Entries by Death Penalty Information Center


News 

Sep 122019

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Hears Argument on Constitutionality of Death Penalty

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court (mem­bers pic­tured) heard oral argu­ment on September 11, 2019 on whether to exer­cise its extra­or­di­nary​“King’s Bench” pow­ers to deter­mine whether the death penal­ty, as cur­rent­ly applied in the Commonwealth, vio­lates the Pennsylvania con­sti­tu­tion. If the court agrees to reach the con­sti­tu­tion­al issue, it has the pow­er to strike down the death penal­ty, uphold its con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty, or issue direc­tives or standards regarding…

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Sep 102019

Texas Executes Prisoner with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome After Federal Appeals Court Denies Stay

Texas exe­cut­ed Mark Soliz (pic­tured) on September 10, 2019, after a fed­er­al appeals court denied him a stay and dis­missed his claim that his life­long men­tal impair­ments result­ing from fetal alco­hol syn­drome should exempt him from exe­cu­tion. Soliz had sought a stay and to be resen­tenced to life with­out parole, argu­ing that his mother’s alco­hol con­sump­tion dur­ing her preg­nan­cy impaired his intel­lec­tu­al devel­op­ment in a manner that…

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Sep 092019

Coalition of Jewish Organizations Seeks New Trial for Jewish Death-Row Prisoner in Texas Tried by Anti-Semitic Judge

A coali­tion of nation­al and local Jewish orga­ni­za­tions and lawyers have asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to stop the sched­uled October 10, 2019 exe­cu­tion of a Jewish death-row pris­on­er to review his claim that the judge before whom he was tried was racist and anti-Semitic. Randy Halprin (pic­tured) was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in a tri­al presided over by Dallas County Judge Vickers Cunningham, who referred to…

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Sep 062019

Nevada Man Convicted by Prosecutorial Misconduct and Woefully Inadequate’ Defense Counsel Released After 33 Years on Death Row

Thirty-three years after a tri­al a fed­er­al appeals court described as​“a mix­ture of dis­turb­ing pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct and woe­ful­ly inad­e­quate assis­tance of coun­sel,” a Las Vegas tri­al court freed Paul Browning (pic­tured) from Nevada​’s death row. On August 21, 2019, Clark County District Judge Douglas Herndon ­— who in March had dis­missed mur­der and relat­ed charges against Browning ­— ordered state…

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Sep 052019

After 32 Years on Death Row, Tennessee Prisoner’s Death Sentence is Vacated for Prosecutorial Misconduct

Thirty-two years after he was sen­tenced to death in a tri­al taint­ed by pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct, Tennessee death-row pris­on­er Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman (pic­tured) has been resen­tenced to life in prison. On August 30, 2019, Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins approved a plea deal reached between Abdur’Rahman and Nashville pros­e­cu­tors, vacat­ed Abdur’Rahman’s death sen­tence, and in its place imposed three…

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News 

Sep 042019

Texas Executes Defendant Who Had Been Represented by Cut-and-Paste” Appeals Lawyer

Texas exe­cut­ed death-row pris­on­er Billy Jack Crutsinger on September 4, 2019, despite, his cur­rent lawyers say, hav­ing pro­vid­ed him with an incom­pe­tent appeals lawyer who repeat­ed­ly filed friv­o­lous claims and cut and past­ed con­tra­dic­to­ry claims and argu­ments from pri­or clients’ court plead­ings. Crutsinger had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his exe­cu­tion to review whether the tri­al court’s appoint­ment of a lawyer​“who was not…

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Aug 302019

DPIC Analysis: 13 Texas Death Warrants Raise Troubling Questions About U.S. Execution Practices

In a year in which few states have car­ried out any exe­cu­tions, the aggres­sive exe­cu­tion prac­tices of a sin­gle state — Texas — stand in sharp con­trast. The Lone Star State has sched­uled thir­teen exe­cu­tions for the last five months of 2019, more than the rest of the coun­try com­bined. And a DPIC review of the cir­cum­stances in which the war­rants were issued rais­es trou­bling ques­tions as to whether the state is exe­cut­ing the most moral­ly cul­pa­ble indi­vid­u­als for the…

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Aug 292019

Samuel Bonner freed 37 years after wrongful capital prosecution in Los Angeles

Thirty-sev­en years after his wrong­ful cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tion and con­vic­tion for a mur­der he did not com­mit, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has set Samuel Bonner free. Citing​“gross pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct” that he said​“shocks the con­science,” Judge Daniel J. Lowenthal(pic­tured) on July 11, 2019 ordered Bonner released from California…

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