News & Developments
Innocence
Aug 22, 2024
Missouri Supreme Court Blocks Marcellus Williams from Entering Plea to Avoid Execution After State Reveals Mishandled Evidence
On August 21, 2024, Marcellus Williams (pictured), who is scheduled to be executed on September 24, 2024, agreed to enter an Alford plea in exchange for a sentence of life without parole. This agreement would have ensured that Mr. Williams, who has always maintained his innocence in the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle, would not be executed. But hours after Judge Bruce F. Hilton accepted the plea agreement, Attorney General Andrew Bailey asked the Missouri Supreme Court to block the deal, claiming that Judge Hilton did not have the authority…
Read MoreCosts
Aug 21, 2024
City in Oklahoma Agrees to Pay $7.15 Million to Glynn Simmons, Exonerated After 48 Years in Prison
On August 14, the Associated Press reported that the city of Edmond, Oklahoma agreed to pay $7.15 million to Glynn Simmons, the longest-incarcerated innocent person in the United States. Mr. Simmons spent 48 years in prison, including two years on death row, before he was released last July. Mr. Simmons was officially exonerated by a judge in December 2023 and received $175,000 from the state of Oklahoma, the maximum amount allowed for wrongful convictions under state law. Officials have known since before Mr. Simmons’ 1975 trial that numerous witnesses saw him…
Read MoreLGBTQ+ People
Aug 20, 2024
New Analysis from The Appeal Finds Anti-LGBTQ+ Bias Affects the Fate of Defendants in Death Penalty Cases
An analysis from The Appeal of more than two dozen cases in which LGBTQ+ defendants faced the death penalty found evidence that anti-LGBTQ+ bias affected case outcomes. After an examination of media reports, academic journals, and legal documents, The Appeal determined that these cases are likely a significant undercount of the number of LGBTQ+ people sentenced to death. “These capital cases illustrate the ingrained anti-LGBTQ+ bias endemic to the U.S. legal system — from sodomy laws that punished same-sex activity to those that now criminalize gender-affirming care for trans people,” according to…
Read MoreNew Voices
Aug 19, 2024
Kansas City Star Op-Ed Describes the Death Penalty as the “Ultimate Failed Big-Government Program” and Calls for Abolition
In an August 14, 2024 op-ed in The Kansas City Star, Carolyn McGinn, a Kansas State Senate Republican representing District 31, and Kelson Bohnet, a capital public defender and board member for the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty, argue that the state’s capital punishment system has failed, emphasizing its costliness, lack of deterrent effect, and inherent risk of “irreparable harm,” and call for abolition during the next legislative session.
Read MoreVictims' Families
Aug 16, 2024
Articles of Interest: U.S. Senator, Former U.S. Solicitor General and Victim’s Family Member Express Support for 9/11 Plea Deals
Theodore B. Olson, former U.S. Solicitor General from 2001 to 2004, who lost his wife in the September 11thterror attacks, says he felt relief upon hearing the announcement that three of the defendants entered into an agreement to plead guilty in exchange for removal of the death penalty as a sentencing option. However, Mr. Olson writes that his relief was short-lived when within 48 hours of the announcement Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the plea agreement. Mr. Olson believes this…
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