Publications & Testimony

NEWS (3/​25/​20): Pennsylvania — Citing lack of juris­dic­tion, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas has vacat­ed an emer­gency order it issued on Saturday that had direct­ed the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PaDOC) to trans­port Walter Ogrod from death row to an inde­pen­dent hos­pi­tal to obtain imme­di­ate test­ing and treat­ment for symp­toms of the COVID-19 coro­n­avirus.

On March 23, 2020, Colorado became the 22^nd U.S. state to abol­ish the death penal­ty, as Governor Jared Polis (pic­tured) signed leg­is­la­tion repeal­ing the state’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment statute and com­mut­ed the sen­tences of the state’s three death-row pris­on­ers to life with­out pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. The state was the tenth to leg­isla­tive­ly or judi­cial­ly abol­ish cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in the past fifteen…

A Birmingham judge has denied a new tri­al to Alabama death-row pris­on­er Toforest Johnson (pic­tured, cen­ter), say­ing he had not proven his claim that his con­vic­tion and death sen­tence for the killing of a sheriff’s deputy in 1995 were the prod­uct of prosecutorial…

NEWS (3/​23/​20): U.S. Supreme Court — The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against a Kansas death-row pris­on­er who had argued his con­vic­tion vio­lat­ed due process because he had not been per­mit­ted to present an insan­i­ty defense. In a 6 – 3 deci­sion authored by Justice Elena Kagan, the Court upheld the con­vic­tion of James Kahler for mur­der­ing his estranged wife, two teenage daugh­ters, and a fourth fam­i­ly mem­ber in 2009, while in a state of severe depres­sion from the…

NEWS (3/​21/​20): Pennsylvania — In a rare Saturday rul­ing, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas has grant­ed an emer­gency motion filed on behalf of Pennsylvania death-row pris­on­er Walter Ogrod seek­ing his removal from state prison to obtain imme­di­ate test­ing and treat­ment for symp­toms of the COVID-19…

Exhibiting symp­toms of the coro­n­avirus, a Philadelphia death-row pris­on­er who pros­e­cu­tors now acknowl­edge is ​“like­ly inno­cent” and whose poten­tial release has been delayed by the Philadelphia courts has filed an emer­gency motion to obtain test­ing and inde­pen­dent med­ical treat­ment for…

NEWS (3/​20/​20): Georgia — Crusading civ­il rights and death-penal­ty defense lawyer Millard Farmer (pic­tured, left, in 1980), age 85, has died. Farmer, a relent­less fight­er against racism and dis­crim­i­na­tion, devel­oped a con­tro­ver­sial style of lit­i­ga­tion he called ​“con­flic­tion­eer­ing,” in which he took direct aim at judges, pros­e­cu­tors, and law enforce­ment offi­cials whose big­otry he believed was pro­mot­ing or pro­tect­ing unjust appli­ca­tion of the criminal…

The Ohio Supreme Court has grant­ed a new tri­al to a Cincinnati death-row pris­on­er whose lawyer’s inac­tion per­mit­ted a racial­ly biased juror to serve in his case. In a 5 – 2 opin­ion issued February 27, 2020, the court ruled that defense coun­sel for Glen Bates (pic­tured) had been inef­fec­tive for fail­ing to ques­tion a juror about her racial bias, chal­lenge her for cause, or exer­cise one of his remain­ing dis­cre­tionary strikes to pre­vent her from serv­ing in the case, in vio­la­tion of…

NEWS (3/​19/​20): Texas — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has for a sec­ond time delayed an impend­ing exe­cu­tion because of the coro­n­avirus health cri­sis. On March 19, the court issued a 60-day stay of exe­cu­tion to Tracy Beatty, whom the state had sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on March…

NEWS (3/​21/​20): Arkansas — Arkansas cap­i­tal defen­dant Mauricio Torres will get a third tri­al in the child-abuse mur­der of his six-year-old son after a Benton County tri­al judge declared a mis­tri­al dur­ing the penal­ty-phase of his sec­ond tri­al and vacat­ed the jury’s…