News & Developments
Costs
Mar 05, 2021
Wyoming Senate Committee Passes Bill to Repeal State’s Death Penalty
A Wyoming state senate committee has advanced to the full Senate a bill to repeal the state’s death penalty. After taking testimony from witnesses including the state public defender’s office, family members of murder vic…
Lethal Injection
Mar 04, 2021
Evenly Split Indiana Supreme Court Affirms Ruling Requiring Release of Execution-Drug Records
An evenly divided Indiana Supreme Court has affirmed a trial court ruling that requires the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) to release records related to the lethal injection drugs Indiana has used in carr…
Mental Illness
Mar 03, 2021
With Overwhelming Bipartisan Support, Kentucky House Passes Bill to Ban Death Penalty for Defendants with Serious Mental Illness
In an overwhelming bipartisan vote, the Kentucky House of Representatives has approved a bill that would prohibit the death penalty for people with severe mental illness. On March 1, 2021, the House voted by a margin of
Innocence
Mar 02, 2021
As 6 Million Seek Clemency for Julius Jones, New Evidence that Another Man Confessed Points to His Innocence
As supporters of Oklahoma death-row prisoner Julius Jones submitted more than six million signatures supporting his petition for clemency, new evidence emerged that another man had committed the killing that sent…
Recent Legislative Activity
Mar 01, 2021
Legislators in South Carolina, Montana Seek to Change Execution Methods to Allow Executions to Resume
Frustrated by the inability to put prisoners to death, legislators in two states are seeking to jumpstart the execution process by changing the laws that govern how executions may be conducted. After gaining little traction in prior legislative se…
Intellectual Disability
Mar 01, 2021
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of February 22, 2021
NEWS (2/25/21) — Alabama: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has denied habeas relief for Alabama death-row prisoner Charles Clark, who the trial court had sentenced to death based upon a non‑u…
Lethal Injection
Feb 26, 2021
Federal Bureau of Prisons Sanitized Execution Reports, Omitting Disturbing Details Observed by Media Witnesses
Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) officials repeatedly misrepresented accounts of the executions they carried out in 2020 and 2021, providing sanitized descriptions of the executions that omitted all references to dramatic body move…
Arbitrariness
Feb 25, 2021
Attorney General Nominee Merrick Garland Expresses Concerns About Death Penalty in Senate Confirmation Hearing
Expressing concerns about wrongful convictions, racially disparate impact, and arbitrariness, Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland (pictured) told the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing on February 22, …
Recent Legislative Activity
Feb 24, 2021
Virginia Death Penalty Repeal Bill Gains Final Legislative Approval, Moves to Governor’s Desk
Death-penalty repeal legislation in Virginia will move to Governor Ralph Northam’s desk, after both houses approved the bill passed earlier in the session in the opposite chamber. Virginia’s legislative rules required the House of Delegates to pas…
Conditions on Death Row
Feb 23, 2021
NEWS BRIEF — Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Death-Row Exoneree’s Solitary Confinement Lawsuit
NEWS (2/16/21) — Pennsylvania: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has reinstated death-row exoneree Roderick Johnson’s lawsuit