Publications & Testimony

On May 23, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction and death sentence of Timothy Foster (pictured) because Georgia prosecutors improperly exercised their discretionary jury strikes on the basis of race to exclude African American jurors. The vote was 7 – 1, with Justice Thomas the lone dissenter. Foster is now entitled to a new trial. Foster, who is black, was sentenced to death by an all-white jury after prosecutors used their peremptory challenges to remove every black…

Following seven months of investigation into the causes of Oklahoma’s botched execution of Charles Warner using an unauthorized execution drug and its near-execution of Richard Glossip with the same wrong drug, an Oklahoma grand jury issued a report on May 19 identifying a wide range of what it characterized as “negligent,” “careless,” and in some instances “reckless” conduct by state officials that deviated from the state’s execution protocol. The state’s three-drug execution protocol called…

U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake ruled on May 18 that a lethal injection challenge brought by Arizona death row prisoners may move forward, preventing Arizona from carrying out any executions before the reported expiration date of its supply of a key execution drug. Arizona has said that it is unable to replenish its supply of midazolam, an anti-anxiety medication that a number of states have used as a sedative in multi-drug lethal injection procedures. The death row prisoners are…

One year after the Nebraska legislature voted to repeal the death penalty and overrode a gubernatorial veto of that measure, actions in legislatures across the country suggest that the state’s efforts signalled a growing movement against the death penalty by conservative legislators and that support for the death penalty among Republican legislators is no longer a given. Reporting in The Washington Post, Amber Phillips writes that Republican legislators in ten states sponsored or co-sponsored…

100 years ago, Jesse Washington, a 17-year-old black farmhand accused of murdering his white female employer was lynched on the steps of the Waco, Texas courthouse (pictured), moments after Washington’s trial ended and only seven days after the murder had occurred. The gruesome lynching took place in front of law enforcement personnel and 15,000 spectators, none of whom intervened to end the violence. Washington, whom reports indicate may have been intellectually disabled, initially denied…

On May 13, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced that it would impose strict distribution controls to block states from obtaining and using its medicines in executions. In a statement, the company said, “Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve. Consistent with these values, Pfizer strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal injections for capital punishment.” With Pfizer’s announcement, every major pharmaceutical company that produces…

More than 12,000 pages of California prison documents disclosed by court order on May 7 reveal problematic conduct by state officials and the extraordinarily high price tag the state would have paid for lethal injection drugs if it were carrying out executions. The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, which obtained the documents after a six-month legal battle, say they show that the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (CDCR) significantly understated drug…

Texas’ Third Court of Appeals heard oral argument on May 11 on the state’s appeal of a trial court ruling requiring it to reveal the identity of its lethal injection drug supplier in a pair of April 2014 executions. The suit, initially brought on behalf of the two executed prisoners, now implicates Texas’ Public Information Act. The prisoners’ attorneys argued that identifying the supplier of pentobarbital, the drug used by Texas in executions, was necessary to verify that the chemicals had…

UPDATE: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit stayed Madison’s execution, ordering oral argument on his competency claim. Previously: Alabama is preparing to execute Vernon Madison (pictured) on May 12, as his lawyers continue to press their claim that the 65-year-old prisoner is incompetent to be executed. Defense lawyers say Madison, whom a trial judge sentenced to death despite the jury’s recommendation of a life sentence, suffers from mental illness and has additional…

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch (pictured) ruled on May 9 that Florida’s new death sentencing law violates the state’s constitution. Ruling in the case of Karon Gaiter, who is awaiting a capital trial, Judge Hirsch said new law’s requirement that at least 10 jurors agree to the death penalty before a defendant can be sentenced to death violated Florida’s constitutional requirement that all jury verdicts must be unanimous. “For the ultimate decisions made within the judicial branch of…