Publications & Testimony

An intel­lec­tu­al­ly dis­abled Alabama death-row pris­on­er has appealed a fed­er­al dis­trict court rul­ing that clears the way for his exe­cu­tion on October 21,…

In a deci­sion with poten­tial to vacate a num­ber of Oklahoma exe­cu­tion dates, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has held that a low­er fed­er­al court abused its dis­cre­tion in dis­miss­ing six death-row pris­on­ers from a law­suit chal­leng­ing the state’s execution…

Death-row exoneree Robert DuBoise (pic­tured) is suing the City of Tampa, four Tampa police offi­cers, and the foren­sic odon­tol­o­gist who false­ly tes­ti­fied against him, alleg­ing that they fab­ri­cat­ed evi­dence that led to his wrong­ful con­vic­tion and death sen­tence. DuBoise was exon­er­at­ed in August 2020 after a Conviction Integrity Unit reviewed his case and new DNA evi­dence exclud­ed him as the per­pe­tra­tor of the rape and mur­der for which he was wrong­ful­ly con­vict­ed and sentenced…

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…