Publications & Testimony

A United States Supreme Court sharply divid­ed along ide­o­log­i­cal lines heard oral argu­ment October 13, 2021 on the Department of Justice’s appeal of a fed­er­al cir­cuit court’s rul­ing over­turn­ing the death sen­tences imposed on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for his con­vic­tions in the 2013 Boston Marathon bomb­ing. Veteran court watch­ers report­ed that the six con­ser­v­a­tive jus­tices seemed poised to over­turn the fed­er­al appeal court’s grant of a new penal­ty phase hear­ing to…

A Texas judge has rec­om­mend­ed that the con­vic­tion and death sen­tence of death-row pris­on­er Randy Halprin (pic­tured), who is Jewish, be over­turned because of the reli­gious big­otry of the judge pre­sid­ing over his…

A fed­er­al court in Texas has stayed the October 12, 2021 exe­cu­tion of Texas death-row pris­on­er Stephen Barbee on his claims that the state’s refusal to allow his spir­i­tu­al advi­sor to admin­is­ter last rites, touch him, or pray out loud in the exe­cu­tion cham­ber vio­lates his con­sti­tu­tion­al and fed­er­al statu­to­ry rights to free exer­cise of reli­gion. Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued the stay…

At a cer­e­mo­ny com­mem­o­rat­ing the 40^th anniver­sary of France​’s abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty, French President Emmanuel Macron (pic­tured) announced an ini­tia­tive to advance world­wide abo­li­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The announce­ment also coin­cid­ed with World Day Against the Death Penalty, which is observed annu­al­ly on October…

In a deci­sion that advo­cates say could clear the state’s death row, the Oregon Supreme Court (jus­tices pic­tured) has over­turned death-row pris­on­er David Ray Bartol​’s death sen­tence because the crime he com­mit­ted is no longer statu­to­ri­ly eli­gi­ble for the death…

The num­ber of women serv­ing extreme sen­tences in the United States has increased sharply in the last decade, a September 2021 report by a col­lab­o­ra­tive of crim­i­nal law reform orga­ni­za­tions has…

A divid­ed Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has denied the clemen­cy peti­tion filed on behalf of death-row pris­on­er John Marion Grant, who is sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed on October 28, 2021. The 3 – 2 vote on October 5, 2021 — with Board mem­bers Adam Luck and Kelly Doyle vot­ing in favor of clemen­cy and mem­bers Richard Smothermon, Scott Williams, and Larry Morris vot­ing to let the exe­cu­tion pro­ceed — paves the way for the state’s first exe­cu­tion in more than six…

Calling his evi­dence of inno­cence either imma­te­r­i­al or inad­mis­si­ble, the Florida Supreme Court on September 23, 2021 denied death-row pris­on­er James Dailey​’s (pic­tured) post-con­vic­tion chal­lenge to his con­vic­tion for the 1985 mur­der of a teenage…

The death penal­ty is reserved for “’the worst of the worst’ — or at least that is what we are told,” writes University of Richmond law pro­fes­sor Corrina Barrett Lain (pic­tured) in a Washington & Lee Law Review post-mortem on Virginia​’s use of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Although the ​“worst of the worst” is a core com­mand of a con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly com­pli­ant death penal­ty, ​“the death penal­ty doesn’t just exist in the abstract,” Lain notes. And…

As the exe­cu­tion date nears for a Missouri man wide­ly regard­ed to be intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled, a for­mer Missouri Governor, Supreme Court Justice, and papal envoy have joined faith and civ­il rights lead­ers, and the prisoner’s lawyers in efforts to spare his…