Publications & Testimony
Items: 191 — 200
Feb 21, 2024
City of Tampa Agrees to Pay Exoneree Robert DuBoise $14 Million in Wrongful Conviction Settlement
Florida death-row exoneree Robert DuBoise (pictured) will receive $14 million from the city of Tampa as compensation for the 37 years he was incarcerated for a rape and murder he did not commit. On February 15, 2024, the Tampa City Council unanimously voted to approve the settlement. The settlement resolved a 2021 suit Mr. DuBoise filed against the City of Tampa, four Tampa police officers, and the forensic odontologist who testified against him. The suit alleged that the officers and…
Read MoreFeb 20, 2024
Op-Ed: Law Professor Stephen Bright Encourages SCOTUS to Review “Egregious Racial Discrimination” in Georgia Death Row Prisoner’s Case
In a February 14, 2024 op-ed published in the Washington Post, the longtime defense lawyer, former director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, and law professor Stephen Bright highlights the continued illegal exclusion of Black jurors in violation of Batson v. Kennedy (1986). The op-ed titled, “Struck from a jury for being Black? It still happens all too often,” uses the case of Georgia death-sentenced prisoner Warren King, whose petition the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to review on…
Read MoreFeb 16, 2024
Black History Month Profile Series: Jennifer Eberhardt
This month, DPIC celebrates Black History Month with weekly profiles of notable Black Americans whose work affected the modern death penalty era. The second in the series is Professor Jennifer…
Read MoreFeb 15, 2024
Discussions with DPIC Podcast: Shedding Light on Underreported Stories of Incarceration and Death Row — conversation with Keri Blakinger
In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Keri Blakinger, a journalist at the Los Angeles Times and former reporter for the Marshall Project — a nonprofit news organization focused on the U.S. criminal justice system. At the Marshall Project, Ms. Blakinger wrote stories about the human beings in the criminal justice system — a focus that is still a priority in her reporting with the Los…
Read MoreFeb 14, 2024
Utah Court Rules Prisoner Suffering from Dementia Requires a Competency Assessment Following the State’s Request for Execution
On February 13, 2024, the 3rd District Court of Salt Lake City, Utah ruled that evidence presented by Ralph Menzies’ attorneys of his dementia and cognitive decline requires a formal assessment of his competency to face execution by firing squad. With its decision, the court also vacated a hearing scheduled for February 23, at which the state of Utah intended to request an execution warrant for Mr. Menzies. As explained in his request for a competency hearing, Mr. Menzies has been diagnosed…
Read MoreFeb 13, 2024
Idaho Supreme Court Denies Stay of Execution to State’s Longest Serving Death Row Prisoner Ahead of Feb 28 Execution Date
On February 9, 2024, the Idaho Supreme Court unanimously dismissed two state appeals for 73-year-old Thomas Creech, thereby denying his requests for a stay of execution. Mr. Creech, who has been on death row for more than 40 years, has also requested a new clemency hearing. He is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on February 28, which would be Idaho’s first execution since…
Read MoreFeb 12, 2024
Robert Badinter, Former French Justice Minister, and Death Penalty Abolitionist, Dies at 95
Robert Badinter, a fierce defender of human rights, defense lawyer, and former French justice minister who led the effort to abolish the death penalty in his country, died on February 9, 2024. Mr. Badinter influenced many legal changes, including laws that decriminalized homosexuality, improved prison conditions, and advocated for his own particular concept of justice. As a defense lawyer, Mr. Badinter witnessed the execution of one of his clients, and vividly recalled the horrors involved…
Read MoreFeb 09, 2024
Black History Month Profile Series: Ernie Chambers
This month, DPIC celebrates Black History Month with weekly profiles of notable Black Americans whose work affected the modern death penalty era. The first in the series is retired Nebraska state senator Ernie…
Read MoreFeb 08, 2024
Past to Present: 100 Years Since the United States’ First Lethal Gas Execution, a Recently Renewed Practice
Today, February 8, marks the 100-year anniversary of the first lethal gas execution in the United States, exactly two weeks after Alabama carried out the first execution using nitrogen…
Read MoreFeb 07, 2024
Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: China, Ghana, Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United States, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe
The January 25, 2024 execution of Kenneth Smith in the state of Alabama with nitrogen gas received widespread international condemnation. The European Union reiterated its commitment to abolishing the death penalty and called the execution method a “particularly cruel and unusual punishment.” The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stated: “I deeply regret the execution of Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama despite serious concerns that this novel and untested method of…
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