News & Developments
New Voices
Jun 25, 2024
Articles of Interest: A Look at the Difficulties Faced by Fathers on North Carolina’s Death Row
A June 18, 2024 article published in the Assembly examines the complicated relationships fathers on North Carolina’s death row have with their children, as they grapple daily with the uncertainty of their sentence. The author, Waverly McIver, highlights the hardship these families endure through the experiences of two death-sentenced prisoners, Jason Hurst and Terry…
Read MoreReligion
Jun 24, 2024
Texas Set to Execute a Death Row Prisoner Despite the Changed Opinion of the Same Expert Who Once Called Him a “Future Danger”
In 2006, Ramiro Gonzales (pictured as a child) confessed to the murder, kidnapping, and rape of Bridget Townsend and was sentenced to death. Texas death sentencing procedures uniquely require capital juries to predict whether a defendant is likely to commit future acts of violence. At Mr. Gonzales’ trial, psychiatrist Dr. Edward Gripon testified for the state and told the jury that Mr. Gonzales “has demonstrated a tendency to want to control, to manipulate, and to take advantage of certain…
Read MoreInnocence
Jun 21, 2024
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Finds Kerry Max Cook “Actually Innocent” 46 Years After His Original Conviction
On June 19, 2024, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals set aside 68-year-old Kerry Max Cook’s conviction, finding him to be “actually innocent.” Describing Mr. Cook’s case as “one of the most notable murder cases of the last half-century,” the majority opinion explains that “when it comes to solid support for actual innocence, this case contains it all — uncontroverted Brady violations, proof of false testimony, admissions of perjury, and new scientific evidence.” The Death Penalty Information…
Read MoreInnocence
Jun 20, 2024
Anderson County, Texas District Attorney Requests Execution for Robert Roberson, Despite a Conviction Obtained with Debunked Forensic Science
On June 17, 2024, Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell filed a motion to set an execution date for Texas death row prisoner Robert Roberson, despite his steadfast maintenance of innocence in the death of his two-year-old daughter. Mr. Roberson has spent more than 20 years on death row for a crime that, according to the Innocence Project, “never occurred and a conviction based on the outdated and now debunked shaken baby hypothesis.” New evidence indicates that Mr. Roberson’s…
Read MoreRace
Jun 18, 2024
Equal Justice Initiative’s Freedom Monument Sculpture Park Will Open to the Public on Juneteenth
On June 19th, or Juneteenth, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) will celebrate the opening of the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, its latest museum in Montgomery, Alabama. The 17-acre site displays contemporary artworks, first-person narratives, and historical artifacts which tell the stories about the more than 10 million Black people who were enslaved in the United States. Visitors to the park will embark on a unique narrative journey that explores the nation’s history of enslavement and…
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