Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

On April 11, the Connecticut House of Representatives passed (86 – 62) a bill to abolish the death penalty for future crimes. The same bill passed the Connecticut Senate on April 5. Governor Dannel Malloy has pledged to sign the bill, which will make Connecticut the 17^th state to abolish the death penalty, and the 5^th to do so in the last 5 years. In a statement released after the House vote, Gov. Malloy said, “When I sign this bill, Connecticut will join 16 other states and almost every other…

Following the recent handing down of a death sentence in Philadelphia, the Executive Director of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation blamed the outcome on an inadequate indigent-defense system. Marc Bookman (pictured), writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, reviewed the case and found, “There isn’t a single motion filed by the attorneys in defense of their client. Nor is there a request for a jury questionnaire, which is standard in most jurisdictions that regularly handle capital…

Oklahoma inmate Garry Allen (pictured) is scheduled for execution on April 12, despite a Pardon and Parole Board’s 4 – 1 recommendation that his sentence be reduced to life without parole. In an unusual move, Mr. Allen originally pleaded guilty to murdering his girlfriend without receiving any benefit in sentencing, and has testified that he did so to spare his family and the victim’s family the trauma of a trial. Allen was shot in the head at the time of his arrest. His lawyers have argued that…

Donald Heller (pictured), who wrote California’s death penalty law, and Ron Briggs, who led the campaign to reinstate the law in 1978, are now advocating for replacing the death penalty with a sentence of life without parole. Both now say that the law did not have the result they intended. “At the time, we were of the impression that it would do swift justice, that it would get the criminals and murderers through the system quickly and apply them the death penalty,” Briggs said. But the costs…

A new study published on the Social Science Resource Network by a group of professors at Cornell University found a high incidence of racial disparities in the operation of Delaware’s death penalty. The study, published in conjunction with a symposium honoring the late David Baldus (pictured), examined the state’s death penalty since 1972 and found: — Of 49 defendants sentenced to death since 1972, 53% were black, 39% were white, and 8% were Hispanic or Native American. In contrast, 69% of…

On April 5, the state senate in Connecticut approved (20 – 16) a bill to repeal the death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life without a parole. The bill is prospective and would not affect the 11 inmates currently on death row. The senate passed an amendment to the original repeal bill requiring future defendants convicted of murder with special circumstances to be subject to the same confinement conditions as current death row inmates. Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D‑Miford, a former…

The Connecticut Senate is expected to vote as early as Wednesday (April 4) on a bill to replace the death penalty with a sentence of life without parole. The bill, which would only affect future sentencing, passed the Judiciary Committee on March 21 and needs at least 18 votes to pass in the Senate. If it passes the Senate, it is considered likely to pass the House, and Governor Dannel Malloy has pledged to sign the bill into law. A similar bill passed the General Assembly in 2009, but was…

Thirty-four high-profile former judges and law enforcement officials recently filed an amicus brief arguing against Virginia’s efforts to reinstate the conviction of Justin Wolfe (pictured). Wolfe’s attorneys maintain he was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in a 2002 murder-for-hire case because of false testimony from the actual shooter, Owen Barber. In 2005, Barber admitted to lying under oath, saying, “The prosecution and my own defense attorney placed me in a position in which I…