---
title: 'Death-Penalty News and Developments for the Week of September 2 – September 8, 2019'
description: 'NEWS—September 5: The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence imposed on Shawn Rogers for a 2012 prison murder. Rogers was…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/death-penalty-news-and-developments-for-the-week-of-september-2-september-8'
section: stories
date: '2019-09-02T00:50:00-04:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T15:01:27-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

! **NEWS—September 5: The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence imposed on [Shawn Rogers](https://www.floridasupremecourt.org/content/download/536301/5955627/file/sc18-150.pdf) for a 2012 prison murder.** Rogers was permitted to waive his right to counsel and represent himself at trial. After the jury unanimously recommended a death sentence, counsel was appointed to represent Rogers — over his objection — in a subsequent hearing in which the court sentenced him to death. The appeals court affirmed the judge's determination that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances in the case.

---

**NEWS—September 5: Two eagerly awaited death-penalty films opened at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.** *Just Mercy*, the film adaptation of Bryan Stevenson’s book of the same name, stars Michael B. Jordan as Stevenson and Jamie Foxx as death-row prisoner Walter McMillan. The film tells the true story of Stevenson’s successful efforts to prove McMillan’s innocence.

  !  

*Clemency*, a drama by writer and director Chinonye Chukwu, stars Alfre Woodard as death-row prison warden Bernadine Williams and Aldis Hodge as death-row prisoner Anthony Woods. Los Angeles Times critic Justin Chang glowingly reviewed *Clemency*, calling the film an “austere and galvanizing drama” and praising Woodard’s performance as “superb.” Chang said *Clemency* “advances its own powerful case against the death penalty, one that manifests little faith in the system but shows a profound belief in the audience’s intelligence.”

DPIC’s Senior Director of Research and Special Projects, Ngozi Ndulue, interviewed Chukwu for the latest edition of the *Discussions with DPIC* podcast. You can listen to the podcast [here](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/resources/podcasts/discussions-with-dpic/interview-with-clemency-filmmaker-chinonye-chukwu).