Publications & Testimony

On May 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled (2 – 1) that the federal District Court overstepped its authority when it barred any further prosecution of Justin Wolfe. The Circuit Court upheld the lower court’s order requiring Virginia to either retry Wolfe or release him, and it further held that Virginia failed to comply with that order. In 2002, Wolfe was convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to death in the murder of a drug dealer in Virginia. His conviction was based…

On May 22, Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado granted an indefinite stay of execution to Nathan Dunlap, who was facing execution in August. In his Executive Order, the governor expressed concerns about the state’s death penalty system, calling it flawed and inequitable. He also noted the national trend away from capital punishment, with five states recently voting to repeal the death penalty and other states rarely using it. Hickenlooper stated, “If the State of Colorado is going to…

Gary Alvord, a Florida inmate who spent more time on death row than any other inmate in the country, died on May 19 of natural causes. Alvord was 66 years old and had been sentenced to death for murder almost 40 years ago, on April 9, 1974. He suffered from schizophrenia and had no close family. Bill Sheppard, who represented Alvord for almost four decades, said, “Gary is a product of a sick system. He was a living example of why we should not have the death penalty…. I would love for the state…

Gary Alvord, a Florida inmate who spent more time on death row than any other condemned prisoner in the country, died on May 19, 2013, of natural causes. Alvord was 66 years old and had been sentenced to death for murder almost 40 years before, on April 9, 1974. He suffered from schizophrenia and had no close family. In the time Alvord spent on death row, 75 other inmates were executed in Florida, many of whom spent half as long on death row as Alvord did. Alvord faced execution at least twice…

The former Chief Deputy District Attorney from the county that prosecuted Nathan Dunlap has called on Colorado’s governor to commute his death sentence to life without parole. Richard Bloch (pictured), who prosecuted dozens of homicide cases during his 20 years with the Arapahoe County DA’s office, said he believes the state’s capital punishment system is too broken to implement: “Having worked on many homicides, visited dozens of murder scenes, and, most importantly, spoken to many people who…

On May 16, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a bill known as the “Michael Morton Act” that will require prosecutors to open their files to defendants and keep records of the evidence they disclose. The Act is named for Michael Morton (pictured), who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1987. He was exonerated in 2011 after DNA evidence revealed that someone else had murdered his wife. Morton’s lawyers discovered that the original prosecutor had withheld evidence that could have…

At a recent event at Willamette University in Oregon, various state leaders in the fields of law and criminal justice spoke critically about the state’s death penalty. Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul De Muniz (pictured) said the death penalty was “bad public policy,” almost never resulting in an execution. He spoke of having defended a murderer sentenced to death in 1988. Twenty-five years later, the Justice noted, he is now retired after a full career in the law, while the inmate is…

The British manufacturer Hikma Pharmaceuticals recently announced new rules to restrict the supply of its products for unintended uses, such as carrying out executions in the United States. Earlier this year, Reprieve, a legal advocacy organization based in London, found that a U.S. subsidiary of Hikma sold 100 grams of phenobarbital to the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Arkansas decided to use the new, untested drug in their lethal injection process when they were unable to secure…

A recent article in The Nation by David Love, the Director of Witness to Innocence, underscored the important role of people like Kirk Bloodsworth and Shujaa Graham (pictured), who were once on death row and now have been freed. These and many of the 140 other people who have been exonerated from death row have traveled the country, speaking to legislators, students, church groups, and the general public about the risks of executions. Bloodsworth’s efforts in Maryland have received wide…

Lawyers for Clemente Javier Aguirre recently presented the results of DNA testing to a Florida court, casting serious doubt on his guilt. Aguirre was sentenced to death for the murder of two women in 2006. Although the DNA evidence was available at the time of his trial, Aguirre’s trial lawyer never requested testing of the crime-scene evidence. Aguirre’s current lawyers said that DNA results from dozens of items did not reveal Aguirre’s blood at the crime scene. Instead, the tests found blood…