Publications & Testimony

Items: 41 — 50

Jan 07, 2025

Aaron Gunches Asks for February Execution Date, Raising New Concerns About Arizona’s Lethal Injection Protocol and the Execution of ​“Volunteers”

No jury has ever learned about Aaron Gunches’ life his­to­ry and expe­ri­ences, noth­ing about his child­hood, men­tal and phys­i­cal health, or trau­ma — the mit­i­ga­tion evi­dence that the Supreme Court has said is essen­tial to a con­sti­tu­tion­al death sen­tence. Arizona courts judged Mr. Gunches com­pe­tent to rep­re­sent him­self in two sep­a­rate tri­als for the mur­der of his ex-girlfriend’s hus­band, and he pre­sent­ed no defense in either pro­ceed­ing. Jurors twice sentenced him…

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Jan 06, 2025

Military Appeals Court Rules 9/​11 Defendants Can Plead to Avoid Death Sentences

On December 30, 2024, a mil­i­tary appeals court upheld a low­er court rul­ing reject­ing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s attempt to throw out plea deals reached for three men charged in the September 11 ter­ror­ism attacks. The court affirmed Judge Colonel Matthew N. McCall’s rul­ing in November 2024 that the plea agree­ments reached in July 2024 are valid. Col. McCall stat­ed at the time that he would pro­ceed with the…

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Jan 03, 2025

Tennessee to Resume Executions with Single-Drug Lethal Injection Protocol

On December 27, 2024, the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) com­plet­ed a mul­ti-year lethal injec­tion pro­to­col review and announced that instead of the pre­vi­ous three-drug cock­tail, lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tions will use a sin­­gle-drug bar­bi­t­u­ate, pen­to­bar­bi­tal. Ohio was the first state to use pen­to­bar­bi­tal, in the March 2011 exe­cu­tion of Johnnie Roy Baston. State offi­cials now use sin­gle drug pro­to­cols in 14 states, includ­ing Tennessee, as well as in…

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Dec 19, 2024

DPI Year End Report 2024: Death Sentences and Executions Remain Near Historic Lows Amid Growing Concerns about Fairness and Innocence

This year marked the tenth con­sec­u­tive year dur­ing which few­er than 30 peo­ple were exe­cut­ed (25) and few­er than 50 peo­ple were sen­tenced to death (26), while high pro­file cas­es of death-sen­­tenced peo­ple attract­ed sig­nif­i­cant atten­tion and new, unex­pect­ed sup­port­ers. In most U.S. states, the death penal­ty is a rel­ic of anoth­er era. According to DPI’s 2024 Year End Report, just four states (Alabama, Texas, Missouri, and Oklahoma) were respon­si­ble for more than…

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Dec 17, 2024

Indiana’s First Execution in 15 Years Raises Serious Constitutional Concerns

If Joseph Corcoran had been sen­tenced to death just a few miles to the east, across the bor­der in Ohio instead of in Fort Wayne, Indiana, it’s like­ly that a court would have barred his exe­cu­tion. Ohio law pre­vents a per­son with a seri­ous men­tal ill­ness (SMI) at the time of their crime, defined as schiz­o­phre­nia, schizoaf­fec­tive dis­or­der, bipo­lar dis­or­der, or delu­sion­al dis­or­der, from being put to death. Mr. Corcoran, who has a long his­to­ry of paranoid…

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Dec 10, 2024

Federal Court Stays Clemency Hearing of Oklahoma Prisoner with December Execution Date

On December 9, 2024, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a tem­po­rary stay for Kevin Underwood’s clemen­cy hear­ing sched­uled that same-day with the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, which is lack­ing its full five-mem­ber com­pli­ment after two res­ig­na­tions in recent months and one last minute addi­tion on December 6. This deci­sion marks the sec­ond time Mr. Underwood’s clemen­cy hear­ing has been can­celed. Meanwhile, Mr. Underwood, age 44, is fac­ing a December 19 execution…

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