Updated: Sep 25, 2024

Capital Case Round Up

The latest developments in capital cases around the U.S. This page includes brief updates about grants of relief, resentencings, and other important case developments.

CASE UPDATE: U.S. Supreme Court Stays Glossip Execution

May 05, 2023

(ORDER LIST: 598 U.S.) FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2023 ORDER IN PENDING CASE 22A941 GLOSSIP, RICHARD E. V. OKLAHOMA The appli­ca­tion for stay of exe­cu­tion of sen­tence of death pre­sent­ed to Justice Kavanaugh and by him referred to the Court is grant­ed pend­ing the dis­po­si­tion of the peti­tions for writs of cer­tio­rari, Nos. 22 – 6500 and 22 – 7466. Should both peti­tions for writs of cer­tio­rari be denied, this stay shall ter­mi­nate auto­mat­i­cal­ly. In the event either peti­tion for a writ of cer­tio­rari is grant­ed, the…

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Case Update: Oklahoma Board Denies Clemency for Richard Glossip

Apr 26, 2023

On April 26, the Oklahoma Board of Pardons and Paroles declined to rec­om­mend clemen­cy for death-row pris­on­er Richard Glossip (pic­tured), who is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on May 18, 2023. The board’s 2 – 2 vote con­sti­tut­ed a denial of clemen­cy since the gov­er­nor can­not grant clemen­cy with­out the board’s…

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Case Update: Oklahoma Court Upholds Richard Glossip’s Conviction

Apr 21, 2023

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruled against Richard Glossip (pic­tured) on April 20, 2023, despite a motion from the state’s Attorney General ask­ing the court to vacate Glossip’s con­vic­tion and remand the case to a low­er court. Glossip is sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on May 18 but has con­sis­tent­ly main­tained his inno­cence. In a state­ment react­ing to the rul­ing, Glossip’s attor­ney, Don Knight, said, Since the State now agrees that the only wit­ness to allege that Mr. Glossip was involved in…

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Federal Court Overturns Death Sentence of Alabama Death-Row Prisoner Whose Abandonment by Counsel Led to Supreme Court Ruling

Feb 14, 2022

A fed­er­al dis­trict court has over­turned the death sen­tence of an Alabama death-row pris­on­er whose aban­don­ment by his state post-con­vic­tion coun­sel led to a U.S. Supreme Court deci­sion on the right of access to fed­er­al habeas cor­pus review. On January 27, 2022, Judge Karon O. Bowdre of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama over­turned Cory Maples’ death sen­tence, hold­ing that his tri­al coun­sel had provided…

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Capital Case Roundup — Florida Supreme Court Grants New Trials in Two Death Penalty Cases

Jan 24, 2022

On January 13, 2022, the Florida Supreme Court grant­ed new tri­als to two Florida death-row pris­on­ers. The court over­turned Joe Simpsons 2007 con­vic­tion and death sen­tence because of pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct. It also over­turned Peter Avsenews 2018 con­vic­tion and death sen­tence because of the improp­er pre­sen­ta­tion of remotely-recorded…

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