Publications & Testimony

A new book by Lori St John, The Corruption of Innocence: A Journey to Justice, recounts the author’s quest to save the life of Joseph O’Dell because of her strong belief in his innocence. St John describes the resistance she experienced in trying to have crime-related items tested for DNA evidence, and the international support that O’Dell attracted while on death row. O’Dell was executed in Virginia in 1997. Among those who had expressed doubts about O’Dell’s guilt were three Justices of the…

Many states are seeking alternative ways to carry out executions by lethal injection. Missouri announced it intends to use the anesthetic propofol, though no other state has used this drug and the drug’s manufacturer has strongly objected to such use. Officials in Texas and Ohio announced they will be changing their execution protocols in the near future because their current execution drug (pentobarbital) is expiring and is no longer available for this use. In June, officials in California…

Vicki Werneke is a federal public defender who represented Billy Slagle on Ohio’s death row. She recently wrote about her frenzied work during the last weekend before Slagle’s death on August 4. She noted that he was only 18 and highly intoxicated at the time of his crime. He had been remorseful ever since, trying to do some good with his life while on death row. Even the District Attorney of the county that prosecuted him supported a reprieve, making this a strong case for clemency. On the…

According to some experts, the process of repeatedly submitting a person to imminent execution is a form of psychological torture that should be banned. The Center for Constitutional Rights has said that “the intense strain of repeatedly coming within hours or days of execution” is torture. Citing the case of Troy Davis, who was executed in Georgia in 2011 after repeated execution dates and stays, the Center remarked, “Is there any significant difference between mock executions, long…

The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently released the preliminary findings of its annual Uniform Crime Report for 2012. The final report will likely be published in October, but the initial statistics indicate the number of murders in the U.S. increased slightly by 1.5% from 2011. Three regions of the country showed an increase in murders, while one region declined. Murders in the Northeast decreased by 4.4%. The number of murders increased by 3.3% in the Midwest, 2.5% in the South, and…

In his new book, A Wild Justice, Evan J. Mandery (pictured) explores the political complexities and personalities that led to the Supreme Court’s decisions in Furman v. Georgia — striking down the death penalty in 1972 — and Gregg v. Georgia — allowing it to resume in 1976. He describes in great detail the work of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the gifted attorneys, such as Anthony Amsterdam, who led the way through this groundbreaking period. Mandery summarizes the struggles this way: “The death…

The Texas Forensic Science Commission announced it will study prior criminal convictions to determine whether mistakes were made using discredited forensic testimony. The Commission will employ DNA testing to review cases in which microscopic hair fibers were used to convict people of rape, murder, robbery, and other crimes. It has recently been established that it is impossible to match a hair under a microscope to a specific person. Forensic experts can make an “association” between a sample…

As the start of the new school year approaches, we wanted to remind educators and students of the excellent free resources DPIC offers. Our college curriculum, Capital Punishment in Context, uses a case-study model to introduce students to the death penalty system and allows them to access more in-depth research on a variety of topics, such as innocence, race, and mental illness. Each case includes relevant links to outside resources, including scholarly articles. Our High School Curriculum…

A recent article in The Atlantic by Marc Bookman (pictured) shows how threats of the death penalty can contribute to false confessions. The piece recounts a Pennsylvania murder case in which two defendants, Russell Weinberger and Felix Rodriguez, admitted to a murder they did not commit, leading to their imprisonment for over 21 years. Rodriguez described his interrogation: “First they showed me pictures of the dead guy. I started to cry. I said I didn’t do that. That’s when they slapped me on…

On August 7, the Special Master assigned to review the case of Reginald Clemons (pictured) in Missouri announced that prosecutors withheld evidence indicating detectives beat Clemons into confessing to rape and murder that led to his death sentence. Clemons recanted the confession, but a tape of it was played at trial and he was convicted in 1993. No physical evidence linked him to the rape. Judge Michael Manners, who conducted special evidentiary hearings on Clemons’s possible innocence, said…