Publications & Testimony

Nebraska, which had no plans for housing a female death-row prisoner, has narrowly avoided having to address that failure, as a divided three-judge panel on November 8, 2021 sentenced Bailey Boswell to life in prison without possibility of parole. Two members of the panel, Saline County District Judge Vicky Johnson and Lancaster County District Judge Darla Ideus, voted for death. However, Nebraska law requires a unanimous vote for the death penalty to be imposed, and Douglas County District…

Mississippi carried out its first execution in more than nine years on November 17, 2021, putting to death a man with mental health disorders who had waived his appeals. David Neal Cox became at least the 150^th person since executions resumed in the United States in 1977 to drop their appeals and “volunteer” for execution. Executions of volunteers account for 10% of all U.S. executions in that period. In February 2021, a Union County judge ruled that Cox — who pled guilty in 2012 to capital…

Two Japanese death-row prisoners have filed a lawsuit alleging that the country’s long-criticized practice of notifying prisoners of their execution the same day they are to be put to death is “inhumane” and violates the nation’s constitution. The suit, filed in Osaka District Court November 4, 2021, alleges that the day-of-execution notice, given just hours before the death-row prisoner is hanged, provides no time to contact their lawyers to file legal challenges to the execution and is…

In the November 2021 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Daniel Chen, counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, speaks with DPIC Executive Director Robert Dunham about the Supreme Court case Ramirez v. Collier and death-row prisoners’ rights to religious freedom. John Ramirez has challenged Texas’ restrictions on audible prayer and physical touch by his spiritual advisor during his execution. Allowing such pastoral comfort in the execution chamber, Chen says, is about “fundamental human…

South Carolina correctional staff who participated in executions suffered life-altering trauma that was worsened by an inflexible prison administration that provided little support to address the psychological injuries they sustained. Two senior staff members are now on disability, unable to work, and are suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression. A third member of the execution team ended his own life by suicide. These revelations are just part of an emotional report in the…

A Nashville judge has for a second time approved a plea deal that would remove Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman from Tennessee’s death row and resentence him to life without possibility of parole. On November 9, 2021, Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins entered an order overturning Abdur’Rahman’s 1987 conviction based on former Davidson County Assistant District Attorney General John Zimmerman’s unconstitutional use of discretionary strikes to remove African Americans from the jury. The…

The United States Supreme Court heard argument November 9, 2021 to review Texas death-row prisoner John Henry Ramirez’s claim that the state’s refusal to allow his pastor to “lay hands” on him or pray audibly during his execution violates the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and his First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. The Court appeared troubled by Ramirez’s religious freedom claims, but some conservative justices openly worried that…

Nevada prosecutors have asked a federal judge to expedite a decision on the constitutionality of the state’s execution process, saying accelerated review is necessary if the state is to execute Zane Floyd before its supply of a questionably obtained lethal-injection drug expires on February 28, 2022. On November 5, 2021, Chief Deputy Nevada Attorney General Randall Gilmer told U.S. District Court Judge Richard Boulware II that the state’s supply of the anesthetic ketamine, one of the drugs in…

New public opinion polls show that, consistent with national trends, support for the death penalty is declining in the conservative strongholds of Utah and Oklahoma. A Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll released on October 27, 2021 reported that 51% of Utah voters surveyed said they “oppose eliminating the death penalty” as a sentencing option. By contrast, in 2010, 79% of Utah voters said that they favored the death penalty. A public opinion poll by Cole Hargrave Snodgrass &…

The Florida Attorney General’s office has taken steps to block DNA testing agreed to by local prosecutors and approved by the trial court for two Florida death-row prisoners who have professed their innocence for more than four decades. Attorney General Ashley Moody has announced she will appeal an October 15, 2021 ruling by Florida Circuit Court Judge Wayne C. Wooten that her office lacked standing to contest Wooten’s prior order granting DNA testing to death-row prisoner Henry Sireci. Moody…