Entries by Death Penalty Information Center
News
Jul 03, 2018
Death-Penalty Juror Describes “Anguish” of Imposing a Death Sentence
Lindy Isonhood (click to enlarge picture) served on the Mississippi jury that sentenced Bobby Wilcher to death in 1994. In a commentary published on Medium, she writes that the decision to condemn Wilcher“continue[s] to haunt me today.” Isonhood — whose experience as a death-penalty juror is the subject of a new documentary film, Lindy Lou, Juror Number 2—explains how little she and her fellow jurors knew…
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Jul 02, 2018
In Two Mississippi Cases, Justice Breyer Renews Call to Review Constitutionality of Death Penalty
As its 2017 – 2018 term came to a close, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review two Mississippi cases that presented significant challenges to capital punishment as implemented in that state and across the country. Over the dissent of Justice Stephen Breyer (pictured), who renewed his call for the Court to review the constitutionality of the death penalty as a whole, the Court on June 29 denied certiorari in the cases of…
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Jun 29, 2018
Life Plea in Police Killing Highlights Turbulence Over Philadelphia Death-Penalty Reform
Two men charged with killing Philadelphia Police Sgt. Robert Wilson III have been sentenced to life without possibility of parole, plus an additional term of 50 to 100 years, as prosecutors in one of the nation’s largest death-penalty counties agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for the defendants’ guilty pleas. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner (pictured) appeared in court on June 25…
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Jun 28, 2018
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, Author of Key Death-Penalty Decisions, Retires
Justice Anthony Kennedy (pictured) announced on June 27, 2018, that he will retire from the U.S. Supreme Court. During Kennedy’s thirty years on the Court, he became known as a swing vote, siding with both the conservative and liberal wings of the Court. His role as the Court’s swing vote extended to some crucial death-penalty cases, including Roper v. Simmons (2005), in which the justices struck down the death penalty for juvenile…
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Jun 27, 2018
STUDY: Tennessee Could Save $1.4 Million Annually Ending Death Penalty for Severe Mental Illness
Tennessee could save an estimated $1.4 – 1.89 million per year by adopting a ban on capital punishment for defendants with severe mental illness, according to a new report by the American Bar Association Death Penalty Due Process Review Project. The report said a severe mental illness death-penalty exclusion“could result in cost savings [because] a subset of individuals who currently could face expensive capital prosecutions and…
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Jun 26, 2018
Report Finds Systemic Flaws, Recommends Major Reforms in Pennsylvania Death Penalty
Pennsylvania’s death-penalty system is seriously flawed and in need of major reform, according to a report released June 25, 2018, by the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Committee on Capital Punishment. The bipartisan task force and advisory committee — which consisted of legislators, prosecutors, defense attorneys, police chiefs, judges, and victims’ advocates — began work in 2012 and examined 17 issues related to the Commonwealth’s death…
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Jun 25, 2018
Board Appointed By Resigned Missouri Governor to Review Death-Row Prisoner’s Case
A Board of Inquiry appointed by former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens will convene on August 22, 2018 to consider the fate of Marcellus Williams (pictured), one year to the day after Williams received a last-minute reprieve from execution based on evidence of…
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Jun 22, 2018
Governor Vetoes New Hampshire Death-Penalty Repeal Bill
New Hampshire Governor Christopher Sununu (pictured) has vetoed a bill that would have abolished the state’s death penalty. Surrounded by law enforcement officers as he vetoed the bill on June 21, 2018, Sununu said, “[w]hile I very much respect the arguments made by proponents of this bill, I stand with crime victims, members of the law enforcement community and advocates for justice in opposing it. New Hampshire does not take the death…
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Jun 22, 2018
New Podcast: Professor Carol Steiker on the History and Future of America’s Death Penalty
Harvard Law Professor Carol Steiker (pictured), co-author of the highly acclaimed book, Courting Death: The Supreme Court and Capital Punishment, joins DPIC’s Robin Konrad for a provocative discussion of the past and future of America’s death penalty. In the latest episode of Discussions with DPIC, Professor Steiker — who served as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall — takes us inside the walls of the Court for insights on the justices’…
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Jun 20, 2018
Louisiana Prisoner Alleges Prosecutor Got Death Verdict By Coercing Witness, Presenting Fabricated Testimony
Michael Wearry, a Louisiana prisoner whose conviction and death sentence were overturned by the U.S Supreme Court in 2016 because prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence, has filed suit against Livingston Parish District Attorney Scott Perriloux (pictured) and former Sheriff’s Deputy Marlon Kearney Foster based upon new evidence that they deliberately fabricated testimony against…
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