Publications & Testimony

A recent Philadelphia Inquirer editorial criticized the proposed ​“Streamlined Procedures Act,” federal legislation that would deny or sharply restrict the reach of federal judges in hearing habeas-corpus claims from those on death row. Noting that the measure would increase the possibility of executing an innocent person, the editorial stated: Amid Washington lawmakers’ latest drive to further restrict the appeals of (capital) defendants, they need to recognize what could be at risk with their…

The federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988 with a limited statute for murders in the course of a drug conspiracy. It was expanded to 60 offenses in 1994 and included crimes such as carjacking and drive-by shootings if a death results. During the Clinton administration, no one from a non-death penalty state was sentenced to death. Since 2000, there have been at least 5 individuals in non-death states who have received death sentences: 2 in Iowa (Dustin Honken and Angela Johnson), 1 in…

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney recently testified that the proposed ​“foolproof” death penalty statute he hopes will bring capital punishment back to the state does not eliminate the possibility that an innocent person could be executed. Romney acknowledged to members of the joint House and Senate Judiciary Committee that the proposed law cannot protect the state against the potential for human error, stating, ​“A 100 percent guarantee? I don’t think there’s such a thing in life. Except…

More than a decade after juvenile offender Martin Soto Fong and two other men were tried and sentenced to death in Arizona, questions about Fong’s guilt linger and are underscored by the fact that he is the only one of the three men to remain convicted of the crime. The prosecutor who won their convictions, Kenneth Peasley, was disbarred last year for intentionally eliciting false testimony to win capital murder convictions in the re-trials of Soto’s co-defendants, Christopher McCrimmon and…

The Reverend Carroll Pickett, former chaplain on death row in Texas: Ninety-five times, I personally walked a man who was sentenced to die to the death chamber in Texas. From the very first person executed by lethal injection, through 16 years of walking those eight steps from the holding cell in the death house to the impeccably clean gurney in the death chamber, I led a man — some were older, some convicted in their teens, some mentally ill, some very hardened by life and, I fully know, some…

A variety of legal experts and national organizations have expressed strong concerns about a bill introduced in Congress that would greatly limit federal review of death penalty cases. The American Bar Association called for rejection of the legislation: S. 1088 should not be enacted. Its primary effect would be to insure that the federal courts did not hear compelling claims – including claims of actual innocence. Any possible gain in speed would be offset by the certain loss of justice. As…

Following an investigation indicating that Missouri may have executed an innocent man for the 1980 murder of Quintin Moss, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote that the case was filled with problems that are typical of wrongful convictions in capital cases. Herbert stated that St. Louis circuit attorney Jennifer Joyce has taken ​“the extraordinary step of officially reopening a murder investigation after the defendant was executed,” adding that it is difficult to prove that an innocent…

A year-long investigation by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has uncovered evidence that Larry Griffin may have been innocent of the crime for which he was executed by the state of Missouri on June 21, 1995. Griffin maintained his innocence until his death, and investigators say his case is the strongest demonstration yet of an execution of an innocent man. The report notes that a man injured in the same drive-by shooting that claimed the life of Quintin Moss says Griffin was not…

The U.S. Supreme Court granted a last minute stay for Robin Lovitt, who was scheduled for execution at 9 PM on Monday (July 11) in Virginia. The Court did not give a reason for the stay, but Lovitt stated that he would have been able to show his innocence if state officials had not destroyed DNA evidence from his case after his trial. (See item below posted July 8). (Associated Press, July 11, 2005). See also Innocence.