Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

Former President Jimmy Carter wrote New Mexico’s Governor Bill Richardson to encourage him to support a bill repealing the death penalty and replacing it with life in prison without parole. “We encourage your support for this comprehensive and visionary approach,” Carter wrote. In addition to pointing out how the extra money spent on capital punishment could be better used elsewhere, Carter wrote, “As you know, the United States is one of the few countries, along with nations such as Saudi…

In a recent military death penalty case, the prosecutors rejected a plea agreement that would have resulted in a sentence of life in prison instead of the death penalty. The defendant, Sergeant Alberto Martinez, was then found not guilty on December 4, 2008, of murdering two fellow soldiers and walked free. Two years before the trial, Sgt. Martinez signed an offer to plead guilty to the murder charges and to describe “the essential facts and circumstances of the offenses to which I am pleading…

A Tennessee legislative study committee has ended its 16-month analysis of the state’s capital punishment process and has made recommendations for achieving a more fair and accurate system: . Require defense attorneys in capital cases to be highly qualified; . Mandate that defense attorneys have uniform access to evidence against their clients; . Require police officers to record all interrogations related to a homicide case; The committee also recommended that the state set timetables for…

A new book, No Winners Here Tonight: Race, Politics, and Geography in One of the Country’s Busiest Death Penalty States, by Ohio journalist Andrew Welsh-Huggins, explores the history of Ohio’s death penalty and raises questions of fairness by examining the state’s experience with capital punishment. Citing historical examples, the author argues that the death penalty has been carried out in an arbitrary fashion from its earliest days and has fallen short of the state’s standard of executing…

The Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct filed seven charges of misconduct against Chief Justice Sharon Keller (pictured) of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) stemming from her actions in a death penalty appeal in 2007. Judge Keller is charged with not following court procedure and improperly closing the court to the appeal of Michael Richard shortly before he was to be executed. Among other charges, the Commission stated, “Judge Keller did not disclose to the other judges her…

Casper Taylor, Jr., a long-time Maryland House of Delegates member and former supporter of the death penalty, has written an op-ed calling for the end of capital punishment in Maryland. “In 28 years in the Maryland House of Delegates, nine as speaker, I cast thousands of votes,” wrote Taylor. “I have few regrets. But there is one vote I wish I could take back — my 1978 vote to reinstate the death penalty in Maryland.” Taylor continued, “Today, that vote haunts me. Since reinstatement…