Capital Case Round Up

In a one-page order on September 24, 2021, a pan­el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit denied fed­er­al death-row pris­on­er Dylann Roof​’s motion seek­ing to rear­gue his appeal in front of the full cir­cuit. On August 25, 2021, a spe­cial pan­el of judges from out­side the cir­cuit affirmed Roof’s con­vic­tions and death sen­tences for the racial­ly moti­vat­ed mur­ders of nine parish­ioners in an his­toric Charleston, South Carolina African-American church in…

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Calling his evi­dence of inno­cence either imma­te­r­i­al or inad­mis­si­ble, the Florida Supreme Court on September 23, 2021 denied death-row pris­on­er James Dailey’s post-con­vic­tion chal­lenge to his con­vic­tion for the 1985 mur­der of a teenage…

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The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama grant­ed a new penal­ty hear­ing to death-row pris­on­er Marcus Williams on September 23, 2021, find­ing his coun­sel inef­fec­tive for fail­ing to inves­ti­gate and present ​“a con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly ade­quate mit­i­ga­tion case dur­ing the penal­ty phase of his…

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has, with one excep­tion, affirmed a tri­al court rul­ing deny­ing death-row pris­on­er Albert Reid​’s post-con­vic­tion chal­lenge to his con­vic­tion and death sen­tence. In a 5 – 2 deci­sion issued on September 22, 2021, the court upheld the deci­sion of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas that dis­missed Reid’s post-con­vic­tion peti­tion. The court remand­ed the case on the ques­tion of Reid’s com­pe­ten­cy to stand tri­al and assist in his…

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At the request of Cameron County pros­e­cu­tors, a Texas tri­al court has vacat­ed the death war­rant that had sched­uled the exe­cu­tion of Ruben Gutierrez (pic­tured) for October 27,…

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