Publications & Testimony

A recent New York Times editorial described the ​“horrific scene” of Clayton Lockett’s botched execution and called on Oklahoma to “[follow] other governors and legislatures in banning executions, recognizing that the American administration of death does not function.” The editors noted the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s temporary halt to the execution and pointed to political pressure as a possible explanation for why the Court then allowed it to go forward: “[S]everal lawmakers threatened to…

On May 7, the Constitution Project released a new report, Irreversible Error, calling for reforms in many aspects of the death penalty system. The Project’s Death Penalty Committee, which consists of renowned experts on capital punishment, made suggestions for reducing the risk of executing the innocent and improving the fairness of capital cases from arrest and interrogation, through prosecution and appeals, to the execution procedure itself. ​“Without substantial revisions — not only to lethal…

A recent survey by the Kinder Institute of Houston, Texas, found that more than two-thirds (69%) of area residents preferred alternative sentences over the death penalty, and that number is growing as the population becomes more diverse. The survey asked whether persons convicted of first-degree murder should receive a death sentence, life in prison without parole, or life with the possibility of parole after 25 years. Only 28% of respondents chose the death penalty. Life without parole was the…

President Obama has ordered Attorney General Eric Holder to review the application of the death penalty in the U.S. following the failed execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma on April 29. The President noted concerns about innocence and racial bias: ​“In the application of the death penalty in this country, we have seen significant problems — racial bias, uneven application of the death penalty, you know, situations in which there were individuals on death row who later on were discovered to…

On April 30 Ohio Governor John Kasich commuted the death sentence of Arthur Tyler to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The decision followed a recommendation for clemency from Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty. Following a hearing on the case, the Ohio Parole Board recommended commutation of Tyler’s sentence to life with parole: six of the eleven members recommended immediate parole eligibility for Tyler, and the remaining five favored a sentence of 33 years to life, which…

Randy Workman (pictured) is a former warden of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, where he oversaw 32 executions. In a recent interview, he was critical of many aspects of capital punishment. He said the death penalty failed the victims’ families and wasted money: ​“We spend millions of dollars on these cases and going through the process and the end result is the family, do they feel vindicated? I’d say 90% of the time the people I’ve seen don’t.” He shared the advice he gave to a murder victim’s…

On April 29, Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett died of a heart attack approximately 40 minutes after the state began administering a new lethal injection protocol. Lockett received an injection of midazolam, the first drug in a three-drug protocol, at 6:23 pm. At 6:33, Lockett was declared unconscious, but about three minutes later, witnesses said he began to nod, mumble, and writhe on the gurney. Some witnesses described his movements as a seizure. At 7:06, Lockett died of a massive heart…

Three former Chief Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court have recently called for an end to the death penalty in their state. Retired Chief Justice Wallace P. Carson, Jr. (l.), was the most recent Justice to call for a change: ​“In my opinion, the exceptional cost of death penalty cases and the seemingly haphazard selection of which cases deserve the death penalty outweigh any perceived public benefit of this sanction,” Carson said. ​“The fairly recent addition of a ​‘true life’ (no parole) penalty…

On April 28 a study published in the prestigous Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicated that far more innocent people have been sentenced to death than those found through the legal process. According to the study, many innocent defendants are probably not being identified because they were taken off death row and given a lesser sentence. The rate of exonerations for those sentenced to death would be over twice as high if all cases were given the heightened scrutiny often…

On April 23 the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death sentence of Kentucky inmate Robert Woodall, reversing an earlier ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. At Woodall’s trial, his attorney asked the judge to instruct the jury not to draw any negative inference from the fact that Woodall had not testified in the sentencing phase. The judge refused to give the instruction. The 6^th Circuit held that the failure to instruct the jury was a violation of Woodall’s right to…