Publications & Testimony

Kentucky Governor Steven Beshear recent­ly held off sign­ing death war­rants for two inmates because of a short­age of the drug sodi­um thiopen­tal, a key com­po­nent of the state’s lethal injec­tion pro­to­col. Kentucky’s stock of the lethal injec­tion drug expires October 1, and the Department of Corrections does not expect a new sup­ply until ear­ly 2011 because the only sup­pli­er of this drug in the coun­try, Hospira, is unable to obtain the active ingre­di­ent for the…

Paul Clement (pic­tured), for­mer Solicitor General under President George W. Bush, along with a group of for­mer Justice Department pros­e­cu­tors and civ­il rights offi­cials, is ask­ing the U.S. Supreme Court for time to argue on behalf of a for­mer death row inmate in a case address­ing pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct. Lawyers for John Thompson claimed that the New Orleans dis­trict attor­ney’s office systematically withheld…

The orga­ni­za­tion Catholics Against Capital Punishment recent­ly not­ed activ­i­ties relat­ed to the Catholic Church’s offi­cial posi­tion on the death penal­ty. For the first time in recent years, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops​’s annu­al Respect Life pro­gram is urg­ing its par­tic­i­pants to make oppo­si­tion to the death penal­ty a sig­nif­i­cant part of car­ry­ing out the Church’s pro-life teach­ings. The state­ment is based on the 1980…

On August 24, U.S. District Court Judge William T. Moore Jr. reject­ed Troy Davis​’s peti­tion to over­turn his con­vic­tion for killing a police offi­cer in 1989 in Georgia. Judge Moore chose a high stan­dard of proof that Davis would have to meet to estab­lish his inno­cence claim: Davis need­ed to prove by​“clear and con­vinc­ing evi­dence that no rea­son­able juror would have con­vict­ed him in light of the new evi­dence.” Judge Moore…

After an audit of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) con­duct­ed by for­mer FBI agents at the request of North Carolina’s attor­ney gen­er­al, it was revealed that offi­cials with­held blood evi­dence affect­ing 269 defen­dants. The report list­ed three death penal­ty cas­es that result­ed in exe­cu­tions. Although each of the exe­cut­ed defen­dants con­fessed to the crimes, such con­fes­sions are some­times sus­pect and evidence…

The lat­est edi­tion of the Death Penalty Information Center’s series of pod­casts, DPIC on the Issues, is now avail­able for down­load. This pod­cast, Victims and the Death Penalty, explores the issues faced by mur­der vic­tims’ fam­i­lies when cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment is being con­sid­ered. Generally, this series of pod­casts offers brief, infor­ma­tive dis­cus­sions of key death penal­ty issues. Other recent episodes include discussions on…

A gov­­ern­­ment-ordered audit of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation found that the agency false­ly report­ed blood evi­dence in dozens of cas­es, includ­ing three that end­ed in exe­cu­tions. The inquiry, ordered by Attorney General Roy Cooper, found that SBI agents improp­er­ly aid­ed pros­e­cu­tors for over a 16-year peri­od, call­ing into ques­tion con­vic­tions in 230 crim­i­nal cas­es. Duane Deaver, a vet­er­an SBI ana­lyst who per­formed the work in five…

Statement from Attorneys for Kevin Keith in Response to Today’s Parole Board Recommendation Against Clemency The Governor’s ulti­mate respon­si­bil­i­ty is to ensure that no human being is exe­cut­ed in Ohio absent absolute cer­tain­ty. In Kevin Keith’s case, too many ques­tions remain unan­swered, and his exe­cu­tion should not pro­ceed as planned.The Parole Board’s own recita­tion of facts and brief find­ings can­not avoid facts point­ing to the exis­tence of doubt about…

Ron McAndrew, a for­mer war­den who over­saw exe­cu­tions on Florida​’s death row, recent­ly tes­ti­fied at a New Hampshire hear­ing regard­ing the trau­ma prison staff endure dur­ing an exe­cu­tion. McAndrew said,​“Many col­leagues turned to drugs and alco­hol from the pain of know­ing a man had died at their hands. And I’ve been haunt­ed by the men I was asked to exe­cute in the name of the state of Florida.” The New Hampshire hearing was…

In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that his admin­is­tra­tion plans to bor­row over $64 mil­lion from the state’s gen­er­al fund for the con­struc­tion of a new death row at San Quentin. At the same time, the governor’s lawyers have recent­ly sought approval from the courts to fur­lough state work­ers and reduce their pay. Teachers, police offi­cers and fire­fight­ers are los­ing jobs because of the bud­get cri­sis. The…