Publications & Testimony

On January 21, Hospira Inc., the sole U.S. man­u­fac­tur­er of sodi­um thiopen­tal, announced that it will no longer pro­duce an anes­thet­ic com­mon­ly used in lethal injec­tions around the United States. Hospira, which had planned to pro­duce the drug in its plant in Italy, made the deci­sion to end pro­duc­tion of the anes­thet­ic after Italian offi­cials demand­ed that the com­pa­ny make sure it will not be used for exe­cu­tions. Nebraska, a state that has not…

Retired Federal Judge H. Lee Sarokin recent­ly wrote in the Huffington Post urg­ing Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to sign a bill that would repeal the death penal­ty. He wrote, ​“I am cer­tain we could all list per­sons who com­mit­ted out­ra­geous and despi­ca­ble crimes that we would want exe­cut­ed. Many of us want revenge, ret­ri­bu­tion and the ulti­mate pun­ish­ment in those cas­es, but, nonethe­less, I am opposed to the death penal­ty.” Judge Sarokin highlighted…

An in-depth inves­ti­ga­tion con­duct­ed by USA Today found 201 crim­i­nal cas­es in which fed­er­al judges deter­mined that U.S. Department of Justice pros­e­cu­tors vio­lat­ed laws or ethics rules, includ­ing the recent pros­e­cu­tion of Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. The inves­ti­ga­tion looked at cas­es since 1997, when Congress enact­ed a law aimed at end­ing pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct. Some of the vio­la­tions reviewed by USA Today result­ed in judges throwing out…

Leroy White (pic­tured) was exe­cut­ed in Alabama on January 13 despite the fact that his tri­al jury, the pros­e­cu­tion, and mem­bers of the vic­tim’s fam­i­ly had sought a dif­fer­ent sen­tence. Shortly before his exe­cu­tion, he received a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court to con­sid­er his final motion. However, near­ly three hours lat­er the stay was lift­ed and he was exe­cut­ed for the 1988 mur­der of his estranged wife, Ruby White. During the time that the…

U. S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois recent­ly announced at a break­fast hon­or­ing Martin Luther King, Jr., that he has changed his life-long opin­ion on the death penal­ty and now favors its abo­li­tion. Sen. Durbin, who is the sec­ond-rank­ing mem­ber of the U.S. Senate as the assis­tant major­i­ty leader, said that his reflec­tions over many years brought about an evo­lu­tion in his think­ing about cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment, par­tic­u­lar­ly with respect to its unfair­ness and the…

On January 14, in one of his final acts as gov­er­nor, Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell wrote a let­ter to the state General Assembly urg­ing leg­is­la­tors to con­sid­er replac­ing the death penal­ty with a sen­tence of life with­out parole if it can­not be made more effec­tive than it has been. Gov. Rendell wrote that the death penal­ty in Pennsylvania is not a real­i­ty: ​“As a for­mer District Attorney and as a death penal­ty sup­port­er, I believe the death penal­ty can be a deterrent –…

On January 11, Desert Storm vet­er­an Cleve Foster of Texas received a stay of exe­cu­tion just moments before his lethal injec­tion. Foster had already fin­ished his last meal when the United States Supreme Court halt­ed the exe­cu­tion. Foster was sen­tenced to death for a 2002 shoot­ing, but has always main­tained that his friend was respon­si­ble for the mur­der. The friend also received the death penal­ty for the crime but died of can­cer before he was…