Entries by Hayley Bedard

A new report from the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), Unreliable Verdicts: Racial Bias and Wrongful Convictions, explores the his­to­ry of racial bias in jury selec­tion in the United States, includ­ing the last 40 years of racial­­­ly-dis­­­crim­i­­­na­­­to­ry pre­emp­to­ry jury strikes, and high­lights the grow­ing body of research show­ing that jury bias is reduced and the delib­er­a­tive process enhanced when juries are more diverse. Looking at the pool of doc­u­ment­ed death penalty…

According to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty’s annu­al Year in Review, Texas’ death row con­tin­ued to shrink in 2024, reflect­ing pros­e­cu­tors’ increas­ing reluc­tance to bring new cap­i­tal cas­es and juries’ grow­ing reluc­tance to sen­tence indi­vid­u­als to death. Texas juries imposed just six new death sen­tences in 2024, mark­ing the tenth con­sec­u­tive year of sin­­­gle-dig­it death sen­tences. Five of those six involved defen­dants of col­or, following…

According to inves­tiga­tive report­ing from the AZ Mirror, the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, & Reentry (ADCRR) is stor­ing the state’s sup­ply of pen­to­bar­bi­tal salt, the active ingre­di­ent used in a com­pound­ed form in lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions, in eight unmarked glass con­tain­ers in a prison refrig­er­a­tor, rais­ing doubts about the drugs’ authen­tic­i­ty and effi­ca­cy. ADCRR has refused to reveal how long it has been in pos­ses­sion of these…

On December 17, 2024, a bipar­ti­san group of Texas leg­is­la­tors in the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence issued a new sub­poe­na for death-sen­­­tenced Robert Roberson to tes­ti­fy in per­son on December 20 about the state’s junk sci­ence law, under which he failed to receive relief. Gretchen Sween, attor­ney for Mr. Roberson, said that he was​“eager to tes­ti­fy and grate­ful for the chance to be heard.” But just two days after the issuance of the sub­poe­na, and a day ahead of Mr.

On November 26, 2024, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced her office will resume seek­ing exe­cu­tion war­rants. AG Mayes’ announce­ment comes after Governor Katie Hobbs end­ed the state’s inde­pen­dent review of its exe­cu­tion pro­to­col and process­es, dis­miss­ing retired fed­er­al mag­is­trate David Duncan before he had com­plet­ed his review. In a let­ter to Judge Duncan, Gov. Hobbs said his actions dur­ing the review went beyond his man­date. The review was launched in 2023, as new­ly elected Gov.

According to October 2024 polling pro­duced by Gallup, sup­port for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment remains at a five-decade low in the United States. Overall, Gallup found 53% of Americans in favor of the death penal­ty, but that num­ber masks con­sid­er­able dif­fer­ences between old­er and younger Americans. More than half of young adults aged 18 to 43 now oppose the death penal­ty. Among those express­ing a polit­i­cal affil­i­a­tion, sup­port for the death penal­ty fell marked­ly in all groups and in all generations,…

In the ear­ly 1990s, the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez cap­ti­vat­ed the American pub­lic, not only because of the bru­tal­i­ty of their crime but also because of the defense they pre­sent­ed. The broth­ers, age 18 and 21 at the time of the crime, were charged with first-degree mur­der with spe­cial cir­cum­stances for killing their par­ents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. These spe­cial cir­cum­stances made the crime a death-eli­gi­ble offense. Prosecutors alleged they were priv­i­leged young men act­ing out of greed,…

Attorneys for South Carolina death row pris­on­er Richard Moore (pic­tured) filed a clemen­cy peti­tion with Governor Henry McMaster, ask­ing him to com­mute his sen­tence to life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. Mr. Moore has gar­nered sup­port from a wide range of indi­vid­u­als, includ­ing the for­mer direc­tor of South Carolina Department of Corrections Jon Ozmint. In a let­ter to Gov. McMaster, Mr. Ozmint writes about how Mr. Moore’s ​“sto­ry of redemp­tion” and good behav­ior will allow him to…