Entries by Death Penalty Information Center
News
Feb 02, 2007
Nebraska Repeal Bill Passes Unanimously in Committee
For the first time in nearly two decades, members of the Nebraska’s unicameral legislature will have an opportunity to debate a bill that would repeal the state’s death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life without parole and an order of restitution. Members of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee unanimously advanced the bill, noting that their colleagues in the full senate should have a chance to debate the measure. The bill’s sponsor, Senator…
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Feb 02, 2007
Tennessee Governor Orders 90-Day Halt to Executions
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen has issued an executive order establishing a 90-day halt to executions in the state due to concerns that there aren’t enough instructions provided during the execution process. The moratorium will halt four executions scheduled in Tennessee during the next three months. In an official statement, Governor Bredesen said: “I think all of you know that I consider the responsibility of the state to carry out the death penalty among the very most serious…
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Feb 01, 2007
Georgia Innocence Project Uses DNA To Free Man After 22 Years In Prison
Willie Williams has been freed from a Georgia prison after spending half of his life, 22 years, behind bars for a crime he did not commit. “I never gave up,” Williams said following his release, which came just 5 days after the Georgia Innocence Project discovered Williams’ DNA did not match a swab taken from the woman he was convicted of raping in 1985. After learning about the DNA evidence excluding Williams, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard ordered Williams…
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Feb 01, 2007
Another Prisoner Freed After DNA Evidence Leads to Exoneration
After spending 15 years in a New York prison for murder, Roy Brown has been exonerated through DNA evidence and is free. Brown is the eighth person in New York to be exonerated due to DNA evidence in the past 13 months, more than in any other state during the same period. While in prison, Brown conducted his own investigation of his wrongful conviction and found documents incriminating another man in the murder of Sabina Kulakowski. The documents pointed to Barry Bench, a volunteer…
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Jan 30, 2007
NEW VOICES: Federal Judge Says New York Case is “Absurd” Waste of Time and Money
U.S. District Judge Frederick Block recently told federal prosecutors that pursuing a death sentence for Kenneth McGriff would be an “absurd” waste of time and money. According to a court transcript, while jurors were on a break during closing arguments of the guilt phase of McGriff’s trial, Block advised prosecutors to contact their supervisors in Washington, DC, and ask them to reconsider their decision to seek the death penalty if McGriff is convicted in a contract killing conspiracy. He…
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Jan 29, 2007
Maryland Governor Supports Legislation to Repeal State’s Death Penalty
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (pictured) has said that he plans on supporting recently introduced legislation to repeal the state’s death penalty. “I’ve had a pretty consistent position on this. Now that it’s salient, I’m certainly not going to try to duck or hide. I would like to see us repeal the death penalty,” stated O’Malley, who has argued that the death penalty is not a deterrent and that money spent on prosecuting death penalty cases could be better spent fighting violent…
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Jan 26, 2007
NEW RESOURCES: “No Defense: Shortcut to Death Row”
A recent four-part news investigation by McClatchey News examined the quality of counsel in four death penalty states. The series, “No Defense: Shortcut to Death Row,” explores capital representation in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Virginia. The research revealed that those states have extensive problems with adequate counsel, a fact underscored in the series through case examples that illustrate the systems’ inadequacies. The series…
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Jan 24, 2007
NEW RESOURCES: “Living With the Death Penalty”
“Living With the Death Penalty” is a new book that examines the impact of executions on correctional officers, offenders, chaplains, attorneys, and victims’ family members. In this book, author Courtney Vaughn, a rape victim and an Educational Leadership and Policy Studies professor at the University of Oklahoma, offers first-person accounts of what it is like to experience the death penalty from a variety of perspectives. She explores the sacrifice, alienation, and…
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Jan 24, 2007
NEW RESOURCES: “State of the States” Report Features U.S. Death Penalty Developments
Stateline.org’s recent “State of the States” report features an extensive article on capital punishment trends in the United States. The piece includes a thorough review of lethal injection challenges in the states, as well as a brief update on the issue of innocence and an overview of other state legislative developments, such as efforts to authorize the death penalty for some crimes other than murder. The article notes that questions about lethal injection put the death…
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Jan 23, 2007
NEW RESOURCE: “Chasing Justice” Chronicles Experiences of Former Death Row Inmate
Former Texas death row inmate Kerry Max Cook has authored a book detailing his wrongful conviction and his 22-year fight for freedom. Cook’s book, “Chasing Justice,” provides a first-hand account of his trial, his two-decade stay on death row in Texas, and his release after DNA evidence linked another man to the crime for which he was sentenced to die. Publisher HarperCollins notes that the book is “a shocking look inside death row, a legal thriller, and an inspirational story…
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