Publications & Testimony

Brian Wharton, who was the lead detec­tive in Palestine, Texas at the time of Robert Roberson’s con­vic­tion for the death of his two-year-old daugh­ter Nikki, now believes Mr. Roberson is inno­cent and sup­ports abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty. Mr. Wharton said in a video for The New York Times that there is ​“unas­sail­able doubt” that Mr. Roberson is…

With Utah prepar­ing for its first exe­cu­tion in 14 years, one of the state’s lead­ing news­pa­pers has issued a call not only to spare Taberon Honie, the pris­on­er set for exe­cu­tion on August 8, 2024, but to end the prac­tice of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment alto­geth­er. In a July 25 edi­to­r­i­al, the Salt Lake Tribune high­lights Mr. Honie’s abu­sive upbring­ing and his sin­cere remorse for the crime, say­ing his case for clemen­cy ​“is strong.” The day after the edi­to­r­i­al was pub­lished, the Utah Board of Pardons and…

In a new analy­sis, the Death Penalty Information Center has found that exec­u­tive offi­cials most often cite dis­pro­por­tion­ate sen­tenc­ing, pos­si­ble inno­cence, and mit­i­ga­tion fac­tors such as intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty or men­tal ill­ness as rea­sons to grant clemen­cy in cap­i­tal cas­es. Ineffective defense lawyer­ing and offi­cial mis­con­duct are also com­mon fac­tors in clemen­cy grants. While present in few­er cas­es, sup­port for clemen­cy from the victim’s fam­i­ly or a deci­sion­mak­er in the orig­i­nal tri­al, such…

As Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price seeks to rem­e­dy her office’s his­to­ry of dis­crim­i­na­to­ry jury selec­tion, an study pub­lished in the 2024 Journal of Empirical Legal Studies by Catherine M. Grosso, Jeffrey Fagan, and Michael Laurence finds empir­i­cal evi­dence that the race of the defen­dant and the race of the vic­tim affect the like­li­hood of a death sen­tence being imposed in…

This July, in hon­or of Disability Pride Month, the Death Penalty Information Center is post­ing a week­ly fea­ture high­light­ing issues relat­ed to the death penal­ty and dis­abil­i­ty and pro­files of indi­vid­u­als who have played key roles in chang­ing the laws to pro­tect prisoners with…

On July 18, 2024, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey asked the state Supreme Court to block a sched­uled evi­den­tiary hear­ing for Marcellus Williams and deny him the oppor­tu­ni­ty to estab­lish his inno­cence before his sched­uled exe­cu­tion on September 24, 2024. The Circuit Court of St. Louis County sched­uled the August 21^st hear­ing to assess the ​“clear and con­vinc­ing” evi­dence of Mr. Williams’ actu­al inno­cence that prompt­ed St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell to file a motion to vacate…

Attorneys for Warren King (pic­tured), who was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in Georgia in 1998 for the mur­der of a con­ve­nience store clerk, have uncov­ered evi­dence that shows the pros­e­cu­tor, John B. Johnson, with­held crit­i­cal evi­dence from Mr. King’s defense team at the time of tri­al. A new court fil­ing indi­cates that ADA Johnson failed to dis­close a plea deal reached with Mr. King’s co-defen­dant, Walter Smith, the only eye­wit­ness to the crime. Both Mr. King and Mr. Smith were charged with…

Biography: Unwritten by Toby Lee Greenberg high­lights the ruined lives of those exon­er­at­ed from U.S. death rows through an art instal­la­tion of books. According to a press release from the artist, the instal­la­tion of emp­ty books at The Gallery at Penn College reflects the ​“frag­ile lives wast­ed and lost with­in a sys­tem” and prompts view­ers to ​“con­sid­er the sim­ple moments so often taken for…

The state of Texas was sched­uled to exe­cute Ruben Gutierrez (pic­tured) on July 16, 2024; how­ev­er, the United States Supreme Court issued a rare, last-minute stay of exe­cu­tion just 20 min­utes before he was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed by lethal injec­tion. This is the first stay of exe­cu­tion grant­ed by the Supreme Court since it issued a stay for Richard Glossip in 2023. In a peti­tion filed with the Supreme Court, attor­neys for Mr. Gutierrez asked the Court to inter­vene because Texas has denied…

On Thursday, July 18, 2024, the state of Alabama is sched­uled to exe­cute Keith Gavin (pic­tured left) by lethal injec­tion, despite court find­ings that his tri­al coun­sel was inef­fec­tive. Mr. Gavin was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death in 1999 for the shoot­ing death of a deliv­ery dri­ver. A non-unan­i­mous jury vot­ed 10 – 2 in favor of the death penal­ty for Mr. Gavin, and the tri­al court accept­ed the jury’s sen­tenc­ing out­come. During the penal­ty phase of tri­al, Mr. Gavin’s defense team did not present…