Publications & Testimony

David Powell (pic­tured left), who was sen­tenced to death in 1978 for the shoot­ing of Austin police offi­cer Ralph Ablanedo (pic­tured below), faces exe­cu­tion in Texas on June 15. During his 30 years on death row, Powell has shown sin­cere remorse and regret for his actions. In 2009, Powell wrote to Officer Ablanedo’s fam­i­ly: ​“I am infi­nite­ly sor­ry that I killed Ralph Ablanedo. I shot Officer Ablanedo and I take responsibility…

The Last Gasp: The Rise and Fall of the American Gas Chamber details the his­to­ry and devel­op­ment of the gas cham­ber as a method of exe­cu­tion in the United States. Author Scott Christianson explores con­nec­tions between the gas cham­ber and the eugen­ics move­ment, as well as new evi­dence about Hitler’s adop­tion of gas cham­ber tech­nol­o­gy devel­oped in the United States. Charles Lanier, Director of the Capital Punishment Research Initiative, said, ​“Scott…

A recent study pub­lished by the Equal Justice Initiative, a non­prof­it human rights and legal ser­vices orga­ni­za­tion in Alabama, shows that the prac­tice of exclud­ing blacks and oth­er racial minori­ties from juries remains wide­spread and large­ly unchecked, espe­cial­ly in the South. The study, ​“Illegal Racial Discrimination in Jury Selection: A Continuing Legacy,” found that in Alabama, courts have found racial­ly dis­crim­i­na­to­ry jury selec­tion in 25…

Last Words of the Executed by Robert K. Elder is a com­pi­la­tion of the final state­ments of death row inmates short­ly before their exe­cu­tion. The book, with a fore­word by Studs Terkel, also describes the crime and some of the social set­ting of each case pre­sent­ed. According to a review in The Economist, ​“The last words are remark­able for their remorse, humour, hatred, res­ig­na­tion, fear and brava­do…. America’s diverse her­itage is stamped even…

On May 24, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a deci­sion by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, there­by giv­ing the defen­dant anoth­er chance to show that his tri­al coun­sel was con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly inef­fec­tive. Lawrence Jefferson was sen­tenced to death in Georgia, despite the fact that he had suf­fered seri­ous head injuries as a child. In an appeal in state court, he claimed that his attor­ney failed to inves­ti­gate this ear­ly trau­ma. The…

On May 24, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to con­sid­er whether a Texas death row inmate’s request for DNA test­ing can be con­sid­ered as a civ­il rights claim rather than part of his death penal­ty appeal. The Court stayed Hank Skinner​’s exe­cu­tion on March 24, just one hour before he was to be put to death. Skinner, who has always main­tained his inno­cence of the 1993 mur­ders of his girl­friend and her two sons, has request­ed that Texas per­form DNA…