Publications & Testimony

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…

A deci­sion on the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of South Carolina​’s new­ly adopt­ed exe­cu­tion meth­ods now rests in the hands a tri­al court judge after lawyers for death-row pris­on­ers and the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) pre­sent­ed four days of con­flict­ing expert tes­ti­mo­ny about the amount of pain suf­fered dur­ing fir­ing squad and electric chair…

Oklahoma Governor J. Kevin Stitt has issued a 60-day stay of exe­cu­tion to death-row pris­on­er Richard Glossip. The order, issued August 16, 2022, delays Glossip’s September 22 exe­cu­tion to pro­vide the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals time to review a pend­ing motion by Glossip seek­ing an evi­den­tiary hear­ing on new evi­dence that he is inno­cent of the 1997 mur­der of Barry Van Treese, his boss at an Oklahoma City motel. Glossip filed that motion…

A pri­vate autop­sy of Alabama death-row pris­on­er Joe Nathan James, Jr. sug­gests that unqual­i­fied cor­rec­tions per­son­nel sub­ject­ed him to a tor­tur­ous, hours-long exe­cu­tion process in a botched exe­cu­tion that experts say was the longest since the advent of lethal injec­tion forty years…

Texas on August 17, 2022 exe­cut­ed Kosoul Chanthakoummane (pic­tured), whose con­vic­tion pros­e­cu­tors obtained with dis­cred­it­ed foren­sic tes­ti­mo­ny. He was the sec­ond defen­dant of col­or in less than a month to be put to death over the objec­tion of the victim’s…

The American Psychological Association (APA) has over­whelm­ing­ly adopt­ed a res­o­lu­tion call­ing for courts and leg­is­la­tors to ban the use of the death penal­ty against peo­ple charged with com­mit­ting crimes while they were under age 21. Saying that ​“the same sci­en­tif­ic and soci­etal rea­sons” that led the U.S. Supreme Court to bar cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for offend­ers younger than age 18 also ​“apply to the late ado­les­cent class,” the APA, the nation’s largest pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion of psychologists,…

An Illinois woman who was sen­tenced to death with­out a tri­al as a result of a false con­fes­sion coerced by a dis­graced Chicago detec­tive has been exon­er­at­ed after 29…