Publications & Testimony

Items: 141 — 150

Aug 02, 2024

U.S. Military Reaches Plea Agreement to Avoid the Death Penalty with Three Men Accused of Plotting September 11 Attacks

UPDATE: On August 2nd, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin revoked the July 31, 2024 plea agree­ment reached between mil­i­tary com­mis­sions pros­e­cu­tors and defense coun­sel for three of the 9/​11 defen­dants being held at Guantanamo. In a two-para­­graph memo, Secretary Austin revoked the author­i­ty of Susan Escallier, the head of the Military Commissions Convening Authority, to enter into the plea agree­ments and reserved that author­i­ty for him­self. This unexpected…

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Aug 01, 2024

Missouri Supreme Court Blocks Attorney General’s Efforts to Prevent Innocence Hearing for Marcellus Williams

On July 26, 2024, the Missouri Supreme Court denied Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s request to block an evi­den­tiary hear­ing sched­uled for August 21st, 2024, where the St. Louis County Circuit Court is set to hear evi­dence of Marcellus Williams’ (pic­tured) inno­cence. The cir­cuit court set the August 21st hear­ing in response to a motion to vacate Mr. Williams’ con­vic­tion and death sen­tence filed by Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell in January 2024. In his motion, DA Bell wrote that…

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Jul 29, 2024

Articles of Interest: Salt Lake Tribune Calls for Clemency for Taberon Honie, Urges Abolition of Death Penalty

With Utah prepar­ing for its first exe­cu­tion in 14 years, one of the state’s lead­ing news­pa­pers has issued a call not only to spare Taberon Honie, the pris­on­er set for exe­cu­tion on August 8, 2024, but to end the prac­tice of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment alto­geth­er. In a July 25 edi­to­r­i­al, the Salt Lake Tribune high­lights Mr. Honie’s abu­sive upbring­ing and his sin­cere remorse for the crime, say­ing his case for clemen­cy​“is strong.” The day after the editorial was…

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Jul 26, 2024

Analysis: Why Executive Officials Grant Clemency

In a new analy­sis, the Death Penalty Information Center has found that exec­u­tive offi­cials most often cite dis­pro­por­tion­ate sen­tenc­ing, pos­si­ble inno­cence, and mit­i­ga­tion fac­tors such as intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty or men­tal ill­ness as rea­sons to grant clemen­cy in cap­i­tal cas­es. Ineffective defense lawyer­ing and offi­cial mis­con­duct are also com­mon fac­tors in clemen­cy grants. While present in few­er cas­es, sup­port for clemen­cy from the victim’s family or…

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Jul 22, 2024

Missouri Attorney General Opposes Opportunity for Marcellus Williams to Establish His Innocence Before Execution Date

On July 18, 2024, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey asked the state Supreme Court to block a sched­uled evi­den­tiary hear­ing for Marcellus Williams and deny him the oppor­tu­ni­ty to estab­lish his inno­cence before his sched­uled exe­cu­tion on September 24, 2024. The Circuit Court of St. Louis County sched­uled the August 21st hear­ing to assess the​“clear and con­vinc­ing” evi­dence of Mr. Williams’ actu­al inno­cence that prompt­ed St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell to…

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