Publications & Testimony

On February 19, Georgia is sched­uled to exe­cute Warren Hill, a death row inmate who has been diag­nosed with men­tal retar­da­tion (intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty). Over a decade ago, in Atkins v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it uncon­sti­tu­tion­al to exe­cute the men­tal­ly retard­ed. However, Hill con­tin­ues to face exe­cu­tion because Georgia requires proof of retar­da­tion beyond a rea­son­able doubt, the strictest…

In a recent op-ed, the father of slain Colorado cor­rec­tions offi­cer Eric Autobee (pic­tured) explained why he no longer sup­port­ed the death penal­ty and is work­ing for its repeal. Writing in the Pueblo Chieftain, Bob Autobee, him­self a vet­er­an cor­rec­tions offi­cer, said the pur­suit of the death penal­ty in his son’s case caused an​“unspeak­able emo­tion­al toll” on his fam­i­ly. He wrote,​“Given what…

On February 7, fed­er­al District Court Judge James Brady stayed the exe­cu­tion of Christopher Sepulvado in Louisiana because the state failed to pro­vide details about its new exe­cu­tion pro­to­col.​“Sepulvado has been try­ing to deter­mine what the pro­to­col is for years,” Judge Brady wrote,​“and the State will not pro­vide this infor­ma­tion. The intran­si­gence of the State Defendants in fail­ing to produce the…

New infor­ma­tion on for­eign nation­als fac­ing the death penal­ty in the U.S. is now avail­able through Mark Warren of Human Rights Research. This DPIC page includes infor­ma­tion on 143 for­eign cit­i­zens from 37 coun­tries on state and fed­er­al death rows. California has the most (59 inmates), fol­lowed by Texas (24), and Florida (23). Many of these inmates were not informed of their right to contact…

A recent edi­to­r­i­al in the Great Falls Tribune in Montana out­lined some of the key prob­lems with the death penal­ty as the state leg­is­la­ture con­sid­ers its repeal. The edi­tors expressed con­cerns about the risks of mis­take with exe­cu­tions:​“There is no way to take back an exe­cu­tion. That rea­son alone pro­vides good cause to elim­i­nate the death penal­ty in Montana.” The paper also not­ed that vic­tims’ fam­i­lies wait for decades…

A recent arti­cle in the New York Times high­light­ed the sto­ry of Kirk Bloodsworth, who was the first death row inmate in the coun­try to be exon­er­at­ed by DNA test­ing. Bloodsworth, a for­mer Marine, was sen­tenced to death in 1984 for the rape and mur­der of a 9‑year-old girl out­side of Baltimore, Maryland. After DNA evi­dence led to his exon­er­a­tion and release in 1993, Bloodsworth began work­ing against capital…

A forth­com­ing book, Fighting for Their Lives: Inside the Experience of Capital Defense Attorneys by Susannah Sheffer, explores the impact of the death penal­ty on defense attor­neys with clients on death row. Through inter­views with cap­i­tal defend­ers, the author exam­ines how attor­neys try to cope with the stress of rep­re­sent­ing clients fac­ing exe­cu­tion. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, said,​“This is an impor­tant book. The…

A bipar­ti­san group of leg­is­la­tors in Montana will intro­duce a bill to replace the state’s death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life with­out parole. The spon­sors include two Republicans and two Democrats. A coali­tion of con­ser­v­a­tive law­mak­ers, reli­gious groups, and human rights groups sup­port the repeal of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Republican Sen. Matthew Rosendale (pic­tured), a mem­ber of Conservatives Concerned About the Death…

In a new study in Harris County (Houston), Texas, crim­i­nol­o­gist Scott Phillips found sig­nif­i­cant racial and gen­der dis­par­i­ties in the appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty under for­mer District Attorney Charles Rosenthal. Prof. Phillips of the University of Denver exam­ined homi­cides from 2001 to 2008 and found that death sen­tences were imposed on behalf of white vic­tims at 2.5 times the rate one would expect if the sys­tem were race neutral.

On January 30, a Texas judge stayed the exe­cu­tion of Larry Swearingen, sched­uled for February 27. Swearingen’s lawyers argued more time was required to com­plete DNA test­ing agreed to by the pros­e­cu­tion, which they believe will prove his inno­cence. This is the fourth such delay he has received. Five foren­sic experts have con­clud­ed that the decom­po­si­tion of the victim’s body shows she was killed while Swearingen was in jail on unrelated…