Publications & Testimony

Testimony of DPIC Executive Director Richard Dieter before the New York State Assembly Standing Committees on Codes, Judiciary, and Correction on Costs of the Death Penalty and Related Issues (January 25,…

In a recent op-ed in the Albany Times Union, crim­i­nal jus­tice expert Scott Christianson asked that state lead­ers con­sid­er New York’s well-doc­u­ment­ed prob­lems with wrong­ful con­vic­tions before try­ing to fix the state’s uncon­sti­tu­tion­al death penal­ty statute. Christianson, a for­mer state crim­i­nal jus­tice offi­cial, doc­u­ment­ed more than 130 cas­es (most of them involv­ing con­vic­tions since 1980), in which inno­cent per­sons were con­vict­ed (most­ly of mur­der) and sen­tenced to long prison terms in New…

In Kentucky, a Franklin Circuit Court judge will hear evi­dence for pos­si­bly five days in April on whether the state’s method of exe­cut­ing pris­on­ers is humane. Medical experts will tes­ti­fy about the drugs, dosage and train­ing of the peo­ple who admin­is­ter the 3‑drug lethal-injec­tion cock­tail. Lawyers for con­demned inmates Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr. and Ralph Baze sued the state in August, say­ing Kentucky’s method of exe­cu­tion vio­lates a pris­on­er’s Eighth Amendment right not to be subjected to…

Seven peo­ple on Georgia’s death row are with­out legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion as they face their final rounds of appeal. Georgia does not guar­an­tee pub­licly fund­ed lawyers for death row inmates beyond the first round of appeal. According to many legal experts, includ­ing retired Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Clark, the fail­ure to pro­vide legal coun­sel increas­es the like­li­hood of a wrong­ful exe­cu­tion. ​“It’s a very impor­tant check in the sys­tem that’s miss­ing. There can be slips in the…

In a recent Hartford Courant opin­ion piece, psy­chi­a­trist Robert C. Goodwin spoke about the men­tal ill­ness afflict­ing Michael Ross, who is sched­uled for exe­cu­tion in Connecticut on January 26. Dr. Goodwin was a psy­chi­atric con­sul­tant to the state of Connecticut from 1983 – 2001 and took part in Michael Ross’ eval­u­a­tion and treat­ment over the years, appear­ing as an expert wit­ness in Ross’ sec­ond tri­al. Dr. Goodwin believes the exe­cu­tion should be stopped: Although demon­stra­bly sane, Ross…

A recent report issued by the Kansas Judicial Council Death Penalty Advisory Committee exam­ines the state’s appli­ca­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and the hefty price tag of seek­ing the death penal­ty. The Committee found that since Kansas rein­stat­ed the death penal­ty in 1994 there were 44 poten­tial cap­i­tal cas­es involv­ing minor­i­ty vic­tims. However, none of these cas­es result­ed in a death sen­tence. Of the eight defen­dants in Kansas who did receive death sen­tences, all of their victims were…

Just days before the sched­uled exe­cu­tion of Donald Beardslee in California, the Los Angeles Times has called for his clemen­cy while ques­tion­ing the even-hand­ed­ness of the whole sys­tem. The edi­to­r­i­al con­cludes that the death penal­ty is a ​“lie” to the peo­ple of California: Donald Beardslee was 38 years old in 1981 when he shot one woman and stran­gled and slashed anoth­er in San Mateo County, retal­i­a­tion for a soured drug deal. He is now 61. So many years have passed since a jury sen­tenced him to…

Following a manslaugh­ter con­vic­tion for a crime com­mit­ted when he was 19 years old in Louisiana in 1961, Wilbert Rideau, the acclaimed prison jour­nal­ist, was set free by the tri­al judge on Saturday, January 15. His con­vic­tion car­ries a max­i­mum sen­tence of 21 years and Rideau has already served 44 years in prison, pri­mar­i­ly in Angola. Rideau, who is black, was orig­i­nal­ly con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death by an all-white, all-male jury for killing a white woman. His death sen­tence was overturned…

Following a manslaugh­ter con­vic­tion for a crime com­mit­ted when he was 19 years old in Louisiana in 1961, Wilbert Rideau, the acclaimed prison jour­nal­ist, was set free by the tri­al judge on Saturday. January 15. His con­vic­tion car­ries a max­i­mum sen­tence of 21 years and Rideau has already served 44 years in prison, pri­mar­i­ly in Angola. Rideau, who is black, was orig­i­nal­ly con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death by an all-white, all-male jury for killing a white woman. His death sen­tence was overturned…

Opinion; San Francisco Chronicle, January 15,…