Publications & Testimony

In a recent op-ed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, two lead­ing con­ser­v­a­tives declared that the death penal­ty in the United States ​“is no longer a nec­es­sary form of pun­ish­ment.” Richard A. Viguerie (pic­tured) and Brent Bozell urged their fel­low con­ser­v­a­tives to con­sid­er that the death penal­ty ​“is an expen­sive gov­ern­ment pro­gram with the pow­er to kill peo­ple.” ​“Conservatives,” they wrote, ​“don’t trust the gov­ern­ment is always capa­ble, com­pe­tent, or…

In an October 2010 inter­view on National Public Radio, then new­ly-retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said he par­tic­u­lar­ly regret­ted one vote dur­ing his 35 years on the high court — his 1976 vote to uphold the death penal­ty in Gregg v. Georgia. Stevens remarked, ​“I thought at the time … that if the uni­verse of defen­dants eli­gi­ble for the death penal­ty is suf­fi­cient­ly nar­row so that you can be con­fi­dent that the defen­dant real­ly merits…

Judge Charles Baird of Austin, Texas, will con­duct a court of inquiry on October 6 – 7 (Update: Hearing post­poned until Oct. 14) to deter­mine whether Cameron Willingham (pic­tured) was wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed and exe­cut­ed for the death of his three daugh­ters in a fire orig­i­nal­ly deemed to be an arson. Willingham main­tained his inno­cence up until his exe­cu­tion in 2004. Former Texas Governor Mark White, one of the…

Brandon Rhode (pic­tured) in Georgia received a sec­ond reprieve fol­low­ing his sui­cide attempt just pri­or to his sched­uled exe­cu­tion on September 21. His exe­cu­tion is now set for September 27 at 7 pm, despite ques­tions about his men­tal com­pe­ten­cy. Rhode has been diag­nosed as suf­fer­ing from organ­ic brain dam­age and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). According to experts, men­tal defi­cien­cies asso­ci­at­ed with FASD exac­er­bate the impair­ments asso­ci­at­ed with…

Brandon Rhode, a Georgia death row inmate, who was sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on September 21, received a tem­po­rary stay after he attempt­ed to com­mit sui­cide. The Georgia Supreme Court grant­ed a stay until September 24 to allow Rhode access to coun­sel after he was tak­en to the hos­pi­tal on the day of his sched­uled exe­cu­tion. His attor­ney filed a motion stat­ing that his client is incom­pe­tent, and his exe­cu­tion would vio­late stan­dards of cru­el and…

The New Hampshire Commission to Study the Death Penalty held a hear­ing on September 16 at Keene State College, invit­ing the pub­lic to share their views on whether the state should repeal the death penal­ty. Among those tes­ti­fy­ing were a retired police chief, a for­mer pris­on­er, and the moth­er of a mur­der vic­tim, all of whom spoke against cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Margaret Hawthorn, whose daugh­ter was mur­dered last April, told the Commission that she did not want her daughter’s killer…