Publications & Testimony

As Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (pictured) considers the clemency petitions filed by 51 of the state’s 57 death row prisoners, advocates and journalists have noted the similarities between Louisiana’s death penalty system and that of Illinois, where Governor George Ryan commuted the sentences of all 167 people on death row in 2003. Both states have had high numbers of death row exonerations stemming from systemic misconduct, death sentences in both states are concentrated in a small…

On June 28, 2023, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) denied Rodney Reed’s (pictured) application for habeas relief and rejected Mr. Reed’s claim that prosecutors at his 1998 trial illegally presented false testimony and withheld exculpatory evidence that could have exonerated him. His case gained international attention in 2019 when a bipartisan group of lawmakers urged Republican Governor Abbot to stop his execution. Throughout his incarceration, he has continued to maintain his innocence.

A forthcoming law review article tackles big questions about prosecutorial misconduct. The Brady Database focuses on the principle stated in the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland: that the government’s withholding of evidence that is material to the determination of either guilt or punishment of a criminal defendant violates the defendant’s constitutional right to due process. While the article focuses on Brady claims in criminal law generally, these claims are often raised by…

June 28, 2023 marks the 30^th anniversary of the exoneration of Kirk Bloodsworth (pictured), the first person exonerated from death row with DNA evidence. In the three decades since he was exonerated from Maryland’s death row, Mr. Bloodsworth has been a vocal advocate for criminal justice reform. He played an essential role in ending the death penalty in Maryland in 2013 and served as director of Witness to Innocence, an organization of death row exonerees. Since Mr. Bloodsworth’s exoneration…

The resentencing hearings of several death-sentenced men in Florida came to an abrupt halt last week as the Florida Supreme Court considers the effect of the state’s new capital sentencing law. Earlier this year, the Florida legislature passed a new capital sentencing law to allow juries to impose a death sentence if at least 8 out of 12 jurors vote in favor. But several death row defendants who were scheduled to be resentenced objected that the new law unfairly made their chances of being…

In the June 2023 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Death Penalty Information Center Managing Director Anne Holsinger and Data Storyteller Tiana Herring discuss the latest Racial Justice Storytelling Report, Doomed to Repeat: The Legacy of Race in Tennessee’s Contemporary Death Penalty. The report examines the history of Tennessee’s capital punishment system, documenting the continued impact of racial discrimination and racial violence on the administration of the death penalty. Ms. Herring, the…

On June 15, 2023, Ohio death-sentenced prisoner Lamont Hunter (pictured) was released after serving nearly 18 years for allegedly causing the death of his 3‑year-old son, Trustin Blue. To obtain his freedom, he pleaded guilty to lesser charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment. Prosecutors agreed to offer a plea deal after Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Christian A. Jenkins set bond for Mr. Hunter and dismissed prosecutors’ request to deny his bond. Mr. Hunter was…

The Death Penalty Information Center’s new report on race and the death penalty in Tennessee places the state’s death penalty system in historical context, documenting how racial discrimination and racial violence continue to influence the administration of the death penalty. Doomed to Repeat: The Legacy of Race in Tennessee’s Contemporary Death Penalty, released June 22, 2023, notes that as the Tennessee Department of Correction develops new lethal injection protocols and prepares to resume…

Seventy years after the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, their sons, Michael and Robert Meeropol, have renewed their efforts to clear their mother’s name. Just ten and six years old when their parents were executed for federal charges of conspiracy to commit espionage, both men grew up believing in their parents’ innocence. The Rosenbergs remain the only individuals put to death for peacetime espionage in American history. There have always been serious questions about Ethel’s guilt…

Juneteenth is a celebration and remembrance of the end of slavery in the United States following the Union’s victory in the Civil War. In June 2021, President Joseph Biden signed legislation establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday, formally commemorating the end of slavery. According to President Biden, “Juneteenth marks both the long, hard night of slavery and subjugation, and the promise of a greater morning to come.” Among the many groups commemorating Juneteenth was Conservatives…