Publications & Testimony

In hon­or of Pride Month and com­mem­o­rat­ing the 55^th anniver­sary of the Stonewall upris­ing, the Death Penalty Information Center is pleased to present a new resource about how use of the death penal­ty affects LGBTQ+ peo­ple. We take a com­pre­hen­sive look at top­ics rang­ing from America’s his­to­ry of pun­ish­ing queer sex with exe­cu­tion, to dis­crim­i­na­to­ry com­ments made against queer defen­dants in cap­i­tal tri­als, to the chal­lenges of gender transition…

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Jessica Sutton, prin­ci­pal attor­ney with Phillips Black, a non­prof­it pub­lic inter­est law firm focused cap­i­tal defense. Ms. Sutton has rep­re­sent­ed clients fac­ing the death penal­ty in more than a dozen juris­dic­tions across the U.S. and at all stages of pro­ceed­ings. In recog­ni­tion of Pride month, Ms. Sutton dis­cuss­es the unique chal­lenges LGBTQ+ peo­ple face in the…

Modified pho­to of ​“Silhouette of man car­ry­ing child” by Ante Hamersmit on…

In 2006, Ramiro Gonzales (pic­tured as a child) con­fessed to the mur­der, kid­nap­ping, and rape of Bridget Townsend and was sen­tenced to death. Texas death sen­tenc­ing pro­ce­dures unique­ly require cap­i­tal juries to pre­dict whether a defen­dant is like­ly to com­mit future acts of vio­lence. At Mr. Gonzales’ tri­al, psy­chi­a­trist Dr. Edward Gripon tes­ti­fied for the state and told the jury that Mr. Gonzales​“has demon­strat­ed a ten­den­cy to want to con­trol, to manip­u­late, and…

On June 19, 2024, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals set aside 68-year-old Kerry Max Cook’s con­vic­tion, find­ing him to be​“actu­al­ly inno­cent.” Describing Mr. Cook’s case as​“one of the most notable mur­der cas­es of the last half-cen­­tu­ry,” the major­i­ty opin­ion explains that​“when it comes to sol­id sup­port for actu­al inno­cence, this case con­tains it all — uncon­tro­vert­ed Brady vio­la­tions, proof of false tes­ti­mo­ny, admis­sions of per­jury, and new scientific…

Robert Roberson with daugh­ter Nikki. Courtesy of the…

On June 19^th, or Juneteenth, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) will cel­e­brate the open­ing of the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, its lat­est muse­um in Montgomery, Alabama. The 17-acre site dis­plays con­tem­po­rary art­works, first-per­­son nar­ra­tives, and his­tor­i­cal arti­facts which tell the sto­ries about the more than 10 mil­lion Black peo­ple who were enslaved in the United States. Visitors to the park will embark on a unique nar­ra­tive jour­ney that explores the nation’s…

George…

In the past two weeks, the Supreme Court over­turned grants of relief for two death-sen­­tenced pris­on­ers. In both cas­es, low­er courts had found they received inef­fec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel at tri­al. The Court’s rul­ings are in line with its oth­er deci­sions in death penal­ty cas­es restrict­ing appeals for death-sen­­tenced pris­on­ers and extolling the impor­tance of​“final­i­ty” over merits-based…