Publications & Testimony

84 years after Pennsylvania executed a black 16-year-old for the 1931 murder of his white school matron, the descendants of the boy’s trial lawyers are trying to exonerate him. Samuel Lemon, the great-grandson of Alexander McClay Williams’ defense attorney, William Ridley (pictured), has researched the case and concluded that Williams was innocent of murdering Vida Robare. He is trying to obtain a posthumous pardon for Williams. Robare had been granted a divorce from her ex-husband — whom…

CORRECTION: On June 18, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Brumfield v. Cain, a Louisiana death penalty case dealing with intellectual disability. The Court held that the federal district court was entitled to conduct an evidentiary hearing to determine whether Kevan Brumfield has intellectual disability and is therefore ineligible for execution. It reversed a ruling of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that would have deferred to a Lousiana state court…

Petition for a Writ of Certiorari Opinion of U.S. District Judge Finding Mr. Brumfield Intellectually Disabled Opinon of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Mr. Brumfield’s Opening Brief The State’s Brief in Opposition Mr. Brumfield’s Reply Amicus Brief of Chief Justice Pascal Calogero Summary of the Case The Court granted certiorari in Brumfield v. Cain, a death penalty case from Louisiana dealing with intellectual disability. Kevan Brumfield was sentenced to death prior to the…

The Spring 2015 update to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s publication, Death Row, USA, reports that 3,002 men and women were on death rows across the United States as of April 1, 2015. This reflects a continuing decline in the size of death row, down 13% since Spring 2005, when 3,452 people were on America’s death rows. Several states saw significant drops in their death row populations over that period while carrying out few or no executions: Pennsylvania dropped from 230 to 184 (no…

On June 12, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rebuffed what it described as “a concerted effort” by Pennsylvania prosecutors to bar lawyers from the Philadelphia federal community defender’s capital habeas unit from representing death row inmates in Pennsylvania state-level appeals. The former Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania state courts had sharply critized the unit — which has overturned more than 100 Pennsylvania death sentences — for what he termed its…

On June 12, the State Bar of Texas disbarred Burleson County District Attorney Charles Sebesta, the prosecutor whose misconduct led to the wrongful conviction of death row exoneree Anthony Graves (pictured, r.). The bar found that Sebesta violated no fewer than five of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, including making a false statement to a court, using evidence known to be false, and failing to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense. In 2006, the U.S. Court of…

As the anticipated late-June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Oklahoma lethal injection case, Glossip v. Gross, approaches, the Oklahoma state courts have ruled that a media lawsuit seeking discovery and depositions relating to the state’s botched execution of Clayton Lockett may proceed. On June 8, the Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously denied a motion filed by Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin to block action in Branstetter v. Fallin, a lawsuit filed by the Reporters Committee on Freedom…

In a press release on June 9, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) announced its policy affirming “that pharmacists, as healthcare providers who are dedicated to achieving optimal health outcomes and preserving life, should not participate in capital punishment.” ASHP represents 40,000 members, including pharmacists who serve as patient-care providers in acute and ambulatory settings. The organization also includes student pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. The policy was…

Testimony of Robert Brett Dunham, Executive Director, Death Penalty Information Center before the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee in connection with Pennsylvania’s death penalty moratorium (Harrisburg, June 11, 2015)

On June 9, Richard Strong was executed in Missouri, despite the fact that four Justices of the Supreme Court would have granted him a stay and despite evidence that he suffered from severe mental illness. A broad challenge to Missouri’s secretive lethal injection process (Zink v. Lombardi) has yet to be resolved, and Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan voted to stay Strong’s execution because of that challenge. However, five votes are needed to stay an execution. In addition…