Entries by Death Penalty Information Center


News 

Apr 212020

Case of 79-Year-Old Ohio Death-Row Prisoner With Dementia Highlights Legal Issues Exacerbated by the Aging of Death Row

Seventy-nine-year-old James Frazier (pic­tured) is Ohios old­est death-row pris­on­er. He has demen­tia, he can­not walk, and he requires the assis­tance of aides to com­plete dai­ly tasks. Because of his spe­cial med­ical needs, he is incar­cer­at­ed at the Franklin Medical Center, rather than on Ohio’s death row at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution. Ohio is sched­uled to exe­cute him on October 20,…

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News 

Apr 202020

Jerry Givens, Former Executioner Who Became Outspoken Critic of Death Penalty, Dies at 67

Jerry Givens (pic­tured), who per­formed 62 exe­cu­tions dur­ing his time as a Virginia cor­rec­tions offi­cer, but lat­er became an activist against the death penal­ty, died April 13, 2020 of COVID-19. He was 67 years old. During his 17 years (1982 – 1999) as a mem­ber of Virginia’s exe­cu­tion team, the com­mon­wealth per­formed more exe­cu­tions than any oth­er state except…

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News 

Apr 172020

Tennessee Supreme Court Stays Prisoner’s Execution Because of Investigative Time Lost to Pandemic

The Tennessee Supreme Court has stayed the June 4, 2020 exe­cu­tion of death-row pris­on­er Oscar Franklin Smith (pic­tured) and resched­uled his exe­cu­tion for February 4, 2021. The order, issued on April 17, 2020, grant­ed a stay request filed by Smith’s lawyers, who had sought a post­pone­ment on the grounds that, because of the coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic, they had lost crit­i­cal time” for inves­ti­ga­tion in the…

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