneys who had each lost at least one client, about the emotional toll the work exacts on them. “The task is at once urgent and protracted—months or even years of low-grade anxiety punctuated by sudden crises and intense deadlines—so that
When Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals sentenced the man who killed her sister, wounded her mother, and killed seven others in the worst mass shooting in the county’s history to life in prison without parole last month, Bethany Webb said she at first “didn’t feel anything. I was feeling pretty beat up. I couldn’t find what I was looking for.” But after getting a good night’s sleep, better
John Thompson died early this month of a heart attack at the age of 55. He had spent 14 years on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for a crime he didn’t commit, an additional four years in prison for an armed robbery he didn’t commit, and after finally being acquitted, spent the last 14 years helping others who had been wrongly accused and imprisoned. Thompson was
October 2 was the fourth annual International Wrongful Conviction Day. Around the world, exonerees, attorneys, and activists spoke out about wrongful convictions, their impact on the innocent, and the causes that lead to people being sent to prison for crimes they did not commit. Here in California, Death Penalty Focus worked with the California Innocence Project and the Loyola Project for the Innocent to raise awareness about the issue. The
Death Penalty Focus is partnering with CharityBuzz to bring you two new charity auctions–your chance to meet Paula Poundstone and Elliott Gould, all while supporting our work. Meet Paula Poundstone & Receive 4 Guest List Tickets to a Show of Your Choice 25 years ago Paula Poundstone climbed on a Greyhound bus and traveled across the country — stopping in at open mic nights at comedy clubs as she went. A high
October 10 is the 15th Annual World Day Against the Death Penalty. This year we are teaming up with All Saints Church in Pasadena, California, for an evening discussion on the harms the death penalty inflicts exonerees, victims families, and our society at large. All Saints will be hosting a free panel discussion with DPF President Mike Farrell, California Crime Victims for Alternatives to the Death Penalty Member Bethany Webb,
Tomorrow evening, Keith Tharpe is scheduled to be executed in Georgia for the murder of his sister-in-law 27 years ago. If it happens, this will be Georgia’s second execution this year, after a record-setting nine executions last year. But what makes Tharpe’s case different is that one of the (white) jurors in his trial referred to the defendant with a racial slur, and told Tharpe’s lawyers that there were “two
The man responsible for the worst mass killing in Orange County history was formally sentenced to life in prison without parole today. Scott Dekraai, who killed eight people, and shot a ninth person in October 2011, was sentenced to eight terms of life in prison without parole, with an additional 232 years to life for attempted murder and other charges. The Orange County Register reports that Superior Court Judge Thomas