Publications & Testimony

Thirty-three years after a tri­al a fed­er­al appeals court described as​“a mix­ture of dis­turb­ing pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct and woe­ful­ly inad­e­quate assis­tance of coun­sel,” a Las Vegas tri­al court freed Paul Browning (pic­tured) from Nevada​’s death row. On August 21, 2019, Clark County District Judge Douglas Herndon ­— who in March had dis­missed mur­der and relat­ed charges against Browning ­— ordered state…

Thirty-two years after he was sen­tenced to death in a tri­al taint­ed by pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct, Tennessee death-row pris­on­er Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman (pic­tured) has been resen­tenced to life in prison. On August 30, 2019, Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins approved a plea deal reached between Abdur’Rahman and Nashville pros­e­cu­tors, vacat­ed Abdur’Rahman’s death sen­tence, and in its place imposed three…

Texas exe­cut­ed death-row pris­on­er Billy Jack Crutsinger on September 4, 2019, despite, his cur­rent lawyers say, hav­ing pro­vid­ed him with an incom­pe­tent appeals lawyer who repeat­ed­ly filed friv­o­lous claims and cut and past­ed con­tra­dic­to­ry claims and argu­ments from pri­or clients’ court plead­ings. Crutsinger had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his exe­cu­tion to review whether the tri­al court’s appoint­ment of a lawyer​“who was not…

The North Carolina Supreme Court (mem­bers pic­tured) heard argu­ments on August 26 and 27, 2019 on whether the state may retroac­tive­ly apply the leg­isla­tive repeal of its Racial Justice Act to death-row pris­on­ers who had over­turned their death sen­tences or filed claims under the act before…

NEWS — September 5: The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the con­vic­tion and death sen­tence imposed on Shawn Rogers for a 2012 prison mur­der. Rogers was per­mit­ted to waive his right to coun­sel and rep­re­sent him­self at tri­al. After the jury unan­i­mous­ly rec­om­mend­ed a death sen­tence, coun­sel was appoint­ed to rep­re­sent Rogers — over his objec­tion — in a sub­se­quent hear­ing in which the court sen­tenced him to death. The appeals court affirmed the judge’s…

In a year in which few states have car­ried out any exe­cu­tions, the aggres­sive exe­cu­tion prac­tices of a sin­gle state — Texas — stand in sharp con­trast. The Lone Star State has sched­uled thir­teen exe­cu­tions for the last five months of 2019, more than the rest of the coun­try com­bined. And a DPIC review of the cir­cum­stances in which the war­rants were issued rais­es trou­bling ques­tions as to whether the state is exe­cut­ing the most moral­ly cul­pa­ble indi­vid­u­als for the…

Thirty-sev­en years after his wrong­ful cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tion and con­vic­tion for a mur­der he did not com­mit, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has set Samuel Bonner free. Citing​“gross pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct” that he said​“shocks the con­science,” Judge Daniel J. Lowenthal(pic­tured) on July 11, 2019 ordered Bonner released from California…

A more than $1.6 mil­lion price tag for pros­e­cut­ing a Colorado death-penal­­ty case that the victim’s fam­i­ly opposed and that result­ed in a life sen­tence has caused some Coloradans to ques­tion whether cap­i­tal pros­e­cu­tions are worth the cost. On August 14, 2019, Miguel Contreras-Perez (pic­tured) was sen­tenced to life in prison after he plead­ed guilty to the mur­der of a cor­rec­tion­al offi­cer and the attempt­ed mur­der of another officer.

In the lat­est episode of Discussions with DPIC, writer/​director Chinonye Chukwu (pic­tured) speaks with DPIC Senior Director of Research and Special Projects Ngozi Ndulue about her award-win­n­ing new film Clemency. Chukwu dis­cuss­es her inspi­ra­tion for the sto­ry, the years-long process of research and immer­sion that helped her shape the nar­ra­tive, and her hopes for how this film…

NEWS — August 30: A Tennessee tri­al judge has approved a plea deal to vacate the death sen­tence of Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman as a result of pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct. Abdur’Rahman, who was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed next year, argued that pros­e­cu­tor John Zimmerman exclud­ed poten­tial jurors based on race dur­ing Abdur’Rahman’s 1987 cap­i­tal tri­al. The cur­rent dis­trict attor­ney’s office agreed with Abdur’Rahman that his tri­al was infected by…