Publications & Testimony

Items: 41 — 50


Jan 19, 2024

Department of Justice Decides Against Seeking Federal Death Penalty in Colorado Club Q Mass Shooting

On January 16, 2024, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that pros­e­cu­tors reached a plea deal with Anderson Aldrich, the indi­vid­ual respon­si­ble for killing five and wound­ing dozens of oth­ers in the November 19, 2022, shoot­ing of Colorado’s Club Q, an LGBTQ+ bar in Colorado Springs. The United States Attorney’s Office alleges that Aldrich com­mit­ted this attack because of actu­al or per­ceived sex­u­al ori­en­ta­tion and gen­der iden­ti­ty of any per­son.” Aldrich will plead guilty to fifty fed­er­al hate crime charges and twen­ty-four firearm vio­la­tion charges in exchange for…

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Jan 18, 2024

Discussions with DPIC Podcast: Life After Death Row with Anthony Graves

In this month’s episode of Discussions with DPIC, Managing Director Anne Holsinger speaks with for­mer death-sen­tenced pris­on­er Anthony Graves. Exonerated from Texas’ death row in 2010, Mr. Graves has since become an advo­cate for crim­i­nal jus­tice reform, cre­at­ing the Anthony Graves Foundation, work­ing with the ACLU and Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and tes­ti­fy­ing before the U.S. Senate on prison con­di­tions. Mr. Graves has also authored an auto­bi­og­ra­phy titled Infinite Hope: How Wrongful Conviction, Solitary Confinement and 12 Years on Death Row Failed to Kill My Soul.

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Jan 17, 2024

POSSIBLE INNOCENCE: Despite DNA Evidence Clearing Marcellus Williams, Missouri Intends to Execute Him

The Missouri Supreme Court is con­sid­er­ing how to apply a rarely used state law intend­ed to pre­vent wrong­ful exe­cu­tions. Marcellus Williams (pic­tured), a death row pris­on­er who main­tains his inno­cence, could face exe­cu­tion if the state’s high court allows Governor Mike Parson to dis­solve a board of inquiry that for­mer Governor Eric Greitens formed to exam­ine Mr. Williams’ inno­cence claims. Mr. Williams’ attor­neys argue that state law requires the board to pro­vide a report and rec­om­men­da­tion to the gov­er­nor, while Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey argues that Gov. Parson’s clemency…

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Jan 16, 2024

U.S. Department of Justice Authorizes First Federal Death Penalty Case for Payton Gendron, Teen Who Killed Ten Black People in 2022

On January 12, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it will seek a death sen­tence for Payton Gendron, the then-18-year-old who killed 10 Black peo­ple at a Tops super­mar­ket in Buffalo, New York in 2022. This is the first cap­i­tal case autho­rized by Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Biden Administration’s DOJ. The announce­ment came twen­ty months after the mass shoot­ing and eleven months after Mr. Gendron pled guilty to state first degree mur­der charges and was sen­tenced to mul­ti­ple sen­tences of life with­out parole. Although New…

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Jan 10, 2024

Catholic Organizers See Renewed Momentum” for Death Penalty Abolition from Pope Francis’ Teachings

In 2018, Pope Francis for­mal­ly revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church — its core teach­ings — to oppose the death penal­ty. Characterizing cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment as an attack on the invi­o­la­bil­i­ty and dig­ni­ty of the per­son,” he wrote that the Catholic Church works with deter­mi­na­tion for its abo­li­tion world­wide.” This revi­sion updat­ed a 1997 Catechism edit by Pope John Paul II that per­mit­ted the death penal­ty in rare cas­es where it was deemed the only pos­si­ble way of effec­tive­ly defend­ing human lives against the unjust aggres­sor.” In the five years since Pope Francis affirmed…

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Jan 09, 2024

Federally Death-Sentenced Prisoners Allege that New Conditions of Confinement Contributed to Recent Prisoner Death

According to state­ments from sev­er­al fed­er­al death row pris­on­ers, the new adverse con­di­tions” on death row in Terre Haute, Indiana, con­tributed to the December 1, 2023 death of Nasih Khalil Ra’id. Fellow pris­on­ers say Mr. Ra’id, whose giv­en name at birth was Odell Corley, died by sui­cide. Prison offi­cials have not released the report from Mr. Ra’id’s autop­sy or com­ment­ed on the cause of his death.

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Jan 08, 2024

Oklahoma Court Stays Scheduled Execution Pending Evaluation of Seriously Mentally Ill Prisoner

On December 22, 2023, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals issued a 100-day stay of exe­cu­tion to car­ry out a men­tal com­pe­ten­cy hear­ing for James Ryder, who was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on February 1, 2024. Mr. Ryder’s attor­neys have argued for years that he is not com­pe­tent to face exe­cu­tion, cit­ing long stand­ing men­tal ill­ness that has wors­ened through­out his incar­cer­a­tion. Several psy­chol­o­gists have diag­nosed Mr. Ryder with para­noid schiz­o­phre­nia and con­clud­ed he is not com­pe­tent to face exe­cu­tion. Having reviewed the evi­dence, we find the mat­ter should be…

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