News & Developments
Victims' Families
Aug 16, 2024
Articles of Interest: U.S. Senator, Former U.S. Solicitor General and Victim’s Family Member Express Support for 9/11 Plea Deals
Theodore B. Olson, former U.S. Solicitor General from 2001 to 2004, who lost his wife in the September 11thterror attacks, says he felt relief upon hearing the announcement that three of the defendants entered into an agreement to plead guilty in exchange for removal of the death penalty as a sentencing option. However, Mr. Olson writes that his relief was short-lived when within 48 hours of the announcement Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the plea agreement. Mr. Olson believes this…
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Aug 15, 2024
Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board Recommends Clemency for Prisoner Scheduled for September Execution
On August 7, 2024, Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board voted 3 – 2 to recommend clemency for 52-year-old Emmanuel Littlejohn, who is currently scheduled to be executed on September 26. The final decision to grant clemency, reducing Mr. Littlejohn’s death sentence to life without parole, rests with Governor Kevin Stitt, who has only granted clemency once during his…
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Aug 14, 2024
Florida’s Governor DeSantis Schedules First Execution of 2024 for Dozier Reform School Survivor After 10-Month Execution Hiatus
On July 29, 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the state’s first execution warrant of 2024, scheduling an execution date for Loran Cole (pictured) in just thirty days, on August 29, 2024. Mr. Cole’s execution warrant comes nearly ten months after Florida’s last execution, which was the last of the state’s six executions carried out in 2023. Mr. Cole was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of a Florida State University student in Marion County, Florida. Following the issuance of…
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Aug 13, 2024
New Analysis: Innocent Death-Sentenced Prisoners Wait Longer than Ever for Exoneration
On July 1, after waiting 41 years for his name to be cleared, Larry Roberts became the 200th person exonerated from death row. A new Death Penalty Information Center analysis finds that Mr. Roberts’ experience illustrates a troubling trend: for innocent death-sentenced prisoners, the length of time between wrongful conviction and exoneration is increasing. In the past twenty years, the average length of time before exoneration has roughly tripled, and 2024 has the highest-ever average wait…
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Aug 12, 2024
New York Times Video Op-eds Highlight Systemic Flaws in the Capital Punishment System, Including Mistakes from Junk Science and Lack of Closure for Victims’ Families
In the second and third videos of The New York Times’ three-part series, “The Fallibility of Justice,” Brett Malone, whose mother’s killer remains on Louisiana death row, and Texas death-sentenced prisoner Charles Don Flores provide their perspectives on capital punishment. The New York Times has consistently called for abolition of the death penalty, describing it as “full of bias and error, morally abhorrent, [and] futile in deterring crime.”…
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