DPI Podcasts

DPI’s cur­rent month­ly pod­cast series is called ​“Discussions With DPIC.” We speak with death penal­ty experts about time­ly death penal­ty devel­op­ments in the news.

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Discussions With DPI

Earwitness Podcast Creator Beth Shelburne on Toforest Johnson’s Case

Published: Nov 25, 2024

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPI, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Beth Shelburne, a jour­nal­ist who has report­ed on the crim­i­nal legal sys­tem for over 25 years and cre­ator of the pod­cast Earwitness. Released in 2023 to crit­i­cal acclaim, Earwitness tells the sto­ry of Toforest Johnson, a death-sen­tenced man who is fac­ing exe­cu­tion in Alabama despite strong evi­dence of his inno­cence. On November 14, 2024, Mr. Johnson filed a peti­tion with the…

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Discussions With DPI

Professor Stephen Vladeck, Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts, University of Texas School of Law, participating in a session on the United States Supreme Court entitled "For Life" at Open Congress 2023 at The Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas, United States.

Professor Stephen Vladeck

Photo cred­it: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

Professor Steve Vladeck on the Supreme Court’s Death Penalty Shift

Published: Oct 18, 2024

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Executive Director Robin Maher speaks with Steve Vladeck, a Georgetown law pro­fes­sor and expert on the Supreme Court. Professor Vladeck is the author of The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic, released in 2023, as well as the week­ly newslet­ter One First, which breaks down the Court’s rul­ings and his­to­ry. Professor Vladeck explains why the Court’s treat­ment of death penalty cases…

Discussions With DPI

Carine Williams of the Innocence Project Discusses Death Penalty, Innocence, and ​‘the Function of Freedom’

Published: Sep 30, 2024

Rereleased for September 2024: In the March 2021 edi­tion of Discussions with DPIC, Death Penalty Information Center Senior Director of Research and Special Projects Ngozi Ndulue is joined by Carine Williams — the Chief Program Strategy Officer at the Innocence Project — for a con­ver­sa­tion about inno­cence, the death penal­ty, and ​“the func­tion of free­dom.” Reflecting on the gross mis­car­riage of jus­tice exhib­it­ed in wrong­ful con­vic­tions and exon­er­a­tions, Williams stress­es two critical themes:…

Discussions With DPI

Legal Fellow Leah Roemer on the Politicization of the Death Penalty

Published: Aug 06, 2024

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Leah Roemer, DPIC’s Legal Fellow and a pri­ma­ry author of our recent report, Lethal Election: How the U.S. Electoral Process Increases the Arbitrariness of the Death Penalty. Leah grad­u­at­ed from Berkeley Law in 2023, where she par­tic­i­pat­ed in the Death Penalty Clinic and earned a cer­tifi­cate in Public Interest and Social Justice. Leah dis­cuss­es how some judges, pros­e­cu­tors, and…

Discussions With DPI

Attorney Jessica Sutton on the Unique Challenges of LGBTQ+ Capital Defendants

Published: Jun 27, 2024

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Jessica Sutton, prin­ci­pal attor­ney with Phillips Black, a non­prof­it pub­lic inter­est law firm focused cap­i­tal defense. Ms. Sutton has rep­re­sent­ed clients fac­ing the death penal­ty in more than a dozen juris­dic­tions across the U.S. and at all stages of pro­ceed­ings. In recog­ni­tion of Pride month, Ms. Sutton dis­cuss­es the unique chal­lenges LGBTQ+ peo­ple face in the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment system and…

Discussions With DPI

Discussions with DPIC: Lamont Hunter on His Wrongful Conviction and Release

Published: May 31, 2024

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Lamont Hunter, a for­mer Ohio death-sen­tenced pris­on­er who was wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed of caus­ing the death of his three-year-old son. After near­ly 18 years of incar­cer­a­tion, Mr. Hunter was released from Ohio’s death row on June 15, 2023, after plead­ing guilty to less­er charges in exchange for his free­dom. Since his release, Mr. Hunter has spo­ken wide­ly about his expe­ri­ence with the criminal…

Discussions With DPI

Professor Elisabeth Semel on the Implications of Batson v. Kentucky and California’s Capital Punishment System

Published: Apr 30, 2024

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Elisabeth Semel, Clinical Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Semel joined Berkeley Law in 2001 as the first direc­tor of the school’s death penal­ty clin­ic and remains the clinic’s co-direc­tor, where stu­dents have rep­re­sent­ed indi­vid­u­als fac­ing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and writ­ten ami­cus briefs in death penal­ty cas­es before the United States Supreme Court. In…

Discussions With DPI

Retired Judge Elsa Alcala on the Death Penalty in Texas

Published: Mar 21, 2024

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…

Discussions With DPI

Shedding Light on Underreported Stories of Incarceration and Death Row — conversation with Keri Blakinger

Published: Feb 15, 2024

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Keri Blakinger, a jour­nal­ist at the Los Angeles Times and for­mer reporter for the Marshall Project — a non­prof­it news orga­ni­za­tion focused on the U.S. crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. At the Marshall Project, Ms. Blakinger wrote sto­ries about the human beings in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem — a focus that is still a pri­or­i­ty in her report­ing with Los Angeles…

Discussions With DPI

Life After Death Row with Anthony Graves

Published: Jan 18, 2024

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with for­mer death-sen­tenced pris­on­er Anthony Graves. Exonerated from Texas’ death row in 2010, Mr. Graves has since become an advo­cate for crim­i­nal jus­tice reform, cre­at­ing the Anthony Graves Foundation, work­ing with the ACLU and Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and tes­ti­fy­ing before the U.S. Senate on prison con­di­tions. Mr. Graves has also authored an auto­bi­og­ra­phy titled Infinite…

Discussions With DPI

Classifying Capital Punishment as Torture with John Bessler

Published: Dec 08, 2023

In this mon­th’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with John Bessler (pic­tured), of Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Professor Bessler is the author of sev­er­al books on the death penal­ty, includ­ing his 2023 book The Death Penalty’s Denial of Fundamental Human Rights: International Law, State Practice, and the Emerging Abolitionist Norm. In his most recent book, Professor Bessler argues that the death penalty…