Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

A recent op-ed in the Idaho Statesman highlights a number of difficulties that are a result of historic underspending on capital defense as the state prepares for its first execution since 2012. Idaho’s public defense system is transitioning to statewide oversight as part of an effort to address longstanding inequities in county-funded legal representation. With the consolidation of the public defender system came pay increases for most of Idaho’s public defenders, but many of the highest-paid…

On January 10, 2025, three Connecticut lawmakers introduced a bill that would make it illegal to manufacture and sell any drugs or medical devices in the state meant to carry out the death penalty. In 2024, Connecticut-based company Absolute Standards was identified as the source of lethal injection drugs used in 13 federal executions in 2020 and 2021. In a letter to the bill’s sponsors, John Criscio, President of Absolute Standards, said the company ceased production of pentobarbital in…

On December 30, 2024, a military appeals court upheld a lower court ruling rejecting Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s attempt to throw out plea deals reached for three men charged in the September 11 terrorism attacks. The court affirmed Judge Colonel Matthew N. McCall’s ruling in November 2024 that the plea agreements reached in July 2024 are valid. Col. McCall stated at the time that he would proceed with the plea hearings. The three-panel court wrote that they “agree with the military judge…

On December 27, 2024, the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) completed a multi-year lethal injection protocol review and announced that instead of the previous three-drug cocktail, lethal injection executions will use a single-drug barbituate, pentobarbital. Ohio was the first state to use pentobarbital, in the March 2011 execution of Johnnie Roy Baston. State officials now use single drug protocols in 14 states, including Tennessee, as well as in…

On December 31, 2024, during his last day in office, outgoing North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper commuted the death sentences of 15 men on the state’s death row to life in prison without parole. “These reviews are among the most difficult decision a Governor can make and the death penalty is the most severe sentence that the state can impose,” said Gov. Cooper in a statement following the announcement of the commutations. “After thorough review, reflection, and prayer, I concluded that the…

On December 13, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the August, 2024 dismissal of a lawsuit that sought to challenge, on First Amendment grounds, a South Carolina Department of Corrections’ (SCDC) policy that prohibits the publication of interviews between prisoners and the media or members of the public. In its decision, the Fourth Circuit cited to Houchins v. KQED, a 1978 Supreme Court ruling which held that the U.S. Constitution does not mandate “a right…

If Joseph Corcoran had been sentenced to death just a few miles to the east, across the border in Ohio instead of in Fort Wayne, Indiana, it’s likely that a court would have barred his execution. Ohio law prevents a person with a serious mental illness (SMI) at the time of their crime, defined as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or delusional disorder, from being put to death. Mr. Corcoran, who has a long history of paranoid schizophrenia diagnoses by at least five…

On December 12, 2024, the Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Michael James Jackson, who is challenging the constitutionality of Florida’s 2023 law that allows for non-unanimous jury death sentences. Mr. Jackson is represented by the ACLU, who argued that the Florida law is unconstitutional under the Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in Ramos v. Louisiana, which struck down non-unanimous criminal convictions. According to the ACLU’s brief, Florida’s law has the same negative…

On December 9, 2024, the 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay for Kevin Underwood’s clemency hearing scheduled that same-day with the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, which is lacking its full five-member compliment after two resignations in recent months and one last minute addition on December 6. This decision marks the second time Mr. Underwood’s clemency hearing has been canceled. Meanwhile, Mr. Underwood, age 44, is facing a December 19 execution date, and if it were to…