Two-and-a-half years ago, Kevin Cooper’s lawyer, Norman Hile, submitted to Governor Jerry Brown a 235-page clemency petition, pleading for advanced DNA testing of evidence from
In terms of the criminal justice system, it can be argued that the most important locally elected official is the district attorney. So, in last
Next Tuesday, 34-year-old Christopher Young is scheduled to be executed in Texas for the 2004 murder of a 55-year-old convenience store owner. Exactly three months
Last Friday, Japan executed doomsday cult leader Shoko Asahara and his six followers, who had been sentenced to death for the sarin gas attack on
Scott Dozier In Alabama, AL.com reports that eight death row prisoners are dropping their lawsuit challenging the state’s three-drug lethal injection method because they have decided
In a New York Times op-ed, “What Happens When Prosecutors Break the Law?” defense attorney Nina Morrison focuses on the case of Suffolk County, New
An American pharmaceutical company filed a lawsuit blocking Nevada’s scheduled execution of Scott Dozier on Wednesday. New Jersey-based Alvogen said the state had “illegitimately acquired”
The son of the man whose life Christopher Young took 14 years ago has released a powerful video asking the State of Texas not to
In Louisiana in 1974, at the age of 16, Gary Tyler was sentenced to die for a crime he did not commit. He was arrested
Two human rights experts at the United Nations are adding their voices to the thousands of people who have written, called, and tweeted Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe to ask that he commute the sentence of William Morva to life without parole, and call off his execution scheduled for Thursday. In a news release, UN Special Rapporteurs on summary executions, Agnes Callamard, and on right to health, Dainius Pūras, said that “We are
“If, from the tangled morass surrounding the death penalty generally, and Morva’s case, specifically — Governor McAuliffe is to emerge from his life or death decision a standard-bearer of modern-day democratic values — a truly viable candidate for Commander-in-Chief in 2020 (and beyond) — there is only one action he can take, that he must take: McAuliffe must spare Mr. Morva.” That’s the stance the LA Post Examiner just took
Almost six years ago, a man walked into a hair salon and killed his ex-wife and seven other people in Seal Beach, California. One of his victims was Laura Webb-Elody, whose mother, Hattie Stretz, was shot but survived. And for six years, Bethany Webb, sister of Laura, and daughter of Hattie, has been asking that the killer, Scott Dekraai, be given a life without parole sentence. Webb was not alone,
William Morva suffers from delusional disorder, a disease that makes him believe things that aren’t true. It’s a serious mental illness, similar to schizophrenia, and it caused him to commit two murders for which the state of Virginia now wants to execute him. He is scheduled to die on July 6. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has the power to grant William Morva clemency based on his mental illness. If you
On May 7, 2017, Death Penalty Focus awarded Sen. Bernie Sanders with its top honor, the Abolition Award, for his commitment to ending executions in the United States. He then delivered a thoughtful, moving acceptance speech to those at the event. We now have the video, so you can see it as well.
Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson abolished the death penalty in his state in 2009 because, he says, “Empirical evidence and common sense convinced me that the death penalty is an ineffective deterrent, is unfairly applied and has become increasingly costly for states.” In an op-ed in the Washington Post today, Richardson says states like Arkansas, which carried out six executions in April, and Delaware, where the state’s House of
When the lawsuit against Proposition 66 was filed the day after it passed last November, plaintiffs Ron Briggs and the late John Van de Kamp challenged its constitutionality. Initially, the Supreme Court denied the stay until the election results were certified, allowing Briggs and Van de Kamp to amend the petition after certification. On December 19th, they filed again. As a result, the California Supreme Court stayed implementation of the
“If the death penalty is for the worst of the worst, then a person whose actions are driven by an illness over which he has no control can’t be defined as being the worst of the worst. And I have a hard time believing that 12 reasonable jurors who heard that evidence would have sentenced that person to death.” Dawn Davison is referring to her client, William Morva, who is
The death penalty continued to roil political waters in Florida in the last few weeks. Late last month, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal by state Attorney General Pam Bondi to review an October 2016 state Supreme Court ruling requiring unanimous jury verdicts in death penalty sentencing. That ruling meant that as many as 200 condemned inmates who were sentenced after 2002 could get resentencing hearings. As is customary,