Entries by Hayley Bedard

Arizona…

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…

Image of Erik and…

Image of Richard Moore, courtesy…

Robert Roberson with daugh­ter Nikki. Courtesy of the…

Richard…

The United States has reached a mile­stone in the admin­is­tra­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment this week. All four sched­uled exe­cu­tions in Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Alabama took place, mark­ing the 1600^th exe­cu­tion in the mod­ern era of the death penal­ty in the U.S., despite pub­lic opin­ion polls show­ing grow­ing con­cerns about the fair­ness and accu­ra­cy of the death penal­ty and declining support…

Photo cour­tesy of Marcellus Williams’…

Photo cour­tesy of Marcellus Williams’…

On August 21, 2024, Marcellus Williams (pic­tured), who is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on September 24, 2024, agreed to enter an Alford plea in exchange for a sen­tence of life with­out parole. This agree­ment would have ensured that Mr. Williams, who has always main­tained his inno­cence in the 1998 mur­der of Felicia Gayle, would not be exe­cut­ed. But hours after Judge Bruce F. Hilton accept­ed the plea agree­ment, Attorney General Andrew Bailey asked the Missouri Supreme Court to…