Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

Modified pho­to of ​“Silhouette of man car­ry­ing child” by Ante Hamersmit on…

In 2006, Ramiro Gonzales (pic­tured as a child) con­fessed to the mur­der, kid­nap­ping, and rape of Bridget Townsend and was sen­tenced to death. Texas death sen­tenc­ing pro­ce­dures unique­ly require cap­i­tal juries to pre­dict whether a defen­dant is like­ly to com­mit future acts of vio­lence. At Mr. Gonzales’ tri­al, psy­chi­a­trist Dr. Edward Gripon tes­ti­fied for the state and told the jury that Mr. Gonzales​“has demon­strat­ed a ten­den­cy to want to con­trol, to manip­u­late, and…

On June 19, 2024, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals set aside 68-year-old Kerry Max Cook’s con­vic­tion, find­ing him to be​“actu­al­ly inno­cent.” Describing Mr. Cook’s case as​“one of the most notable mur­der cas­es of the last half-cen­­­tu­ry,” the major­i­ty opin­ion explains that​“when it comes to sol­id sup­port for actu­al inno­cence, this case con­tains it all — uncon­tro­vert­ed Brady vio­la­tions, proof of false tes­ti­mo­ny, admis­sions of per­jury, and new scientific…

Robert Roberson with daugh­ter Nikki. Courtesy of the…

On June 19^th, or Juneteenth, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) will cel­e­brate the open­ing of the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, its lat­est muse­um in Montgomery, Alabama. The 17-acre site dis­plays con­tem­po­rary art­works, first-per­­­son nar­ra­tives, and his­tor­i­cal arti­facts which tell the sto­ries about the more than 10 mil­lion Black peo­ple who were enslaved in the United States. Visitors to the park will embark on a unique nar­ra­tive jour­ney that explores the nation’s…

This is the first in a new month­ly series cov­er­ing aca­d­e­m­ic research and arti­cles in the field of…

On June 11, 2024, the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus (OLBC) held a press con­fer­ence high­light­ing the group’s leg­isla­tive pri­or­i­ties, which includ­ed the death penal­ty as a key con­cern. Noting​“the racial cycle of injus­tice per­pe­trat­ed by the death penal­ty,” State Representative Terrence Upchurch, who is also the pres­i­dent of the OLBC, insist­ed that leg­isla­tive lead­er­ship move toward​“dis­man­tling this flawed sys­tem and estab­lish­ing a new lega­cy of equality and…

Prince William County,…

On June 4, 2024, the Missouri Supreme Court set a September 24, 2024, exe­cu­tion date for death-sen­­­tenced pris­on­er Marcellus Williams (pic­tured), despite seri­ous doubts that he was not involved in the mur­der for which he is incar­cer­at­ed. The announce­ment came just hours after the state Supreme Court ruled that Governor Mike Parson did not vio­late any rules when he dis­solved a board of inquiry estab­lished in June 2023 by his pre­de­ces­sor, Eric Greitens, to investigate Mr.

On June 1, 2024, an Idaho jury sen­tenced Chad Daybell to death for the 2019 mur­ders of his first wife and his sec­ond wife’s two youngest chil­dren. Mr. Daybell plead­ed not guilty to mul­ti­ple first-degree mur­der, fraud, and con­spir­a­cy charges, but after being found guilty, he chose to waive his right to present mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence dur­ing his sen­tenc­ing hear­ing. With this deci­sion, Mr. Daybell declined the oppor­tu­ni­ty to pro­vide the jury with rea­sons why he should not be sen­tenced to death.