Nebraska Supreme Court Rules Electrocution Unconstitutional
The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled on February 8, 2008, that elec­tro­cu­tion is cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment under the state’s con­sti­tu­tion, out­law­ing the elec­tric chair in the only state that still used it as its sole means of execution.

In the land­mark rul­ing, the court said the state leg­is­la­ture may vote to have a death penal­ty, just not one that offends rights under the state con­sti­tu­tion. The evi­dence shows that elec­tro­cu­tion inflicts ​“intense pain and ago­niz­ing suf­fer­ing,” it said.

“Condemned pris­on­ers must not be tor­tured to death, regard­less of their crimes,” Judge William Connolly wrote in the 6 – 1 opin­ion. (N. Jenkins, ​“Court: Nebraska Electric Chair Not Legal” Associated Press, February 8, 2008).

Read the Nebraska Supreme Court Decision, see also Methods of Execution and Botched Executions.

Kennedy Brewer is 127th Death Row Inmate Exonerated
Kennedy Brewer, who spent 12 years on Mississippi’s death row for the 1992 mur­der and rape of his girlfriend’s 3‑year-old daugh­ter, has been exon­er­at­ed of the charges, and anoth­er man, Justin Johnson, has been arrest­ed for the same crime. A 2001 inves­ti­ga­tion by the Innocence Project found that the semen on the victim’s body did not match Brewer’s DNA, but did match Johnson’s. Johnson was a sus­pect ear­ly in the case, and his blood was col­lect­ed and pre­served in the Mississippi State Crime Laboratory for more than 10 years. (H. Mohr, ​“Man charged in child slay­ing for which anoth­er sen­tenced to death,” Associated Press, February 7, 2008). 

See also Innocence and 127: Kennedy Brewer.

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