Publications & Testimony

Two years after Mexican foreign national Gerardo Valdez came within days of his scheduled execution in Oklahoma, a jury has resentenced him to life without parole. In 2001, after reviewing evidence that Valdez was denied his right to seek assistance from the Mexican consulate as required by the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted to recommend Valdez’s clemency request, and Mexican President Vicente Fox made a personal plea to Governor Frank…

An Elon University Institute for Politics and Public Affairs poll of North Carolinians found that 41% support a proposed 2‑year moratorium on executions to allow time to examine problems that could result in the execution of an innocent person. Although 62% of those surveyed said they support the death penalty, only 38% opposed a moratorium and the remaining 21% of respondents were undecided. The North Carolina Senate passed a moratorium measure in 2003, and the House is expected to take up the…

According to a report by the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform, an F.B.I. policy to protect Boston informants who were known murderers resulted in the Bureau allowing at least two innocent men to be sent to death row. Investigators noted that the policy “must be considered one of the greatest failures in the history of federal law enforcement” and had “disastrous consequences.” According to the report, the F.B.I. was so intent on protecting guilty informants that it passed up…

By a vote of 115 – 0, members of the Illinois House approved a series of reforms to the state’s death penalty system. The legislative package gives the Illinois Supreme Court greater power to throw out unjust verdicts, gives defendants more access to evidence, and bars the death penalty in cases based on a single witness. The reforms are among the 80 recommendations made by the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment, formed in 2000 by former Governor George Ryan to address wrongful convictions…

The United Kingdom’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s Human Rights Annual Report 2003 includes a review of Britain’s official actions to address concerns about the application of the death penalty in the United States. In addition to an outline of the U.K.’s reaction to significant death penalty developments in the U.S., the report highlights the sharp difference between British and U.S. capital punishment policies. It states: The UK Government opposes the death penalty and its use on British…

An 8‑part series titled “Murder, Race, Justice: The State vs. Darryl Hunt” examines the case against Darryl Hunt, who has been in prison in North Carolina for nearly 20 years despite credible evidence of his innocence. The series concludes a six-month investigation conducted by The Winston-Salem Journal that found that police used questionable tactics and unreliable witnesses to convict Hunt for the 1984 rape and murder of reporter Deborah Sykes. It also reveals that instead of reinvestigating…

In his latest book, “Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer’s Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty,” attorney and author Scott Turow provides a detailed look at his personal journey with the death penalty issue from his days as a federal prosecutor to his more recent service as a member of the Illinois Commission on Capital Punishment. In addition to Turow’s first-hand account, the book analyzes the potential reasons for and against the death penalty, discusses its impact on victims’ families…

In a report examining Virginia’s death penalty system, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has urged the state to enact a moratorium on executions until its flawed capital punishment system is reformed. The report, “Broken Justice: The Death Penalty in Virginia,” reviews issues such as the quality of defense counsel, prosecutorial misconduct, racial bias, innocence, and the execution of those with mental retardation and juvenile offenders. The findings, which were endorsed by a coalition…

Psychiatrist Cynthia Smith, who served as a key witness in the 1990 death penalty case against John Daniels of North Carolina, has recanted her testimony because state prosecutors withheld important information from her. “My testimony was erroneous with gross errors. Not only did the prosecution fail to give me all the relevant information, I did not look for the information either,” White said in an affidavit about the testimony she gave in her first and only capital case. She added, “John…