Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

The first month of 2024 marks the start of new legislative sessions for many states and a number of new proposals pertaining to the death penalty. Efforts to Abolish the Death Penalty Missouri, Kentucky, and Ohio legislators have introduced new bills to abolish the death penalty in their respective states and resentence those on death row to life in prison without the opportunity for parole. In Missouri, a group of Republican lawmakers has raised concerns with the state’s use of capital…

On January 10, 2024, U.S. District Judge Austin Huffaker denied Kenneth “Kenny” Smith’s challenge to Alabama’s intended use of nitrogen gas to execute him. Although Mr. Smith plans to appeal, the ruling currently authorizes Alabama to use its new, untested method of nitrogen hypoxia to execute Mr. Smith on January 25. Mr. Smith’s case is unusual in several respects. First, he has already survived one execution attempt, which left him with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a clinical…

In 2018, Pope Francis formally revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church — its core teachings — to oppose the death penalty. Characterizing capital punishment as “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” he wrote that the Catholic Church “works with determination for its abolition worldwide.” This revision updated a 1997 Catechism edit by Pope John Paul II that permitted the death penalty in rare cases where it was deemed “the only possible way of effectively defending human…

According to statements from several federal death row prisoners, the new “adverse conditions” on death row in Terre Haute, Indiana, contributed to the December 1, 2023 death of Nasih Khalil Ra’id. Fellow prisoners say Mr. Ra’id, whose given name at birth was Odell Corley, died by suicide. Prison officials have not released the report from Mr. Ra’id’s autopsy or commented on the cause of his death. Two journalists in touch with federally death-sentenced prisoners have reported on the…

On December 22, 2023, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals issued a 100-day stay of execution to carry out a mental competency hearing for James Ryder, who was scheduled to be executed on February 1, 2024. Mr. Ryder’s attorneys have argued for years that he is not competent to face execution, citing long standing mental illness that has worsened throughout his incarceration. Several psychologists have diagnosed Mr. Ryder with paranoid schizophrenia and concluded he is not competent to face…

The United States and Japan are the only two retentionist countries among the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized democracies. But Japan did not carry out any executions in 2023 and imposed just three new death sentences. The pause meant that the U.S. was the only G7 nation to perform any executions in 2023. Commentators have cited a number of reasons to explain the pause. Some have opined that Japanese officials were concerned about heightened international scrutiny as Japan presided…

On December 22, 2023, Judge Coral Sanchez of Utah’s Third Circuit Court dismissed a lawsuit brought by five men on the state’s death row that challenged Utah’s two execution methods and protocols. Ralph Menzies, Troy Kell, Michael Archuleta, Douglas Carter, and Taberon Honie sought an order vacating Utah’s current execution protocols for lethal injection and firing squad and enjoining their future use. The prisoners argue that both methods constitute cruel and unusual punishment under the…

A new study from Columbia University researchers indicates that jurors’ perception of facial features in white defendants affects their sentencing decisions, much like the biases that affect every day social interactions and decision making. Through four experiments with 1,400 volunteers, “the researchers found that when real-world defendants have facial features that appear untrustworthy, they are more likely to be sentenced to death than life in prison.” Particular facial features, such as a…

A new story by the L.A. Times highlights former California death row prisoner Craigen Armstrong’s instrumental role in building a peer-prisoner mental health treatment program in the Los Angeles Twin Towers Correctional Facility, an effort which has helped hundreds of prisoners with severe mental illness. While awaiting retrial, Mr. Armstrong established the “mental health assistant” role to support and treat fellow prisoners, and has developed training materials for jails and prisons across…

On December 12, 2023 U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills overturned Terry Pitchford’s death sentence and ordered Mississippi to retry him in 6 months or release him from custody. Judge Mills found that the original trial judge failed to allow the defense to properly challenge the exclusion of Black jurors by now-retired District Attorney Doug Evans, the same prosecutor who prosecuted Curtis Flowers. “This court cannot ignore the notion that Pitchford was seemingly given no chance to rebut the…