Publications & Testimony

A fed­er­al appeals court in Ohio has over­turned the death sen­tence imposed on an African American defen­dant whose defense lawyer pre­sent­ed tes­ti­mo­ny from a clin­i­cal psy­chol­o­gist that one quar­ter of urban Black men were sociopaths who should be locked up or thrown…

Five years after for­mer Gov. Eric Greitens issued an exe­cu­tion-day reprieve for a Board of Inquiry to address ques­tions of inno­cence, Marcellus Williams remains on Missouri​’s death row. Though the board pre­sent­ed its rec­om­men­da­tions more than a year ago, cur­rent Gov. Mike Parson has tak­en no action on the…

On the eighth anniver­sary of the August 19, 2014 mur­der of kid­napped jour­nal­ist James Foley, a U.S. fed­er­al dis­trict court in Virginia sen­tenced his killer, Islamic State mil­i­tant El Shafee Elsheikh, to eight life sen­tences in prison. His moth­er, Diane Foley (pic­tured), a lead­ing advo­cate for Americans held hostage abroad, hailed the life sen­tence as ​“a huge vic­to­ry” and ​“a very important…

Racial dis­par­i­ties in U.S. death sen­tences imposed on late ado­les­cent offend­ers have grown sub­stan­tial­ly since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the use of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment against juve­nile offend­ers in 2005, accord­ing to a new report by University of North Carolina polit­i­cal sci­en­tist Frank R. Baumgartner…

A Death Penalty Information Center review of data from the National Registry of Exonerations has found that the pur­suit or threat­ened use of the death penal­ty by police or pros­e­cu­tors in nine dif­fer­ent states led to the wrong­ful mur­der con­vic­tions of at least twelve inno­cent peo­ple who were exon­er­at­ed in…

The Idaho Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s con­sti­tu­tion per­mits a gov­er­nor to reject clemen­cy rec­om­men­da­tions made by the Commission of Pardons and Parole, revers­ing a low­er court’s deci­sion that had blocked the state from exe­cut­ing ter­mi­nal­ly ill pris­on­er Gerald Pizzuto (pic­tured). The rul­ing may allow Idaho to car­ry out its first exe­cu­tion in more than a…

In the August 2022 Discussions With DPIC pod­cast, for­mer Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry and for­mer U.S. Magistrate Judge Andy Lester (pic­tured), two of the co-chairs of the bipar­ti­san Oklahoma Death Penalty Review Commission, call on state offi­cials not to rush for­ward with the state’s planned exe­cu­tion of 25 pris­on­ers. Speaking with DPIC exec­u­tive direc­tor Robert Dunham, Governor Henry, a Democrat, and Judge Lester, a Republican, dis­cuss the…

Oklahoma exe­cut­ed James Coddington (pic­tured, right, at his clemen­cy hear­ing) on August 25, 2022, after Governor Kevin Stitt reject­ed the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board’s rec­om­men­da­tion of clemen­cy, green­light­ing the start of what one faith leader described as a 25-pris­on­er ​“blood­bath.” Stitt’s denial of clemen­cy came as lead­ers across Oklahoma had been urg­ing the gov­er­nor to com­mute Coddington’s sen­tence. Former Oklahoma Department of…

The Tarrant County District Attorney’s office has asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) to vacate Paul Storey​’s death sen­tence, say­ing that his tri­al pros­e­cu­tor ​“bla­tant­ly lied” to his jury that the victim’s fam­i­ly want­ed the death penal­ty and sub­se­quent­ly com­mit­ted per­jury in state post-con­vic­tion pro­ceed­ings to cov­er up that…

Texas pros­e­cu­tors have indict­ed for­mer death-row pris­on­er Clinton Young for a 21-year-old mur­der in one coun­ty after his con­vic­tion and death sen­tence for anoth­er mur­der alleged­ly com­mit­ted as part of the same crim­i­nal episode in anoth­er coun­ty was over­turned because a lead pros­e­cu­tor in that case also secret­ly act­ed as a paid law clerk to judges who presided over Young’s tri­al and state post-conviction…