Publications & Testimony

Sayfullo Saipov (pictured) was found guilty in federal court on January 26, 2023 of killing eight people on a New York City bike path in 2017 by driving a truck into a crowd of people. He will now likely be the first person to face a federal capital penalty hearing during President Biden’s administration. On February 6, 2023, a jury in Manhattan will begin hearing evidence to determine whether Saipov will be sentenced to death or life without parole. The jury must vote unanimously for a death…

On January 21, 2023, Texas death row prisoner Terence Andrus hanged himself at the age of 34, a little more than 6 months after the U.S. Supreme Court denied review of his case for a second time. His lawyer, Gretchen Sween, told the Los Angeles Times that “he’d been careening toward the abyss,” since their decision. “He was broken.” In 2008, at the age of 20, Andrus killed two people during an attempted carjacking while high on PCP-laced marijuana. He was sentenced to death in 2012 by a jury…

Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robert Dunham will be leaving DPIC after eight years at its helm. He will be replaced on interim basis by former Executive Director Richard Dieter. “We wish to express our deep gratitude to Mr. Dunham for his vision and leadership over the past eight years and our best wishes in his future endeavors,” DPIC Board President George Kendall said in a statement released January 30, 2023. “We are also gratified that Mr. Dieter is willing to step in…

Kevin Cooper (pictured) is a death-row prisoner in California who was convicted of murdering four people in 1985. He has maintained his innocence of the offense. On January 13, 2023, a special counsel appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to conduct an independent investigation of Cooper’s case released a report dismissing his claims of innocence, stating, “The evidence of Cooper’s guilt is extensive and conclusive.” In response, Cooper’s attorneys made the following statement: “The special…

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has appointed a special counsel to conduct a ‘thorough review’ of the case of death-row prisoner Richard Glossip, who has faced nine execution dates despite strong evidence that he is innocent of the 1997 alleged murder-for-hire of an Oklahoma City motel owner. In a news release issued January 26, 2023, two days after the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals rescheduled Glossip’s execution from February 16 to May 18, 2023, Drummond said that Rex Duncan…

In North Carolina and Nevada, family members of murder victims are speaking out against the death penalty, encouraging officials in both states to commute their death row. At a press conference (pictured) outside the North Carolina governor’s mansion on December 10, 2022, 19 members of the North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NCCADP) Homicide Survivor Engagement Group read a letter urging Governor Roy Cooper to abolish the death penalty and commute the sentences of…

The Alabama Supreme Court announced a change to its rules of appellate procedure on January 12, 2023, eliminating automatic plain error review for trial errors in death penalty cases. This new rule removes a significant safeguard for capital defendants’ rights, which had been in place since Alabama reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Without the review, capital defendants who were erroneously convicted or sentenced could spend many more years on death row before the error is discovered. The…

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA) has reset the state’s execution schedule, slowing down the pace at which the 25-person execution spree it authorized in July 2022 would move forward. The order, issued January 24, 2023 in response to a motion filed by newly inaugurated Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond (pictured) on January 17, rescheduled the execution dates of seven men who were to be put to death between February 16 and August 3, 2023. The court set new execution dates…

Executions in Arizona are effectively on hold after Governor Katie Hobbs (pictured) ordered a review of the state’s execution process following three botched executions in 2022 and Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a motion to withdraw the state’s only pending request for a death warrant. The two state officials, elected in the November midterm elections against opponents who falsely claimed the 2020 Presidential election had been stolen, said their actions will help ensure transparency and…

A Kansas capital defendant is challenging the prosecution’s decision to pursue the death penalty in his case, invoking a heightened standard of review the Kansas constitution applies to infringements of fundamental rights. The pretrial challenge, which will be the subject of a hearing in the Sedgwick County District Court beginning February 6, 2023, was filed by the ACLU in the case of Kyle Young, an African-American defendant who faces capital charges in a 2020 double murder at a Wichita…