Entries by Death Penalty Information Center
News
Apr 22, 2025
Pope Francis, Responsible for Catholic Church’s Anti-Death Penalty Teachings, Dies at 88
On April 21, 2025, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis, 88, died following a series of health failures. Pope Francis, the first Roman Catholic pontiff from Latin America, was an outspoken advocate for abolition of the death penalty. In August 2018, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis formally changed the official Catholic Church teaching on the death penalty, calling the practice“an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” adding that it is…
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Apr 21, 2025
A.C.L.U. Lawsuit Seeks to Prevent Transfer of Former Federally Death-Sentenced Prisoners to “Supermax” Prison
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and several other organizations representing a group of formerly federally death-sentenced prisoners filed a federal lawsuit on April 16, 2025 seeking to prevent their transfer to the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado, known as“ADX.” The transfers were threatened by the Department of Justice in response to President Donald Trump’s January 20th Executive Order 14164, which…
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Apr 10, 2025
A Retreat from the Harshest Punishments for Emerging Adult Defendants
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court decision that ended the juvenile death penalty, DPI will release a report examining the legacy of this decision and its implications for emerging adults. This article examines one area of focus in the report: recent state courts decisions that have extended legal protections to emerging adults ages 18 to 20. In 2012, in Miller v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court emphasized that“youth matters”…
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Apr 09, 2025
Paul House, Death Row Exoneree and Activist, Dies at 63
Paul“Greg” House, who spent twenty-two years on Tennessee’s death row before his exoneration in 2009, died at the age of 63 on March 25, 2025, from complications of pneumonia following years of living with multiple sclerosis. His case was one of the rare cases to meet the stringent“actual innocence” exception to habeas rules that today prevent many other petitioners from even presenting their claims of innocence in court. Mr. House was sentenced to death in…
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Mar 31, 2025
Article of Interest: Spiritual Adviser Reflects on Relationship with Executed Death Row Prisoner
A March 25, 2025, story in Religion News Service details the spiritual journey of Rev. Hillary Taylor, a United Methodist minister who served as a spiritual adviser to Brad Sigmon, the South Carolina death row prisoner executed by firing squad on March 7, 2025. Rev. Taylor, executive director of South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, reveals the profound human connection she developed with Mr. Sigmon, highlighting how“he loved to share with…
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Mar 11, 2025
Former Chair of Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Parole Speaks Out Against the Death Penalty as Pending Moratorium Bills Gain Support in Legislature
Adam Luck (pictured), the former Chairman of Oklahoma’s Board of Pardons and Parole and former member of the Oklahoma Board of Corrections, is now speaking out against the death penalty in Oklahoma. Explaining his change of heart, Mr. Luck cites to his first-hand experience with flaws in Oklahoma’s capital punishment system, including botched executions, and his deep Christian faith.“Having the unique experience of voting on the life of another human being forced me to…
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Mar 10, 2025
Georgia House of Representatives Unanimously Passes Bill to Ease Threshold to Prove Intellectual Disability Ahead of Capital Trials
On March 4, 2025, the Georgia House of Representatives, in a 172 – 0 vote, unanimously passed HB 123, which would provide pretrial hearings for capital defendants to raise intellectual disability claims and would lower the standard of proof for those claims from “beyond a reasonable doubt” to a “preponderance of evidence,” in line with other the other 26 states that still retain the death penalty. The bill was originally introduced by Republican Representative Bill Werkheiser during Georgia’s…
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Mar 05, 2025
Public Officials and Advocates Respond to SCOTUS’ Decision to Overturn Richard Glossip’s Conviction
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to vacate Richard Glossip’s 2004 death sentence, public officials and advocates have expressed strong reactions. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond acknowledged the significance of the ruling, stating,“Our justice system is greatly diminished when an individual is convicted without a fair trial, but today we can celebrate that a great injustice has been swept away.” While maintaining his belief that Mr.
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Mar 03, 2025
Alabama Governor Grants Clemency to Robin ‘Rocky’ Myers, Sparing Him from Execution
On February 28, 2025, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey commuted the death sentence of Robin‘Rocky’ Dion Myers to Life Without Parole (LWOP). Myers was convicted in the 1991 murder of Ludie Mae Tucker in Decatur, Alabama. His jury recommended that he be sentenced to LWOP, but the judge in his case overrode the jury’s recommendation and handed down a death sentence. The practice of judicial override was abolished in Alabama in 2017. In her statement, Gov. Ivey repeated her…
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Feb 27, 2025
New Podcast: The Past, Present, and Future of the California Racial Justice Act
In the February 2025 episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, DPI Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with three experts on California’s Racial Justice Act (RJA). Natasha Minsker, an attorney and consultant, formerly of the ACLU, speaks on the history of the RJA and the impetus for its passage. Genevie Gold, research and writing fellow at the Office of the State Public Defender (OSPD), describes the process that an RJA claim follows through the legal system, and…
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