Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

A new study has been released that explores the correlations between countries’ legal, political, and religious systems and their use of the death penalty. Professors David Greenberg from New York University and Valerie West of John Jay College examined data from 193 nations to test why some countries regularly use capital punishment while others have abandoned it altogether. They found, “In part, a country’s death penalty status is linked to its general punitiveness towards criminals.

Larry Fitzgerald served as the official spokesman for Texas executions for eight years. He represented the state through 219 lethal injections. Retired in August 2003, Fitzgerald left with what he refers to as a, “PhD in prison life.” Due to his expertise with the Texas prison system, defense attorneys have been utilizing his testimony in death penalty cases to describe to the jury why the prison system offers a suitable alternative to a death sentence. He testifies about inmate life…

A recent audit of the construction costs for a new death row facility at California’s San Quentin prison revealed that estimates have soared over 80% from previous projections. Ground still has not been broken for the project, but the new death row is likely to require nearly $400 million, instead of the $220 million originally quoted, and it will provide even fewer cells than planned. As an average of 12 new condemned inmates arrive at San Quentin annually, the new facility will be full only…

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding Kentucky’s lethal injection process on April 16, there have been 9 executions: William Lynd GA 5/6/08 Earl Berry MS 5/21/08 Kevin Green VA 5/27/08 Curtis Osborne GA 6/4/08 David Hill SC 6/6/08 Karl Chamberlain TX 6/11/08 Terry Short OK 6/17/08 James Reed SC 6/20/08 Robert Yarbrough VA 6/25/08 Race of Defendants: 5 white, 4 black Race of Victims: 7 white, 5 black, 1 Asian Regions of Country: 100% in the south Method: 8 by lethal injection; 1…

In 1996, Illinois Governor Jim Edgar commuted the death sentence of Guin Garcia to life without parole, even though Garcia herself had stopped fighting for her life. Garcia would have been the first woman executed in the U.S. in twelve years. She had been convicted of killing the man who had physically abused her, but she had dropped her appeals because she said she was done “begging for her life.” Chicago Sun-Times reporter Carol Marin followed Garcia’s case after the commutation and recently…

Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine commuted the death sentence of Percy Walton (pictured) to life in prison without parole. Kaine cancelled the execution, scheduled for 9pm on June 10, because “one cannot reasonably conclude that Walton is fully aware of the punishment he is about to suffer and why he is to suffer it”. The Governor found “that Walton’s clemency petition presented significant evidence that Walton had schizophrenia, that such a mental illness can cause serious deterioration of…

Mexico has returned to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in seeking a stay of execution for Mexican-born inmates in the U.S. Mexico requested the U.N.’s highest court, commonly referred to as the World Court, to intervene because the United States has failed to comply with an earlier ICJ judgment ordering a review of the trials of the Mexican citizens. The World Court ruled in 2004 that the U.S. violated the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations because it had not provided the…

A new Texas Criminal Justice Integrity Unit has been formed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to address concerns in the justice system and to work with inmates who may have been wrongfully convicted. The state’s highest court for criminal matters will study issues such as eyewitness identification, crime lab reliability, police interrogations, and standards for preserving evidence. Since 2001, 33 men have been exonerated in Texas, including one man from death row. Texas leads the country…

A recent law review article explores the quality of defense representation in capital cases in Tennessee. Authors William Redick, Jr., Bradley Maclean, and M. Shane Truett conducted an in depth study of Tennessee death penalty cases in their article, “Pretend Justice — Defense Representation in Tennessee Death Penalty Cases” in the University of Memphis Law Review. The article argues that Tennessee fails to provide effective defense representation in death penalty cases, citing ineffective…