Entries by Hayley Bedard

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…

On June 26, 2025, the United States Supreme Court issued a rare 6 – 3 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,…

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…

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…

Charles Flores (pic­tured) was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1999 for the 1998 rob­bery and mur­der of Elizabeth​“Betty” Black in her Texas home. Mr. Flores was con­vict­ed because of the tes­ti­mo­ny of Jill Barganier, the victim’s neigh­bor, who only iden­ti­fied Mr. Flores after being hyp­no­tized by police. No DNA or phys­i­cal evi­dence con­nects Mr. Flores to the crime. Attorneys for Mr. Flores argue that he should be grant­ed a new tri­al because of changes in the…

On May 22, 2025, Tennessee exe­cut­ed Oscar Smith by lethal injec­tion, mark­ing the state’s first exe­cu­tion in five years despite a pend­ing law­suit chal­leng­ing the state’s new lethal injec­tion pro­to­col that relies on one drug — pen­to­bar­bi­tal. Other death row pris­on­ers and attor­neys for Mr. Smith had urged Governor Bill Lee to grant a reprieve, cit­ing an upcom­ing January 2026 tri­al that will deter­mine the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the new exe­cu­tion pro­to­col. They…

Benjamin Ritchie’s exe­cu­tion in Indiana on May 20, 2025, has raised new con­cerns about the use of pen­to­bar­bi­tal after defense coun­sel report­ed their client dis­played an unusu­al phys­i­cal reac­tion after being inject­ed with the drug. But because Indiana offi­cials bar media wit­ness­es from observ­ing exe­cu­tions, the pub­lic has no inde­pen­dent wit­ness reports on what tran­spired. Steve Schutte, an attor­ney for Mr. Ritchie, told the Indiana Capital Chronicle that Mr. Ritchie…

On May 15, 2025, the Utah Supreme Court unan­i­mous­ly upheld a low­er court’s deci­sion vacat­ing Douglas Carter’s (pic­tured) con­vic­tion and death sen­tence and order­ing a new tri­al. The Court found that Utah County pros­e­cu­tors vio­lat­ed Mr. Carter’s con­sti­tu­tion­al rights on mul­ti­ple occa­sions with their​“inten­tion­al mis­con­duct” dur­ing his 1985 tri­al that accused him of caus­ing the death of Eva Olesen dur­ing a home inva­sion. In November 2023, Utah County District…