Publications & Testimony

The Connecticut Senate is expected to vote as early as Wednesday (April 4) on a bill to replace the death penalty with a sentence of life without parole. The bill, which would only affect future sentencing, passed the Judiciary Committee on March 21 and needs at least 18 votes to pass in the Senate. If it passes the Senate, it is considered likely to pass the House, and Governor Dannel Malloy has pledged to sign the bill into law. A similar bill passed the General Assembly in 2009, but was…

Thirty-four high-profile former judges and law enforcement officials recently filed an amicus brief arguing against Virginia’s efforts to reinstate the conviction of Justin Wolfe (pictured). Wolfe’s attorneys maintain he was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in a 2002 murder-for-hire case because of false testimony from the actual shooter, Owen Barber. In 2005, Barber admitted to lying under oath, saying, “The prosecution and my own defense attorney placed me in a position in which I…

A new book, “The Inferno: A Southern Morality Tale,” by Joseph Ingle, chronicles the compelling story of Philip Workman, who was executed in Tennessee in 2007. The author, a minister of the United Church of Christ who has spent decades working with those on death row, served as Mr. Workman’s pastor and tells the story from his own viewpoint, as well as those of others familiar with the case. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, called The Inferno “the most detailed, intimate and…

On March 27, a federal District Court held that foreign-manufactured sodium thiopental was improperly approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in executions. Judge Richard Leon (pictured) of the District Court of the District of Columbia ordered any correctional departments in possession of the drug to return it to the FDA. The ruling granted summary judgment in favor of a lawsuit filed by death row inmates in Arizona, California, and Tennessee against the FDA. Those states, along…

On March 27, Amnesty International released its annual survey on the use of capital punishment worldwide, titled Death Sentences and Executions 2011. The report illustrated that the use of the death penalty has continued to decline around the world. At the end of 2011, there were 140 countries considered abolitionist in law or practice, while only 20 countries were known to have put prisoners to death in 2011. The United States was the only country in the Western hemisphere or among the G8…

A new book, “In this Timeless Time: Living and Dying on Death Row in America,” authors Bruce Jackson and Diane Christian explore the life of death row inmates in Texas and in other states. Jackson and Christian capture, through words and pictures, the daily experiences of inmates while also highlighting arbitrary judicial processes related to capital punishment. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, said, “With absolute fairness and profound honesty, Bruce Jackson and Diane…

The latest edition of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s Death Row USA shows a decrease of 52 inmates between January 1 and October 1, 2011. Over the last decade, the total population of state and federal death rows has decreased significantly, from 3,682 inmates in 2000 to 3,199 inmates as of October 2011. California continues to have the largest death row population (721), followed by Florida (402), Texas (317), Pennsylvania (213), and Alabama (204). Neither California nor Pennsylvania have…

The U.S. Supreme Court granted review in two cases from Arizona and Ohio to explore whether death penalty appeals can continue if the defendant is mentally incompetent. Under the Court’s prior rulings in Ford v. Wainwright (1986) and in Atkins v. Virginia (2002), defendants cannot be executed if they are insane or intellectually disabled (mentally retarded). The new cases, Ryan v. Gonzalez and Tibbals v. Carter, will decide whether mentally incompetent death row inmates are entitled to a stay…