Publications & Testimony

On March 25, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6 – 3 in Medellin v. Texas (No. 06 – 984) that the President does not have the authority to order states to bypass their procedural rules and comply with a ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The case arose from an appeal by Jose Medellin, a Mexican citizen on Texas’ death row who, along with 50 other Mexican death row inmates, filed suit in the ICJ alleging a violation of their rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The…

On March 20, the Georgia State Senate overwhelmingly (44 – 7) rejected a proposal that would have allowed non-unanimous jury sentencing verdicts in capital cases. The proposal would have permitted a judge to impose a death sentence when at least 10 of 12 jurors supported it. Current Georgia law requires that the jury vote unanimously for a death sentence. Some opponents of the bill said it would have put Georgia’s entire death penalty law in jeopardy. (All other death penalty states that allow…

A recent Harris Interactive poll of over 1,000 American adults found that the number of people who oppose the death penalty has increased since 2003. Thirty-percent (30%) of those sampled oppose the death penalty, an increase of 8 percentage points in the past 5 years. The percentage of respondents who “believe in capital punishment” has dropped significantly since 1997, when 75% supported the death penalty. In 2008, that number had declined to 63%, the lowest number in recent years. The poll…

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7 – 2 on March 19 that the conviction and death sentence of Allen Snyder should be overturned because the trial judge allowed a potential juror to be rejected on what appeared to be racial grounds. The decision, written by Justice Samuel Alito, focused on the elimination of an African-American man from jury panel. The Court rejected the prosecution’s non-racial reasons for striking this juror: “The implausibility of this explanation is reinforced by the prosecutor’s…

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said that he hopes that the Guantanamo prisoners accused of terrorism do not receive the death penalty in the upcoming Military Commission trials because it would give them the martyrdom that they want. In a recent talk to British economic students, Mukasey said he supports the death penalty, but, “In a way I kind of hope from a personal standpoint … I kind of hope they don’t get it. Because many of them want to be martyrs ….” Prosecuting attorneys for the…

On March 17, the Georgia Supreme Court voted 4 – 3 against Troy Davis’ request for a new trial. Davis, who is on death row for the 1989 murder of a police officer, claims he is innocent and that he was a victim of mistaken identity. Since his trial in 1991, seven of the witnesses called by the prosecution have recanted their testimony. Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears wrote in the dissenting opinion that Davis should at least have a hearing because, “In this case, nearly every witness who identified…

The Death Penalty Information Center is pleased to announce the introduction of a new Web page on Native Americans and the death penalty. The page contains information on the use of the death penalty against Native Americans and includes the results of an extensive historical study conducted by David V. Baker. His research was recently published in the December 2007 edition of Criminal Justice Studies, and is the first of its kind. Baker reported 464 executions of Native Americans between 1639…

Family members of murder victims testified before the Maryland Senate Judiciary Committee on March 6 about the painful toll the death penalty has taken on their lives, stating that the resources spent on seeking death sentences could be better used elsewhere. “I’ve watched too many families go through this to make me believe the system will ever work,” said Kathy Garcia, whose nephew was murdered 20 years ago. She continued, “The death penalty divides families at the very time they need each…