Georgia is plan­ning to excute William Earl Lynd at 7 PM on May 6. If the lethal injec­tion goes for­ward, this would be first exe­cu­tion in the U.S. since September 25, 2007. On that day, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a chal­lenge to the lethal injec­tion process in Baze v. Rees. On April 16, 2008, the Court upheld the process of lethal injec­tion as prac­ticed in Kentucky, sig­nalling a prob­a­ble end to the 7‑month mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions. However, the pos­si­ble resump­tion of exe­cu­tions comes at a time when seri­ous con­cerns about the accu­ra­cy and fair­ness of the death penal­ty have also become more promi­nent. UPDATE: William Lynd was exe­cut­ed in Georgia on May 6, the first exe­cu­tion of 2008.

In Lynd’s case, the jury’s vote for a death sen­tence rest­ed in part on an autop­sy report pre­pared by a non-doc­tor. Georgia’s law has sub­se­quent­ly been changed, requir­ing that such reports be made by med­ical doc­tors. A sub­se­quent review by a licensed med­ical doc­tor of the auto­posy report used in the tri­al con­clud­ed that the orig­i­nal report had ​“no basis in med­ical sci­ence.” Lynd’s attor­neys have also pre­sent­ed evi­dence to the courts that Georgia’s lethal injec­tion process is sub­stan­tial­ly dif­fer­ent from that used in Kentucky.

Around the coun­try, the 129th per­son was recent­ly freed from death row in North Carolina. Levon Jones was exon­er­at­ed after his con­vic­tion was over­turned because of inad­e­quate rep­re­sen­ta­tion. The state’s star wit­ness has also recant­ed her tes­ti­mo­ny impli­cat­ing Jones. The District Attorney dis­missed all charges against him on May 3. Jones is the sixth per­son to be freed from death row in the past 12 months, the eighth per­son from North Carolina, and the 3rd from North Carolina since December 2007. The last four inmates who have been freed from death row in the U.S. are black.

In Dallas County, Texas, there have been 18 exon­er­a­tions through DNA test­ing in recent years. Although these were not death penal­ty cas­es, some of the defen­dants could have been sen­tenced to death. Texas leads the coun­try by far in the num­ber of exe­cu­tions.

New Jersey and New York recent­ly aban­doned the death penal­ty. Maryland, North Carolina, California, and Tennessee have ini­ti­at­ed leg­isla­tive death penal­ty stud­ies. A mora­to­ri­um on all exe­cu­tions con­tin­ues in Illinois, which is also look­ing into death penal­ty reforms.

In Baze v. Rees, Justice John Paul Stevens announced his con­clu­sion that the death penal­ty no longer meets constitutional standards:

I have relied on my own expe­ri­ence in reach­ing the con­clu­sion that the impo­si­tion of the death penal­ty rep­re­sents ​“the point­less and need­less extinc­tion of life with only mar­gin­al con­tri­bu­tions to any dis­cernible social or pub­lic pur­pos­es. A penal­ty with such neg­li­gi­ble returns to the State [is] patent­ly exces­sive and cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment viola­tive of the Eighth Amendment.” (quot­ing Justice White, Furman v. Georgia (1972)).

(Stevens, J., con­cur­ring).
Posted May 6, 2008; see DPIC’s pri­or news. See Press Release, Attorneys for William Earl Lynd, May 1, 2008. See Innocence and Lethal Injection.

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