Entries by Death Penalty Information Center

The state of Texas was sched­uled to exe­cute Ruben Gutierrez (pic­tured) on July 16, 2024; how­ev­er, the United States Supreme Court issued a rare, last-minute stay of exe­cu­tion just 20 min­utes before he was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed by lethal injec­tion. This is the first stay of exe­cu­tion grant­ed by the Supreme Court since it issued a stay for Richard Glossip in 2023. In a peti­tion filed with the Supreme Court, attor­neys for Mr. Gutierrez asked the Court to intervene because…

On Thursday, July 18, 2024, the state of Alabama is sched­uled to exe­cute Keith Gavin (pic­tured left) by lethal injec­tion, despite court find­ings that his tri­al coun­sel was inef­fec­tive. Mr. Gavin was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1999 for the shoot­ing death of a deliv­ery dri­ver. A non-unan­i­­­mous jury vot­ed 10 – 2 in favor of the death penal­ty for Mr. Gavin, and the tri­al court accept­ed the jury’s sen­tenc­ing out­come. During the penal­ty phase of tri­al, Mr. Gavin’s…

This July, in hon­or of Disability Pride Month, the Death Penalty Information Center is post­ing a week­ly fea­ture high­light­ing issues relat­ed to the death penal­ty and dis­abil­i­ty and pro­files of indi­vid­u­als who have played key roles in chang­ing the laws to protect prisoners…

A July 7, 2024 op-ed in the Tennessean argues that the recent enac­tion of SB 1834, which makes the rape of a child pun­ish­able by death,​“does more harm than good.” Sarah McGee (pic­tured), coor­di­na­tor for Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, explains that dur­ing her work as a vic­­­tim-wit­­­ness coor­di­na­tor for Davidson County District Attorney’s Office, pro­ba­tion offi­cer, and assis­tant pub­lic defend­er, she ​“learned that when child ser­vice providers and…

Disability…

On Wednesday, July 3^rd, the 200^th death row exon­er­a­tion was announced. But an unknown num­ber of pris­on­ers with com­pelling inno­cence claims remain on death row, unable to secure relief either because they lack access to com­pe­tent legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion for their appeals, are barred from access­ing the courts because of pro­ce­dur­al legal bar­ri­ers, or due to the incal­ci­trance of elect­ed offi­cials. For some of these pris­on­ers, exe­cu­tion dates have been set. Significant…

Left to Right: Assistant Federal Public Defender Brian Abbington, Larry Roberts, and CHU Investigator…

Connecticut-based com­pa­ny Absolute Standards, which was iden­ti­fied as the source of lethal injec­tion drugs used in 13 fed­er­al exe­cu­tions in 2020 and 2021, has said it will no longer pro­duce the drug used in exe­cu­tions — pen­to­bar­bi­tal. In a let­ter to two Connecticut law­mak­ers, John Criscio, pres­i­dent of Absolute Standards, said the com­pa­ny ceased pro­duc­ing pen­to­bar­bi­tal in December 2020, and has​“no inten­tion to resume any pro­duc­tion or sale of…

Today, July 1, 2024, the Death Penalty Information Center releas­es a new report, Lethal Election: How the U.S. Electoral Process Increases the Arbitrariness of the Death Penalty. Using new data and analy­sis on appel­late rul­ings and grants of clemen­cy, as well as indi­vid­ual sto­ries and case stud­ies from across the coun­try, the report exam­ines how elec­toral pol­i­tics dis­tort the fair­ness and accuracy of…

In hon­or of Pride Month and com­mem­o­rat­ing the 55^th anniver­sary of the Stonewall upris­ing, the Death Penalty Information Center is pleased to present a new resource about how use of the death penal­ty affects LGBTQ+ peo­ple. We take a com­pre­hen­sive look at top­ics rang­ing from America’s his­to­ry of pun­ish­ing queer sex with exe­cu­tion, to dis­crim­i­na­to­ry com­ments made against queer defen­dants in cap­i­tal tri­als, to the chal­lenges of gender transition…