Publications & Testimony
Items: 31 — 40
Aug 20, 2024
New Analysis from The Appeal Finds Anti-LGBTQ+ Bias Affects the Fate of Defendants in Death Penalty Cases
An analysis from The Appeal of more than two dozen cases in which LGBTQ+ defendants faced the death penalty found evidence that anti-LGBTQ+ bias affected case outcomes. After an examination of media reports, academic journals, and legal documents, The Appeal determined that these cases are likely a significant undercount of the number of LGBTQ+ people sentenced to death. “These capital cases illustrate the ingrained anti-LGBTQ+ bias endemic to the U.S. legal system — from sodomy…
Read MoreAug 19, 2024
Kansas City Star Op-Ed Describes the Death Penalty as the “Ultimate Failed Big-Government Program” and Calls for Abolition
In an August 14, 2024 op-ed in The Kansas City Star, Carolyn McGinn, a Kansas State Senate Republican representing District 31, and Kelson Bohnet, a capital public defender and board member for the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty, argue that the state’s capital punishment system has failed, emphasizing its costliness, lack of deterrent effect, and inherent risk of “irreparable harm,” and call for abolition during the next legislative…
Read MoreAug 16, 2024
Articles of Interest: U.S. Senator, Former U.S. Solicitor General and Victim’s Family Member Express Support for 9/11 Plea Deals
Theodore B. Olson, former U.S. Solicitor General from 2001 to 2004, who lost his wife in the September 11th terror attacks, says he felt relief upon hearing the announcement that three of the defendants entered into an agreement to plead guilty in exchange for removal of the death penalty as a sentencing option. However, Mr. Olson writes that his relief was short-lived when within 48 hours of the announcement Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the plea agreement. Mr. Olson believes this…
Read MoreAug 15, 2024
Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board Recommends Clemency for Prisoner Scheduled for September Execution
On August 7, 2024, Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board voted 3 – 2 to recommend clemency for 52-year-old Emmanuel Littlejohn, who is currently scheduled to be executed on September 26. The final decision to grant clemency, reducing Mr. Littlejohn’s death sentence to life without parole, rests with Governor Kevin Stitt, who has only granted clemency once during his…
Read MoreAug 14, 2024
Florida’s Governor DeSantis Schedules First Execution of 2024 for Dozier Reform School Survivor After 10-Month Execution Hiatus
On July 29, 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the state’s first execution warrant of 2024, scheduling an execution date for Loran Cole (pictured) in just thirty days, on August 29, 2024. Mr. Cole’s execution warrant comes nearly ten months after Florida’s last execution, which was the last of the state’s six executions carried out in 2023. Mr. Cole was sentenced to death in 1995 for the murder of a Florida State University student in Marion County, Florida. Following the issuance of…
Read MoreAug 13, 2024
New Analysis: Innocent Death-Sentenced Prisoners Wait Longer than Ever for Exoneration
On July 1, after waiting 41 years for his name to be cleared, Larry Roberts became the 200th person exonerated from death row. A new Death Penalty Information Center analysis finds that Mr. Roberts’ experience illustrates a troubling trend: for innocent death-sentenced prisoners, the length of time between wrongful conviction and exoneration is increasing. In the past twenty years, the average length of time before exoneration has roughly tripled, and 2024 has the highest-ever average wait…
Read MoreAug 12, 2024
New York Times Video Op-eds Highlight Systemic Flaws in the Capital Punishment System, Including Mistakes from Junk Science and Lack of Closure for Victims’ Families
In the second and third videos of The New York Times’ three-part series, “The Fallibility of Justice,” Brett Malone, whose mother’s killer remains on Louisiana death row, and Texas death-sentenced prisoner Charles Don Flores provide their perspectives on capital punishment. The New York Times has consistently called for abolition of the death penalty, describing it as “full of bias and error, morally abhorrent, [and] futile in deterring crime.”…
Read MoreAug 08, 2024
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush Expresses Regrets Regarding His Experience with Capital Punishment: “I Was Very Uncomfortable With It”
In a July podcast episode from Deeper Dive with Dara Kam, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (pictured) spoke about his beliefs on capital punishment and his regrets about not having enough time to reform Florida’s death penalty process. Gov. Bush, who oversaw 21 executions during his eight years in office, said that “it’s one of those things that would probably be unpopular to do, but figuring out a way to reform the system given the existing laws that we have now, I think would be…
Read MoreAug 07, 2024
Worldwide Wednesday International Roundup: Belarus, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore
30-year-old German national Rico Krieger, who was sentenced to death on six charges related to terrorism, espionage, and mercenary activity, was pardoned by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on July 30, 2024, thereby converting his death sentence to a life prison term. On August 1, Mr. Krieger was subsequently released during the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War, according to The Guardian. Eight Russian prisoners were released from Western nations, including…
Read MoreAug 06, 2024
Discussions with DPIC Podcast: Legal Fellow Leah Roemer on the Politicization of the Death Penalty
In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with Leah Roemer, DPIC’s Legal Fellow and a primary author of our recent report, Lethal Election: How the U.S. Electoral Process Increases the Arbitrariness of the Death Penalty. Leah graduated from Berkeley Law in 2023, where she participated in the Death Penalty Clinic and earned a certificate in Public Interest and Social Justice. Leah discusses how some judges, prosecutors, and…
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