Publications & Testimony

California has enacted a new law giving judges greater authority to remove individual prosecutors — and in some instances entire prosecutorial offices — from cases if they willfully withhold evidence from the defense. Passage of the law was prompted by disclosure of systemic misuse of jailhouse informants by Orange County prosecuters, which led Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals (pictured) to bar the entire Orange County District Attorney’s Office from participation in a death penalty case…

A group of death row exonerees, including Kwame Ajamu (pictured), held a press conference in Cleveland on October 9 in which they called for the end of the death penalty. Ajamu — the nation’s 150^th death-row exoneree — was freed from Ohio’s death row in 2014 along with his brother, Wiley Bridgeman, and another man, Ricky Jackson. The three had been convicted 39 years earlier on the testimony of a 12-year-old boy who later recanted, saying he had been pressured by police. “We hope that we can…

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument on October 13 in Hurst v. Florida, a case challenging provisions in Florida’s death penalty statute that do not require jurors to unanimously agree to the facts that could subject a defendant to a death sentence or to reach unanimity before recommending that the judge sentence a defendant to death. Florida is one of just three states that does not require a unanimous jury verdict when sentencing someone to death. A study by the Charles Hamilton…

In an op-ed for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, former corrections official David Rose criticizes the arbitrariness and dehumanizing nature of the death penalty. Rose, who spent 30 years working in corrections in Pennsylvania, Florida, and New Jersey, said, “I don’t think the public realizes the impact that executions have on the public servants who are tasked with carrying them out.” Rose draws on his own experiences and those of his colleagues to describe the toll that capital punishment takes…

“Over time lethal injection has become only more problematic and chaotic,” Deborah W. Denno, a professor at Fordham Law School, told the New York Times, summarizing the ongoing battles that have led states to adopt new drug sources or alternative methods of execution. Several states have obtained or sought drugs using sources that may violate pharmaceutical regulations. For the execution of Alfredo Prieto, Virginia obtained pentobarbital from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which…

A report by The Oklahoman has revealed that Oklahoma violated its execution protocol and used the wrong final drug during the execution of Charles Warner on January 15, 2015. Warner, whose final words were “My body is on fire,” was executed using potassium acetate, the same drug that was delivered for Richard Glossip’s aborted execution on September 30. The drug called for in the protocol is potassium chloride. Glossip’s execution was stayed as a result of the mix-up, and Attorney General Scott…

On October 6, Montana District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock (pictured) held that the state’s proposed lethal injection protocol violated state law, which requires that an “ultra fast-acting barbiturate” be used in executions. Judge Sherlock said the proposed barbiturate, pentobarbital, does not qualify as such a drug. The ruling stated, “The State of Montana is hereby enjoined from using the drug pentobarbital in its lethal injection protocol unless and until the statute authorizing lethal…

Eight death-row prisoners whom Arkansas has scheduled to be executed in the next four months have asked a judge to issue a preliminary injunction that would put their executions on hold. They argue that the state’s execution procedures are unconstitutional for multiple reasons and that Arkansas’ secrecy law violates a previous settlement agreement between death row inmates and the state. Arkansas, which has not carried out an execution since November 2005, has scheduled eight executions for…

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Williams v. Pennsylvania, a case challenging former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille’s participation in an appeal of a case that had been tried in Philadelphia while Castille was the city’s district attorney. Terrance Williams (pictured) was convicted and sentenced to death in Philadelphia in 1984 for the murder of a man prosecutors had described to the jury as “a kind man [who had] offered [Williams] a ride home.” Williams was…

On October 2, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon commuted the death sentence of Kimber Edwards to life without parole. Edwards had faced execution on October 6 for the alleged murder-for-hire killing of his ex-wife. Prosecutors said Edwards had hired Orthell Wilson to kill his ex-wife to prevent her from testifying in a child-support hearing. Wilson pled guilty and was sentenced to life without parole. He subsequently recanted his story, saying that he had acted alone and had lied about being hired…