Publications & Testimony

A federal appeals court has ruled that Ohio must either retry British foreign national Kenny Richey within 90 days or free him from death row. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6^th Circuit threw out Richey’s 1987 conviction and death sentence in the arson death of 2‑year-old Cynthia Collins, ruling that prosecutors failed to offer sufficient evidence of Richey’s guilt. The court also found that his court-appointed attorney was “outside the wide range of professionally competent assistance”…

Former Illinois death row inmate Steven Manning (pictured) has been awarded $6.6 million in a civil lawsuit against two FBI agents. A jury found that the agents had framed Manning twice, including once for murder. The jury found FBI agents Robert Buchan and Gary Miller liable of concocting evidence to frame Manning, their one-time informant and a former Chicago police officer, in the murder of a trucking firm executive and in the kidnapping of two Missouri drug dealers. Manning’s attorney, Jon…

New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver voiced serious doubts about the necessity for capital punishment in light of its high cost and the alternative sentencing option of life without parole. Silver, who supported the death penalty in the past, said: “I have some doubt whether we need a death penalty…. We are spending tens of millions of dollars [that] may be better spent on educating children.” He also remarked that the life-without-parole statute the state now has in place ensures that…

On Thursday, January 27, a movie based on the acclaimed play “The Exonerated” will air on Court TV at 9 p.m. EST. The movie features award-winning actors Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Aidan Quinn, Brian Dennehy, Delroy Lindo, and David Brown, Jr. giving voice to the troubling stories of six persons originally condemned to death but who have since been freed from death row. It follows the original theater script by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen. For more information, see “The Exonerated” on…

A three-part series appearing in the Cleveland Plain Dealer examines the capital conviction of John Spirko, who remains on Ohio’s death row for the 1982 murder of Elgin, Ohio postmaster Betty Jane Mottinger. The paper’s investigation found that Spirko’s imagination and “not much else” had brought him to the brink of execution despite concerns of his innocence. Shortly after Mottinger’s body was found, Spirko voluntarily contacted police to provide information about the murder. According to the…

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, 2005)

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 cruel…

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 process…

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 suffers…