Entries by Leah Roemer

The Constitution mandates that juries be drawn from a “fair cross-section” of the community. Yet public opinion polls show that a substantial portion of the community opposes the death penalty. How, then, can the government seat a jury that will fairly decide whether to impose the death penalty and protect a defendant’s constitutional jury rights? The legal system’s longstanding answer to this question is a procedure called “death qualification,” which allows prosecutors to dismiss any…

“I am extremely concerned by the recent pace of death warrants and the speed with which the parties and involved entities must carry out their respective duties.” Florida Supreme Court Justice Jorge Labarga wrote those words in 2023, a year in which Florida conducted six executions with an average warrant period of 36 days. Such a pace was already straining the state’s judicial, legal, and prison systems. But in 2025, under the sole authority of Governor Ron DeSantis, the state tripled that…

When Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill took office in January 2024, they moved aggressively to restart executions in the state. Gov. Landry signed bills that authorized nitrogen suffocation and electrocution as execution methods, increased his own power over the state capital defense system, and limited post-conviction appeals, while AG Murrill moved to take over capital appeal challenges from local district attorneys. In March 2025, the state conducted its first…

On January 30, a federal judge ruled that Luigi Mangione cannot face the death penalty in his upcoming trial for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. She dismissed two counts from his federal indictment, one of which carried the death penalty as a potential sentence. Described by The New York Times as “a significant blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to revive the use of the death penalty in federal cases,” this decision invalidates a capital prosecution that data and…

September 30, 1953 was an eventful night for 19-year-old Tommy Lee Walker. After catching a ride home from work at 6 p.m. — he didn’t have a car — he spent a few hours with friends in Exall Park near his home in Dallas. He then visited his girlfriend Mary Louise Smith, who was nine months pregnant. It seemed like the baby would come any minute, and sure enough, Mary Louise went into labor that night. Their son Ted was born in the early hours of October 1. Yet despite the many witnesses who saw Mr.

New drugs and medical treatments undergo rigorous testing to ensure they are safe and effective for public use. Under federal and state regulations, this testing typically involves clinical trials with human subjects, who face significant health and safety risks as the first people exposed to experimental treatments. That is why the law requires them to be fully informed of the potential effects and give their voluntary consent to participate in trials. Yet these regulations have not been…

Tremane Wood was scheduled to die at 10 a.m. local time on November 13. According to journalist Hilary Andersson, who traveled to Oklahoma to observe the execution, the call from the governor came at 9:59 a.m. Mr. Wood learned that his life would be spared at the literal “last minute.” While Mr. Wood, his attorneys, and his family experienced overwhelming relief in the aftermath of the clemency grant, according to Ms. Andersson, some also expressed shock at the timing of the decision. Mr.

Update: Mr. Shockley was executed by lethal injection on October 14. He was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. Yesterday, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe denied clemency to Lance Shockley, who is scheduled for execution today at 6 p.m. However, a recent survey found that Missouri voters, by a bipartisan two-thirds majority, would prefer to see Mr. Shockley’s death sentence commuted. Dr. Nicholas Scurich of the University of California, Irvine, found that 65% of the 440 registered Missouri voters…