Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

In Florida, doctors hired to monitor and participate in lethal injection executions wear purple “moon suits” and goggles to conceal their identities from witnesses and circumvent an American Medical Association (AMA) code that forbids participation in executions, according to the Associated Press. Though Florida and other states say the participation of medical personnel ensures “a dignified and humane death” for those facing execution, the AMA, the American Nurses Association, the American…

A new book by Bruce Watson examines the case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants whose guilt remains in serious doubt eight decades after Massachusetts carried out their death sentences. The book, “Sacco & Vanzetti: The Men, the Murders, and the Judgment of Mankind” (Viking, 2007), provides a factual account of the case surrounding the two men, who were convicted of stealing a shoe factory’s pay envelopes and killing four people in the crime. Watson’s investigation…

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit re-affirmed its 2005 ruling that Kenny Richey’s capital conviction and death sentence should be overturned because he received inadequate representation at trial. Richey is on death row for the 1986 arson murder of a two-year-old girl who was in his care, an event that he maintains was an accident. Richey is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Scotland, having been raised in Scotland before coming to Ohio. The Sixth Circuit ruled 2 – 1 that Richey’s…

A new study by law professors Eric Freedman of Hofstra and David Dow of the University of Houston found that, before the passage of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act in1996, death row inmates who filed habeas corpus petitions in federal court succeeded in overturning their convictions or death sentences about 40% of the time. After passage of the 1996 law which restricted the Courts’ power to overturn state decisions, the number of successful appeals fell to just 12% between…

After lengthy, intensive interrogations, which in some cases included threats to pursue the death penalty, four enlisted Navy sailors confessed to a rape and murder in Norfolk, Va. that occurred in 1997. Now, convincing new evidence has emerged indicating that all four may be innocent. A recent New York Times Magazine article describes how three of the men — Danial Williams, Joseph Dick, and Derek Tice — were sentenced to life without parole for the rape and murder of Michelle Moore-Bosko, and…

The DePaul University College of Law’s Center for Justice in Capital Cases offers a broad range of cutting-edge training programs for those interested in death penalty law, including a wealth of free publications and manuals that capital defense attorneys may find useful. Founded in 2000, the Center is a resource for death penalty attorneys across the nation, providing training and professional seminars on topics such as trial and mitigation investigation, jury decision-making and selection…

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is urging the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles and Texas Governor Rick Perry to spare the life of Kenneth Foster (pictured), whose execution is scheduled for August 30. Foster was sentenced to death under the Texas Law of Parties that permits a person involved in a crime to be held accountable for the actions committed by someone else. In this case, Texas maintains that Foster deserves the death penalty because he should have anticipated that a passenger in his…

U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D‑VT) and Arlen Specter (R‑PA) (pictured) are urging the Justice Department to delay new rules that would give Attorney General Alberto Gonzales authority to limit the time death row inmates spend pursuing appeals before being executed. Senator Leahy chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Specter is the ranking Republican member of that committee. The two recently sent a bipartisan letter to Gonzales expressing concerns about whether states have adequate…

Nearly two decades after the 1988 robbery and murder of James Scanlon, his family now says that a sentence of life without parole for his killer — Ronald Rompilla — will end years of emotional strain resulting from the death penalty and will help them to start the healing process. “It’s time to start remembering my dad for the good person he was and not always affiliating it with Ronald Rompilla and the death penalty. … (I)t was time. I didn’t think going after it again would be good for us as…

The Justice Department is finalizing regulations that could give Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales (pictured) the ability to shorten the time that death row inmates have to appeal their case in federal court, a change that many critics believe will make capital punishment more unfair and inaccurate. Under the 2006 reauthorization of the Patriot Act, the Attorney General was given the power to decide whether individual states are providing adequate counsel for defendants in death penalty…