Publications & Testimony

Lawyers for Wesley Purkey (pic­tured), the sec­ond of three fed­er­al death-row pris­on­ers sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed dur­ing the week of July 13, are seek­ing to halt his exe­cu­tion, argu­ing that men­tal ill­ness and demen­tia have left him men­tal­ly incom­pe­tent. As Purkey chal­lenges the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of his exe­cu­tion, his spir­i­tu­al advi­sor, Rev. Dale Hartkemeyer, is seek­ing to move back the exe­cu­tion until the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic sub­sides. Hartkemeyer’s lawsuit asserts…

The U.S. fed­er­al gov­ern­ment end­ed its 17-year hia­tus between exe­cu­tions on July 14, 2020, putting Daniel Lewis Lee (pic­tured) to death moments after overnight rul­ings by the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacat­ed pri­or court orders that had placed the exe­cu­tion on hold. Two more exe­cu­tions are sched­uled this week, with a fourth set for…

As the U.S. Department of Justice seeks to resume fed­er­al exe­cu­tions after a 17-year hia­tus, the government’s rushed time­frame, the ongo­ing COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, and unre­solved issues involv­ing the lethal-injec­tion pro­to­col, and the vic­tims’ family’s rights have com­bined with alleged con­sti­tu­tion­al vio­la­tions in the cas­es of the three pris­on­ers slat­ed for exe­cu­tion this week to pro­duce a chaot­ic whirl­wind of last-minute…

As the sched­uled July 13, 2020 date for the first fed­er­al exe­cu­tions in 17 years approach­es, faith lead­ers, diplo­mats, and legal experts have asked the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment to call them off. 1,000 faith lead­ers from across the coun­try have urged President Trump and Attorney General Barr to halt the exe­cu­tions. They are joined by the European Union, which on July 10 also issued a state­ment strong­ly oppos­ing the resump­tion of fed­er­al exe­cu­tions. Complementing their efforts, two…

The United States Supreme Court has vacat­ed the con­vic­tion of a Native American death-row pris­on­er in Oklahoma, giv­ing dra­mat­ic effect to a sweep­ing new deci­sion that affirmed the sov­er­eign­ty of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation over trib­al lands that span the east­ern half of the…

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to step in to resolve fes­ter­ing dis­putes about the scope of the pro­tec­tions its pri­or rul­ings afford to intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled death-row pris­on­ers. On July 2, 2020, the Court denied peti­tions to review three such cas­es, allow­ing death sen­tences in Alabama and Tennessee to stand despite the appli­ca­tion of uncon­sti­tu­tion­al­ly restric­tive stan­dards in assess­ing a prisoner’s intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty, while…

Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. (pic­tured), the ​“Golden State Killer,” whom pros­e­cu­tors had one year ear­li­er held out as a ​“poster child for the death penal­ty,” has plead­ed guilty to 13 counts each of mur­der and rape in exchange for multiple life…

Former Pennsylvania death-row pris­on­er Kareem Johnson has been exon­er­at­ed, thir­teen years after being wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death by a Philadelphia jury. On July 1, 2020, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas com­plet­ed his exon­er­a­tion, for­mal­ly enter­ing an order dis­miss­ing all charges against him in his cap­i­tal case. On May 19, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had barred his repros­e­cu­tion because of prosecutorial misconduct…