Entries by Hayley Bedard

An analysis from The Appeal of more than two dozen cases in which LGBTQ+ defendants faced the death penalty found evidence that anti-LGBTQ+ bias affected case outcomes. After an examination of media reports, academic journals, and legal documents, The Appeal determined that these cases are likely a significant undercount of the number of LGBTQ+ people sentenced to death. “These capital cases illustrate the ingrained anti-LGBTQ+ bias endemic to the U.S. legal system — from sodomy laws that…

On July 29, 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the state’s first execution warrant of 2024, scheduling an execution date for Loran Cole (pictured) in just thirty days, on August 29, 2024. Mr. Cole’s execution warrant comes nearly ten months after Florida’s last execution, which was the last of the state’s six executions carried out in 2023. Mr. Cole was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of a Florida State University student in Marion County, Florida. Following the issuance of…

A July 2024 report from the Texas Defender Service (TDS), An Unfulfilled Promise: Assessing the Efficacy of 11.073, the first-ever comprehensive review of Texas’ junk science writ, revealed that the “law systematically fails to provide relief to innocent people convicted based on false forensic evidence.” In 2013, the Texas Legislature passed a first-of-its-kind law, Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 11.073, creating a procedural pathway for convicted individuals to seek new trials if…

On July 26, 2024, the Missouri Supreme Court denied Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s request to block an evidentiary hearing scheduled for August 21^st, 2024, where the St. Louis County Circuit Court is set to hear evidence of Marcellus Williams’ (pictured) innocence. The circuit court set the August 21^st hearing in response to a motion to vacate Mr. Williams’ conviction and death sentence filed by Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell in January 2024. In his motion, DA Bell wrote that the…

Attorneys for Warren King (pictured), who was convicted and sentenced to death in Georgia in 1998 for the murder of a convenience store clerk, have uncovered evidence that shows the prosecutor, John B. Johnson, withheld critical evidence from Mr. King’s defense team at the time of trial. A new court filing indicates that ADA Johnson failed to disclose a plea deal reached with Mr. King’s co-defendant, Walter Smith, the only eyewitness to the crime. Both Mr. King and Mr. Smith were charged with…

A July 10, 2024, National Public Radio (NPR) investigation has revealed that Rite Away, a small chain of pharmacies located around San Antonio and Austin, Texas, compounded and provided pentobarbital for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) between 2019 and late 2023 to carry out lethal injection executions. During the same time period, records at the Texas Board of Pharmacy and federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) indicate the pharmacy was cited for multiple safety and cleanliness…

June 16, 2024, marks 80 years since South Carolina executed 14-year-old George Stinney Jr. Historical reports indicate that on March 24, 1944, Mr. Stinney and his younger sister, Aime, were playing outside when two white girls approached them, asking where they could find a particular flower. Neither Mr. Stinney nor his sister knew where the young girls could find these flowers and they quickly moved along. That evening, when both young girls failed to return home, a search party was sent to…