News & Developments
Innocence
May 16, 2022
Federal Appeals Court Rules that Louisiana Prosecutor and Police Officer Who Fabricated Evidence are Not Immune from Civil Rights Lawsuit by Former Death-Row Prisoner
A prosecutor and police officer who fabricated evidence to wrongfully convict a former Louisiana death-row prisoner are not entitled to immunity in a lawsuit alleging they “knowingly and deliberately fabricated” that testimony, th…
News Brief
May 14, 2022
Kareem Jackson Receives Fourth Execution Reprieve in Ohio, Execution Date Re-Set for 2025
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has issued a reprieve to death-row prisoner Kareem Jackson, calling off his scheduled September 15, 2022 execution and setting a new December 10, 2025 execution date. In a news release, t…
Upcoming Executions
May 13, 2022
Georgia Allegedly Violated Pandemic Agreement By Scheduling Execution of Virgil Presnell
Attorneys for Georgia death-row prisoner Virgil Presnell, Jr. (pictured left, with his mother) have filed a lawsuit arguing that Attorney General Chris Carr violated a written agreement when his office set a May 1…
New Voices
May 12, 2022
‘Every Option Will Be on the Table’: Republican Leader of Texas House Justice Reform Caucus Says He Would Support Moratorium on Executions
Saying that recent events in Texas’ attempt to execute death-row prisoner Melissa Lucio had shaken his faith in the criminal legal system, an influential Republican state legislator has said that he would now supp…
Race
May 11, 2022
New DPIC Podcast: 35 Years After Controversial Supreme Court Decision, Prof. Alexis Hoag Discusses McCleskey v. Kemp’s Legacy
In the May 2022 episode of Discussions With DPIC, Professor Alexis Hoag (pictured) of Brooklyn Law School joined DPIC Deputy Director Ngozi Ndulue for a wide-ranging conversation marking the 35th anniversary of McCleskey v.…
May 10, 2022
ACLU Review of Quintin Jones Execution Documents Finds Texas “Woefully Unprepared to Carry Out an Execution”
Documents that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) withheld from public disclosure for months reveal that “confusion and lack of training” have left the state “woefully unprepared to carry out an execution,” according to the American C…
Public Opinion
May 09, 2022
Poll: Support for Death Penalty in Louisiana Falls By 7 Percentage Points in 4 Years
Support for capital punishment in Louisiana has fallen by seven percentage points in the last four years, according to the 2022 Louisiana Survey by the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs at Louisiana State University. “Four …
Mental Illness
May 06, 2022
Judge Rules That Arizona Death-Row Prisoner Who Had Been Previously Found Legally Insane Is Competent to Be Executed
An Arizona trial court has ruled that Clarence Dixon, a death-row prisoner with auditory and visual hallucinations and delusional thought processes from paranoid schizophrenia, is competent to be executed. In an opinion d…
Innocence
May 05, 2022
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case of Texas Death Row Prisoner Rodney Reed
In a case legal experts say could redress a miscarriage of justice or institutionalize it, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the Texas federal courts’ refusal to permit DNA testing of crime-scene evidenc…
Arbitrariness
May 04, 2022
Jury Selection Chaos and Confusion Causes Further Delays in Parkland Shooting Capital Sentencing Trial
The capital sentencing trial of Nikolas Cruz in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (pictured) in Parkland, Florida has been delayed once again as jury selection in the …
