Publications & Testimony

Testimony and Statements on the Death Penalty

FROM DPIC

For tes­ti­mo­ny by for­mer Executive Director Robert Dunham and for­mer Executive Director Richard C. Dieter, please vis­it our page DPIC Testimony.
 

FROM RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND ORGANIZATIONS

FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY 

FROM ADVOCACY GROUPS

FROM JUDGES, LEGISLATORS, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

FROM MURDER VICTIMSFAMILY MEMBERS

Items: 1311 — 1320


Apr 30, 2020

Federal Appeals Court Denies New Orleans Prosecutors Immunity for Allegedly Threatening Witnesses with Fake Subpoenas

A fed­er­al appeals court in New Orleans has ruled that Orleans Parish, Louisiana pros­e­cu­tors who ille­gal­ly issued fake sub­poe­nas to intim­i­date reluc­tant wit­ness­es into coop­er­at­ing in mur­der and oth­er crim­i­nal cas­es are not immune from being sued for their mis­con­duct. The deci­sion in Singleton v. Cannizzaro, issued April 21, 2020 by a unan­i­mous three-judge pan­el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, upheld a fed­er­al dis­trict court’s ruling…

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Apr 25, 2020

News Brief — Coronavirus Effects Continue to be Felt in Capital Prosecutions

NEWS (4/​24/​20) — California: The death penal­ty tri­al of Kori Muhammad for the killings of four peo­ple in two sep­a­rate inci­dents end­ed with­out advanc­ing to a penal­ty phase just two days after a Fresno County jury con­vict­ed him of one count of first-degree mur­der and three counts of sec­ond-degree mur­der. The tri­al had been inter­rupt­ed by coro­n­avirus court clo­sures, with guilt-phase jury delib­er­a­tions halt­ed for four weeks in March, then completed…

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Apr 21, 2020

Case of 79-Year-Old Ohio Death-Row Prisoner With Dementia Highlights Legal Issues Exacerbated by the Aging of Death Row

Seventy-nine-year-old James Frazier (pic­tured) is Ohio​’s old­est death-row pris­on­er. He has demen­tia, he can­not walk, and he requires the assis­tance of aides to com­plete dai­ly tasks. Because of his spe­cial med­ical needs, he is incar­cer­at­ed at the Franklin Medical Center, rather than on Ohio’s death row at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution. Ohio is sched­uled to exe­cute him on October…

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Apr 20, 2020

Jerry Givens, Former Executioner Who Became Outspoken Critic of Death Penalty, Dies at 67

Jerry Givens (pic­tured), who per­formed 62 exe­cu­tions dur­ing his time as a Virginia cor­rec­tions offi­cer, but lat­er became an activist against the death penal­ty, died April 13, 2020 of COVID-19. He was 67 years old. During his 17 years (1982 – 1999) as a mem­ber of Virginia’s exe­cu­tion team, the com­mon­wealth per­formed more exe­cu­tions than any other…

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