Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

Following an inves­ti­ga­tion indi­cat­ing that Missouri may have exe­cut­ed an inno­cent man for the 1980 mur­der of Quintin Moss, New York Times colum­nist Bob Herbert wrote that the case was filled with prob­lems that are typ­i­cal of wrong­ful con­vic­tions in cap­i­tal cas­es. Herbert stat­ed that St. Louis cir­cuit attor­ney Jennifer Joyce has taken ​“the extra­or­di­nary step of offi­cial­ly reopen­ing a mur­der inves­ti­ga­tion after the defen­dant was exe­cut­ed,” adding that it is dif­fi­cult to prove that an innocent…

A year-long inves­ti­ga­tion by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has uncov­ered evi­dence that Larry Griffin may have been inno­cent of the crime for which he was exe­cut­ed by the state of Missouri on June 21, 1995. Griffin main­tained his inno­cence until his death, and inves­ti­ga­tors say his case is the strongest demon­stra­tion yet of an exe­cu­tion of an inno­cent man. The report notes that a man injured in the same dri­ve-by shoot­ing that claimed the life of Quintin Moss says Griffin was not…

The U.S. Supreme Court grant­ed a last minute stay for Robin Lovitt, who was sched­uled for exe­cu­tion at 9 PM on Monday (July 11) in Virginia. The Court did not give a rea­son for the stay, but Lovitt stat­ed that he would have been able to show his inno­cence if state offi­cials had not destroyed DNA evi­dence from his case after his tri­al. (See item below post­ed July 8). (Associated Press, July 11, 2005). See also…

A bill pro­posed by Rep. Daniel Lungren of California and Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona would strip the fed­er­al courts of much of their pow­er to decide whether death row inmates have been giv­en a fair tri­al and could result in the exe­cu­tion of inno­cent defen­dants. The bill is enti­tled the Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005. The Washington Post edi­to­ri­al­ized about the…

Robin Lovitt is sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on July 11 in Virginia despite doubts about his guilt and the state’s weak and cir­cum­stan­tial case against him. Lovitt’s attor­neys main­tain that DNA test­ing of evi­dence in his case would prove that he is not guilty of the 1998 mur­der of Clayton Dicks, but the tests are not pos­si­ble because a court clerk mis­tak­en­ly destroyed the evi­dence. Columnist Margaret Edds of the The Virginian-Pilot recent­ly wrote about the upcom­ing exe­cu­tion and the doubts that…

A num­ber of states are grap­pling with the ques­tion of whether the lethal injec­tion drug Pavulon, also known as pan­curo­ni­um bro­mide, par­a­lyzes a con­demned inmate’s mus­cles in a way that masks hor­rif­ic pain felt dur­ing an exe­cu­tion, a side-effect that experts say could vio­late of the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment. The Tennessee Supreme Court heard argu­ments about this issue in a death row case in June 2005 and a sim­i­lar case is expect­ed to reach the Kentucky Supreme…

Retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s evolv­ing skep­ti­cism about cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment has played a sig­nif­i­cant role in a num­ber of key deci­sions regard­ing the death penal­ty through­out her 24 years on the U.S. Supreme Court. During pub­lic appear­ances in recent years, she has often men­tioned her con­cerns about inno­cence and the need to pro­tect a cap­i­tal defen­dan­t’s con­sti­tu­tion­al right to ade­quate rep­re­sen­ta­tion. In a 2001 speech she stated, ​“Serious ques­tions are being raised about whether the…

By a vote of 5 – 4, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a low­er court’s grant of relief to Tennessee death row inmate Gregory Thompson. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit had announced that its ini­tial denial of Thompson’s appeal was mis­tak­en. After first deny­ing Thompson’s habeas cor­pus peti­tion, the Sixth Circuit dis­cov­ered pre­vi­ous­ly uncon­sid­ered evi­dence that Thompson was suf­fer­ing from schiz­o­phre­nia at the time of the offense. The court recon­sid­ered the case in light of the…

Murdering Myths: The Story Behind the Death Penalty, a new book by Judith W. Kay, uses the per­son­al expe­ri­ences of both crime vic­tims’ fam­i­lies and those on death row to exam­ine America’s beliefs about crime and pun­ish­ment. Noting that researchers have raised ques­tions about the exe­cu­tion of inno­cent peo­ple, racial bias in sen­tenc­ing, and cap­i­tal pun­ish­men­t’s fail­ure to act as a deter­rent, Kay asks why Americans still sup­port the death penal­ty. She uses inter­views with those most…

Texas Governor Rick Perry has announced the appoint­ment of the mem­bers of the state’s new Criminal Justice Advisory Council, includ­ing three judges, two promi­nent state leg­is­la­tors, a defense attor­ney, a pros­e­cu­tor, and 13 addi­tion­al ex-offi­­cio mem­bers. The com­mis­sion will study poten­tial flaws and rec­om­mend changes to the state’s jus­tice sys­tem. This is the first group in many years to have broad-rang­ing author­i­ty to look at the Texas crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem from arrest to final…