News & Developments


Prosecutorial Accountability

Mar 28, 2024

OP-ED: Black Woman Denied Opportunity to Serve as a Juror in Georgia Capital Trial Cites Concerns About Racial Bias

In a March 26, 2024, op-ed pub­lished in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Patricia McTier, a Georgia nurse, recounts her expe­ri­ence being removed from a jury pool in 1998 for what she calls a ques­tion­able rea­son” relat­ed to her race. Born and raised in Appling County, Georgia, Ms. McTier grew up in the Jim Crow era and writes that she enter[ed] adult­hood dur­ing a time of great social change,” where she grew to cher­ish our American sys­tem of jus­tice and the Constitution that endows all of us with equal rights.” In September…

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Federal Death Penalty

Mar 27, 2024

Federal Appellate Court Ruling Requires Investigation into Jury Bias in Boston Marathon Case

On March 21, 2024, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the judge who presided over Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s (pic­tured) tri­al to inves­ti­gate his defense attor­neys’ claims of juror bias and deter­mine whether Mr. Tsarnaev’s death sen­tence should be over­turned because of this bias. In a 2 – 1 deci­sion, the 1st Circuit declined defense attor­ney requests to over­turn Mr. Tsarnaev’s death sen­tence for his par­tic­i­pa­tion in the April 2013 Boston Marathon bomb­ing but found that the tri­al judge fell short of what was con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly required” in his inves­ti­ga­tion of poten­tial jury…

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New Voices

Mar 26, 2024

Citing a Lack of Evidence, Editors of the Scientific American Call for Abolition of the Death Penalty in New Op-Ed

It is long past time to abol­ish the death penal­ty in the U.S.,” write the edi­tors for the Scientific American. In a March 19, 2024 op-ed titled Evidence Does Not Support the Use of the Death Penalty,” the authors cite an abun­dance of stud­ies demon­strat­ing that the death penal­ty is not a deter­rent to crime, but is a flawed, racial­ly biased, and cost­ly prac­tice respon­si­ble for sen­tenc­ing inno­cent lives to death. 

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Innocence

Mar 25, 2024

National Registry of Exonerations’ Annual Report Finds Majority of Exonerees are People of Color and Official Misconduct is the Main Cause of Wrongful Convictions

This week, The National Registry of Exonerations pub­lished its annu­al report on exon­er­a­tions that took place in 2023. According to the report, The Registry record­ed 153 exon­er­a­tions last year, and near­ly 84% (127/​153) were peo­ple of col­or. Nearly 61 per­cent of the exonerees (93/​153) were Black,” while the most fre­quent fac­tor in their wrong­ful con­vic­tion was offi­cial mis­con­duct. Seventy-five homi­cide cas­es — 85% of homi­cide exon­er­a­tions in 2023 — were marred by offi­cial mis­con­duct.” Three out of four death row exonerees were peo­ple of col­or, and in all instances, offi­cial mis­con­duct was the main factor.

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New Voices

Mar 21, 2024

Discussions with DPIC Podcast: Retired Judge Elsa Alcala on the Death Penalty in Texas

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Judge Elsa Alcala, who served on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals from 2011 to 2018. In addi­tion to serv­ing as a judge at the appeals and tri­al lev­el, she worked as a pros­e­cu­tor, crim­i­nal defense attor­ney, and most recent­ly as a jus­tice-reform lob­by­ist dur­ing her three-decade career in crim­i­nal law. She shares how these expe­ri­ences have informed her per­spec­tive on the death penal­ty and iden­ti­fies rec­om­men­da­tions for crim­i­nal legal reforms. 

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Intellectual Disability

Mar 20, 2024

Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole Denies Clemency for Willie Pye, Scheduled for March 20 Execution, Amid Pending Secrecy and Equal Protection Lawsuits

On March 19, 2024, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole denied clemen­cy for Willie Pye (pic­tured), who is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on March 20, despite argu­ments that he has an intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty and is there­fore inel­i­gi­ble for exe­cu­tion, per Georgia state law and U.S. Supreme Court prece­dent. Convicted in 1996 for the 1993 mur­der of his ex-girl­friend, Alicia Yarbrough, Mr. Pye has spent the last 28 years on Georgia’s death row. Mr. Pye’s case has also gen­er­at­ed pub­lic con­cern due to the noto­ri­ous racism of his tri­al attorney,…

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State by State

Mar 19, 2024

The 15th Anniversary of Death Penalty Repeal in New Mexico: Conversation with Cathy Ansheles and Viki Harrison

This week marks the 15th anniver­sary of the repeal of the death penal­ty in New Mexico. On March 18th, 2009, Governor Bill Richardson signed the repeal act (HB2085), end­ing the death penal­ty in the state. The bill came into force on July 1st, 2009. New Mexico fol­lowed New Jersey to become the sec­ond state in the 21st Century to end cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment through leg­isla­tive means.

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Secrecy

Mar 18, 2024

Utah Prisoners’ Request for Information Thwarted by New Legislation Increasing Secrecy in Execution Procedures

On February 16, 2024, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed Senate Bill 109, Corrections Modifications, into law, amend[ing] pro­vi­sions relat­ed to the [Utah] Department of Corrections.” S.B. 109, described as an uncon­tro­ver­sial” leg­isla­tive mea­sure, was belat­ed­ly amend­ed to include a pro­vi­sion pre­vent­ing the pub­lic dis­clo­sure of iden­ti­fy­ing infor­ma­tion” about indi­vid­u­als involved in car­ry­ing out exe­cu­tions, the pro­cure­ment of drugs and sup­plies need­ed for exe­cu­tions, and any iden­ti­fy­ing infor­ma­tion about those involved in the man­u­fac­tur­ing or pro­duc­ing of the drugs and sup­plies. The new secre­cy pro­vi­sion will now make it almost impossible…

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