Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

In 2004 Cameron Todd Willingham was exe­cut­ed in Texas for mur­der­ing his chil­dren by arson. Since then, numer­ous foren­sic fire experts have con­clud­ed that the evi­dence of arson pre­sent­ed at Willingham’s tri­al could not sup­port the con­clu­sion that he caused the fire. That same year, Ernest Willis was freed from death row in Texas after the pros­e­cu­tion con­clud­ed that his con­vic­tion and death sen­tence for arson were mis­tak­en. Texas has 742…

Anthony Caravello was con­vict­ed of rape and mur­der for a crime he alleged­ly com­mit­ted in 1983 at age 15 in Florida. The pros­e­cu­tion sought the death penal­ty. Now DNA evi­dence from the crime scene points to anoth­er indi­vid­ual and may result in his exon­er­a­tion. The state is not con­test­ing his release. Caravello has an IQ of 67 and was con­vict­ed large­ly on the basis of his own state­ments, which he says were obtained from him after beat­ings during his…

A recent arti­cle in the Fayetteville Observer in North Carolina cap­tures the poignant sto­ry of one man’s life on death row. James Floyd Davis is a Vietnam vet­er­an who lashed out with a burst of vio­lence four­teen years ago, killing three peo­ple includ­ing his boss who had fired him a few days before. He suf­fers from men­tal ill­ness and post-trau­­mat­ic stress dis­or­der. Through the inter­ven­tion of a ther­a­pist who also served in Vietnam, it was learned that Davis was…

Acclaimed artist Robert Priseman has assem­bled some of his draw­ings of exe­cu­tion cham­bers with essays on the death penal­ty into a new book entitled ​“No Human Way to Kill.” The essays include the sto­ry of a moth­er whose daugh­ter was mur­dered, a death row inmate’s diary, and an inter­view with Jim Willett, for­mer war­den of the prison where Texas exe­cu­tions are held. Death penal­ty attor­ney Clive Stafford Smith writes in review, ​“The etch­ings and accounts offer up a strange and…

Former death row inmate Michael Toney was freed from prison in Texas on September 2 after the state’s Attorney General asked that his death sen­tence and crim­i­nal charges be dis­missed. Toney was sen­tenced to death for a fatal bomb­ing in 1985 that occurred at a trail­er park in Lake Worth. He has always main­tained his inno­cence, and there was no phys­i­cal evi­dence lead­ing to his con­vic­tion. His con­vic­tion and death sen­tence were over­turned by the Texas Court of…

Recent sci­en­tif­ic reports indi­cat­ing that Texas like­ly exe­cut­ed an inno­cent man have spurred wide cov­er­age and com­men­tary. Cameron Todd Willingham was exe­cut­ed in 2004 for the arson mur­der of his three chil­dren. Fire experts now say the blaze was like­ly an acci­dent. Excerpts from…

Most Californians would sup­port a sen­tence of life with­out parole for those con­vict­ed of mur­der rather than the death penal­ty accord­ing to a new opin­ion poll released on September 1. If the life sen­tence was com­bined with a require­ment that the inmate work to make resti­tu­tion to the fam­i­ly of the vic­tim, only 26% of Californians would still opt for the death penal­ty. The poll was con­duct­ed by Prof. Craig Haney of the University of California…