Publications & Testimony

Results from DNA test­ing may soon lead to the exon­er­a­tion of Larry Peterson in New Jersey. He would become the first per­son in the state to be cleared of a homi­cide through DNA evi­dence. Peterson was con­vict­ed of a rape and mur­der that occurred in 1987. For the past 10 years, Peterson tried to have DNA evi­dence from his case test­ed. At his orig­i­nal tri­al in which he faced the pos­si­bil­i­ty of a death sen­tence, the pros­e­cu­tion main­tained that hairs from the crime scene…

A 15-mem­ber mil­i­tary jury sen­tenced Sgt. Hasan Akbar to death for killing 2 U.S. mil­i­tary offi­cers in Kuwait in 2003 dur­ing the open­ing days of the Iraq inva­sion. At his sen­tenc­ing, Akbar said,​“I want to apol­o­gize for the attack that occurred. I felt that my life was in jeop­ardy, and I had no oth­er options. I also want to ask you for for­give­ness.” He is the first American since the Vietnam era to be pros­e­cut­ed for mur­der­ing a fel­low sol­dier in wartime. (N.Y. Times,…

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Oregon v. Guzek — The U.S. Supreme Court has announced that it will con­sid­er whether cap­i­tal defen­dants have a con­sti­tu­tion­al right to present evi­dence that would cast doubt on their con­vic­tion dur­ing the penal­ty phase of their death penal­ty tri­als, a ques­tion that has divid­ed state and low­er fed­er­al courts for many years. The defen­dant, Randy Lee Guzek, sought to intro­duce ali­bi evi­dence after he was con­vict­ed dur­ing the sen­tenc­ing phase of his tri­al. This…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, April 25, 2005 CONTACT: Brenda BowserOffice: (202) 293‑6970, x215Cell: (301) 906‑4460bbowser@​deathpenaltyinfo.​orgDEATH SENTENCES CONTINUED TO DECLINE IN 2004WASHINGTON, DC – In 2004, 125 peo­ple were sen­tenced to death in the United States, the fewest num­ber since cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was rein­stat­ed in 1976. Death sen­tences have declined by more than 50% since the late 1990’s and the…

A recent Los Angeles Times edi­to­r­i­al called on California law­mak­ers to impose a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions until a state com­mis­sion charged with exam­in­ing the fair­ness and accu­ra­cy of California’s death penal­ty laws can fin­ish its work. The paper not­ed that a sim­i­lar review led by New York state law­mak­ers result­ed in find­ings that effec­tive­ly end­ed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in that state for this year. The edi­to­r­i­al stat­ed:Many Californians, law­mak­ers as well…

“Scott Sundby’s new book,​“A Life and Death Decision: A Jury Weighs the Death Penalty” is an impar­tial look at cap­i­tal jury delib­er­a­tions through the exam­i­na­tion of data col­lect­ed by the Capital Jury Project and oth­er stud­ies of group deci­­sion-mak­ing. Drawing on the Capital Jury Project’s inter­views with more than 1,000 jurors from across the coun­try who had tak­en part in death penal­ty cas­es, the book address­es cru­cial issues such as jury instruc­tions, jury room…

Executed on a Technicality: Lethal Injustice on America’s Death Row, by Professor David Dow, is a behind-the-scenes look at the death penal­ty through the lens of an attor­ney who for­mer­ly sup­port­ed cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Dow, who teach­es at the University of Houston Law Center and found­ed the Texas Innocence Network, pro­vides case his­to­ries illus­trat­ing seri­ous flaws in the death penal­ty sys­tem. He uses these cas­es to guide read­ers through a web of coerced…

The Louisiana Supreme Court recent­ly ruled that tri­al judges can halt pros­e­cu­tions of poor defen­dants until the state comes up with the mon­ey to pay for an ade­quate defense. Louisiana has in the past failed to ade­quate­ly fund indi­gent defense pro­grams.​“I think it’s a warn­ing,” said Phyllis Mann, appoint­ed coun­sel for Benjamin Tonguis and Adrian Citizen, two death penal­ty defen­dants whose cas­es were reviewed by the state supreme court.​“The court is say­ing as plainly as…

An Arizona court has over­turned the con­vic­tion of death row inmate Clarence Hill because of new DNA evi­dence. The court not­ed that,​“It is more like­ly than not that no rea­son­able juror would have con­vict­ed Mr. Hill in light of the present DNA evi­dence.” Hill has spent 15 years on death row for the mur­der of his land­lord, but new DNA tests have revealed that the vic­tim was not the source of the blood found on Hill’s cloth­ing and bed­sheets dur­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion. The…