Entries by Hayley Bedard


News 

Jul 242025

Tennessee Court Orders Heart Defibrillator Disconnected Ahead of Byron Black’s Scheduled Execution

On July 18, 2025, the Davidson County Chancery Court issued a pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion requir­ing the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) to ensure that Byron Black’s implant­ed heart device (car­diac implantable elec­tron­ic device, or CIED) is switched off just ahead of his exe­cu­tion by a car­diac spe­cial­ist or qual­i­fied tech­ni­cian work­ing under such super­vi­sion. In June 2025, coun­sel for Mr. Black filed a motion for a pre­lim­i­nary injunc­tion, explaining that…

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News 

Jul 222025

Texas Pilot Program Allows for Less Restrictive Conditions for Some on Death Row for First Time in Decades

Recent report­ing from the Houston Chronicle describes a pilot pro­gram begun in February of last year which has allowed a select group of pris­on­ers on Texas’ death row the oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence loos­ened con­fine­ment con­di­tions. About a dozen indi­vid­u­als on Texas’ death row are being allowed to min­gle in a com­mon room, share meals, and spend time out­side of their cells with­out hand­cuffs or shack­les. As the Chronicle reports,​“instead of shout­ing to each…

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News 

Jul 182025

District Judge Sets Unfortunate” New Execution Date for Texas Prisoner Robert Roberson, Despite Pending Petition in Support of His Innocence Claim

On July 16, 2025, Smith County District Judge Austin Reeve Jackson set an exe­cu­tion date of October 16, 2025 for Robert Roberson, a man with a strong inno­cence claim who has a habeas cor­pus peti­tion pend­ing at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA). Judge Jackson, after hear­ing argu­ments from both defense coun­sel for Mr. Roberson and attor­neys from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, ruled that there was no legal basis for not sign­ing an exe­cu­tion order.​“It doesn’t…

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News 

Jul 172025

Oklahoma Attorney General Accused in New Court Filings of Reneging on Plea Agreement in Richard Glossip’s Case

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is fac­ing accu­sa­tions that he broke a writ­ten agree­ment that would have freed for­mer death row pris­on­er Richard Glossip from prison more than two years ago, accord­ing to court doc­u­ments filed in mid-July 2025. The rev­e­la­tion cen­ters on email exchanges from April 2023, where AG Drummond, in a thread with Don Knight, coun­sel for Mr. Glossip, agreed to a plea deal that would have result­ed in Mr. Glossip’s imme­di­ate release after more…

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News 

Jul 152025

Kentucky Governor Cites Constitutional Concerns with Execution Protocol and Drug Acquisition Issues in Refusal to Set Execution Date

In June 2025, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman request­ed that Governor Andy Beshear set an exe­cu­tion date for death row pris­on­er Ralph Baze. In a late June 2025 reply, Gov. Beshear declined to do so because of an April 2025 Franklin County Circuit Court rul­ing that found part of Kentucky’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. Gov. Beshear indi­cat­ed that sev­er­al steps must be tak­en by the Department of Corrections (DOC) to address the issues raised by the court…

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News 

Jul 142025

New Louisiana Legislation Will Limit Post-Conviction Appeals, Endangering Innocent Prisoners in an Attempt to Expedite Executions

Recent leg­is­la­tion signed by Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry dras­ti­cal­ly restricts the abil­i­ty of pris­on­ers to chal­lenge their con­vic­tions, which those opposed to the law have argued could lead to the exe­cu­tion of inno­cent pris­on­ers. HB 675, signed into law in June 2025, impos­es strict time lim­its on post-con­vic­­­tion relief appli­ca­tions and intro­duces​“aban­don­ment” rules that cut off appeal options for pris­on­ers who fail to meet the law’s strict dead­lines. The…

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News 

Jul 102025

Federal Court Excoriates Prosecutors in Grant of Relief to Former Virginia Death-Sentenced Prisoner Who Has Always Maintained His Innocence

On July 7, 2025, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of for­mer Virginia death-sen­­­tenced pris­on­er Justin Wolfe, vacat­ing a low­er court dis­missal of his most recent habeas peti­tion, and paving the way for a new hear­ing where Mr. Wolfe will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to pro­vide new evi­dence in sup­port of his inno­cence. Mr. Wolfe was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 2002 for the 2001 mur­der-for-hire of his cannabis sup­pli­er in Northern Virginia. In his most…

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News 

Jun 272025

U.S. Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Texas Death Row Prisoner Seeking DNA Testing

On June 26, 2025, the United States Supreme Court issued a rare 63 rul­ing in favor of a Texas death row pris­on­er, Ruben Gutierrez, hold­ing that he may pro­ceed with his law­suit chal­leng­ing Texas’s post-con­vic­­­tion DNA statute on con­sti­tu­tion­al grounds. Mr. Gutierrez was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1999 for the mur­der and rob­bery of an 85-year-old woman but has long main­tained he did not know his code­fen­dants would kill the vic­tim. According to the decision,…

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News 

Jun 232025

In Unusual Move, Texas Attorney General Requests Execution Date for Robert Roberson Before a Court Has Heard New Evidence of His Actual Innocence

On June 16, 2025, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion in the Anderson County District Court request­ing a new exe­cu­tion date for Robert Roberson, despite the fact that a motion from defense coun­sel with new evi­dence in sup­port of Mr. Roberson’s actu­al inno­cence remains pend­ing. As the Dallas Morning Editorial Board notes, it is​“unusu­al” that “[AG] Paxton’s office is involved” in request­ing the exe­cu­tion date. AG Paxton has active­ly sought Mr. Roberson’s…

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News 

Jun 102025

Oklahoma Attorney General Will Not Seek Death Penalty Against Richard Glossip in Retrial

On June 9, 2025, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced that his office will retry death row pris­on­er Richard Glossip but will not seek the death penal­ty. AG Drummond’s deci­sion to retry Mr. Glossip fol­lows the February 2025 United States Supreme Court rul­ing in Glossip v. Oklahoma, in which the high court threw out Mr. Glossip’s 2004 con­vic­tion and ordered a new tri­al because pros­e­cu­tors allowed a key wit­ness to lie in court and with­held crucial information…

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