Entries by Death Penalty Information Center
News
Mar 28, 2018
Tennessee Supreme Court Rejects Attorney General’s Request for 8 Executions by Drug Expiration Date
The Tennessee Supreme Court has denied a request from the state’s attorney general to schedule eight executions before the June 1, 2018 expiration date of Tennessee’s supply of one of its execution drugs. Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery had filed the request on February 14, saying that scheduling executions“after June 1, 2018 is uncertain due to the ongoing difficulty in obtaining the necessary lethal injection…
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Mar 27, 2018
Ohio Governor Commutes Death Sentence of William Montgomery
Ohio Governor John Kasich has commuted the death sentence of 52-year-old William Montgomery (pictured) to life without the possibility of parole. Montgomery was scheduled to be executed on April 11. The one-page proclamation granting clemency (pictured right, click to enlarge) did not specify the grounds for Kasich’s action and was not accompanied by a news release or statement to the media. The order, issued March 26,…
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Mar 26, 2018
POLL: Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Death Penalty for Overdose Deaths
Americans of all ages, races, and political affiliations overwhelmingly oppose the Trump administration plan to pursue capital punishment for drug overdose deaths and believe it will have no effect on addressing the opioid public health crisis, according to a March 16 – 21, 2018 nationwide Quinnipiac University…
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Mar 23, 2018
Jury Notes Show Georgia Prosecutors Empaneled White Juries to Try Black Death-Penalty Defendants
New court filings argue that Columbus, Georgia prosecutors had a pattern and practice of systematically striking black prospective jurors because of their race, discriminatorily empanelling all- or nearly-all-white juries to try black defendants on trial for their lives in…
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Mar 23, 2018
Jury Notes Show Georgia Prosecutors Empaneled White Juries to Try Black Death-Penalty Defendants
New court filings argue that Columbus, Georgia prosecutors had a pattern and practice of systematically striking black prospective jurors because of their race, discriminatorily empanelling all- or nearly-all-white juries to try black defendants on trial for their lives in…
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Mar 22, 2018
U.S. Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Texas Death-Row Prisoner Denied Investigative Funding
In a decision that clarifies the showing indigent prisoners must make to obtain investigative services, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Texas death-row prisoner who was denied funding to challenge the death sentence imposed in his case. In Ayestas v. Davis, the Court unanimously ruled that the Texas federal courts had applied an overly restrictive legal standard in denying Carlos Ayestas…
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Mar 21, 2018
Supreme Court Declines to Review Arizona Case Challenging Constitutionality of Death Penalty
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a sweeping challenge to the constitutionality of capital punishment brought by Arizona death-row prisoner Abel Hidalgo (pictured). After scheduling consideration of Hidalgo v. Arizona for ten separate court conferences, the Court on March 19 unanimously denied Hidalgo’s petition for writ of certiorari. In a statement issued in conjunction…
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Mar 20, 2018
Public Health Experts Criticize Trump’s Proposal to Seek Death Penalty for Drug Traffickers
Saying“the ultimate penalty has to be the death penalty,” President Donald Trump (pictured) announced on March 19 that he will direct the Department of Justice to seek the death penalty against drug traffickers. The proposal, included as part of the administration’s plan to address an opioid epidemic that has resulted in as many as 64,000 overdose deaths in 2016 alone, drew immediate criticism from public-health and criminal-justice experts.“We…
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Mar 19, 2018
Ohio Parole Board Recommends Clemency for Death-Row Prisoner William Montgomery
Faced with doubts about prosecutorial misconduct and the accuracy of forensic evidence, the Ohio Parole Board has recommended that Governor John Kasich grant executive clemency to William T. Montgomery (pictured), scheduled to be executed…
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Mar 16, 2018
Human Rights Advocates: Prisoner’s Rare Medical Condition Risks Gruesome Botched Execution in Missouri
Human rights advocates are warning that the impending execution of Russell Bucklew (pictured) in Missouri on March 20 presents a“substantially increase[d] risk of a gruesome and…
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