Publications & Testimony

At a hearing on December 9, Kwame Ajamu (formerly Ronnie Bridgeman) was formally exonerated of the 1975 murder for which he was convicted and sentenced to death. Ajamu joins his brother, Wiley Bridgeman, and co-defendant, Ricky Jackson, on DPIC’s Exoneration List, becoming the 150^th death row exoneree since 1973. Ajamu, Bridgeman, and Jackson were convicted based on the testimony of a 12-year-old boy who recently admitted that he never saw the killing. Ajamu’s death sentence was reduced in 1978…

The U.S. Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari in Brumfield v. Cain, a death penalty case from Louisiana dealing with intellectual disability. Kevan Brumfield was sentenced to death prior to the Court’s decision in Atkins v. Virginia (2002), which banned the execution of defendants with intellectual disabilities. After that ruling, Brumfield filed a claim of intellectual disability in state court. The court denied him a hearing because the trial transcript showed no evidence of his…

Attorneys for Robert Holsey, an inmate on death row in Georgia, have filed a clemency petition before the Board of Pardons and Paroles. Holsey is scheduled to be executed on December 9, despite the fact that the lawyer who represented him at trial drank a quart of vodka a day and failed to present key evidence during the sentencing phase of Holsey’s trial. The lawyer was later disbarred for embezzling clients’ money and admitted that he was not fit to represent Holsey. Holsey’s new attorneys…

On December 4, the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on HB 663, which would shield the identity of those who produce lethal injection drugs for the state. Previously, critics of the bill had warned that the measure could be unconstitutional because it interferes with the courts and violates the First Amendment right to free speech. Among those testifying at the committee hearing was Kevin Smith of the Society of Professional Journalists, who called the bill, “one of the most…

A recent study commissioned by the Nevada legislature found that the average death penalty case costs a half million dollars more than a case in which the death penalty is not sought. The Legislative Auditor estimated the cost of a murder trial in which the death penalty was sought cost $1.03 to $1.3 million, whereas cases without the death penalty cost $775,000. The auditor summarized the study’s findings, saying, “Adjudicating death penalty cases takes more time and resources compared to…

In an op-ed in the Boston Herald, Michael Avery, professor emeritus at Suffolk University Law School, whose sister and niece were murdered 30 years ago, suggested that a plea bargain might be a better ourcome for all concerned in the case of Dzokhar Tsarnaev, the defendant in the Boston Marathon bombing. A trial, he said, would be painful for victims and survivors: “Boston will relive every tortu[r]ous moment of the bombing, over and over, probably for weeks…if Tsarnaev is convicted, we’ll have…

A new poll found that Americans oppose the death penalty for people with mental illness by more than a 2 – 1 margin. According to Public Policy Polling, 58% of respondents opposed capital punishment for people with mental illness, while only 28% supported it. Professor Robert Smith, an assistant professor of law at the University of North Carolina who commissioned the poll, said, “Today’s important polling is part of significant new research which clearly shows an emerging consensus against using…

(Click to enlarge) According to a report by the Christian Science Monitor, Duval County, Florida, has the highest per capita rate for inmates on death row of any U.S. county. Duval has sentenced one person to death for every 14,000 residents. It is among the 2% of counties in the U.S. reponsible for a majority of all inmates on death row as of 2013, as described in DPIC’s report, The 2% Death Penalty. Duval County ranked 8^th, with 60 inmates on death row. Duval has handed down 14 death…

On November 24, the FBI released a report on law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2013. Twenty-seven (27) officers were killed in “felonious acts,” a 45% drop compared to 2012, when 49 officers were killed, and a 53% decline since 2004. Most (15) of the 27 officers killed were in the South, with Texas having the highest number of any state (6). Six officers were killed in the West, four in the Midwest, and only two in the Northeast. California had the second highest number…