Publications & Testimony

Adam Luck (pictured), the former Chairman of Oklahoma’s Board of Pardons and Parole and former member of the Oklahoma Board of Corrections, is now speaking out against the death penalty in Oklahoma. Explaining his change of heart, Mr. Luck cites to his first-hand experience with flaws in Oklahoma’s capital punishment system, including botched executions, and his deep Christian faith. “Having the unique experience of voting on the life of another human being forced me to consider the…

On March 4, 2025, the Georgia House of Representatives, in a 172 – 0 vote, unanimously passed HB 123, which would provide pretrial hearings for capital defendants to raise intellectual disability claims and would lower the standard of proof for those claims from “beyond a reasonable doubt” to a “preponderance of evidence,” in line with other the other 26 states that still retain the death penalty. The bill was originally introduced by Republican Representative Bill Werkheiser during Georgia’s…

A new report published by Ius Stella, a non-profit in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), highlights ongoing human rights violations in the nation’s efforts to eliminate urban gangs, which has been marked by arbitrary arrest and the imposition of death sentences, including on vulnerable civilian youth populations, after military trials whose fairness is in grave doubt. Earlier in January, reports emerged that 170 death-sentenced prisoners, ages 18 to 35, convicted for their links to…

South Carolina law requires Brad Sigmon to “elect” how the state will kill him on March 7, 2025 — and he opted for death by firing squad. His choices were lethal injection, electrocution, or firing squad, with electrocution the default method of execution if no election is made. According to Mr. Sigmon’s attorney, Gerald “Bo” King, Mr. Sigmon chose the firing squad out of concern about problems with the state’s lethal injection protocol. Since Mr. Sigmon’s decision on February 21, 2025, his…

On February 28, 2025, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey commuted the death sentence of Robin ‘Rocky’ Dion Myers to Life Without Parole (LWOP). Myers was convicted in the 1991 murder of Ludie Mae Tucker in Decatur, Alabama. His jury recommended that he be sentenced to LWOP, but the judge in his case overrode the jury’s recommendation and handed down a death sentence. The practice of judicial override was abolished in Alabama in 2017. In her statement, Gov. Ivey repeated her belief that “the death…

In the February 2025 episode of 12:01: The Death Penalty in Context, DPI Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with three experts on California’s Racial Justice Act (RJA). Natasha Minsker, an attorney and consultant, formerly of the ACLU, speaks on the history of the RJA and the impetus for its passage. Genevie Gold, research and writing fellow at the Office of the State Public Defender (OSPD), describes the process that an RJA claim follows through the legal system, and how the RJA has…

On February 19, 2025, in new filings, Robert Roberson returned to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) with a request for relief, presenting substantial new evidence that supports his claim of actual innocence. Mr. Roberson’s latest habeas application incorporates new expert opinions and references scientific advancements that have emerged since October 2024, when the CCA acknowledged in a similar case that the scientific foundation for “Shaken Baby” Syndrome (SBS) convictions lack…

In a 5 – 3 decision issued in Glossip v. Oklahoma on February 25, 2025, the United States Supreme Court threw out Richard Glossip’s 2004 conviction for arranging the murder of Barry Von Treese and ordered a new trial because prosecutors allowed a key witness to lie in court and withheld crucial information about the same witness. Justice Sonya Sotomayor, writing for the majority, said that prosecutors in Mr. Glossip’s case “violated [their] constitutional obligation to correct false testimony,”…