Entries tagged with “Charles Rhines”
Policy Issues
LGBTQ+ People
,Prosecutorial Accountability
,Aug 20, 2024
New Analysis from The Appeal Finds Anti-LGBTQ+ Bias Affects the Fate of Defendants in Death Penalty Cases
An analysis from The Appeal of more than two dozen cases in which LGBTQ+ defendants faced the death penalty found evidence that anti-LGBTQ+ bias affected case outcomes. After an examination of media reports, academic journals, and legal documents, The Appeal determined that these cases are likely a significant undercount of the number of LGBTQ+ people sentenced to death. “These capital cases illustrate the ingrained anti-LGBTQ+ bias endemic to the U.S. legal system — from sodomy…
Policy Issues
Human Rights
,Jun 17, 2024
Research Roundup: Anti-Queer Practices in Capital Cases
This is the first in a new monthly series covering academic research and articles in the field of capital…
Policy Issues
Mental Illness
,United States Supreme Court
,Upcoming Executions
,Lethal Injection
,Nov 04, 2019
South Dakota Prisoner Executed After Supreme Court Denies Review of Anti-Gay Bias, Denial of Mental Health Expert
Whether South Dakota death-row prisoner Charles Rhines (pictured) lives or dies may depend less on whether he was constitutionally convicted and sentenced to death and more on whether the courts value finality more than they value fairness. As Rhines filed two separate petitions in the U.S. Supreme Court and an appeal in the South Dakota Supreme Court on November 1, the South Dakota Department of Corrections announced that his execution,…
Policy Issues
LGBTQ+ People
,United States Supreme Court
,Upcoming Executions
,Jun 28, 2019
During National Pride Month, South Dakota Schedules Execution in Case Tainted by Anti-Gay Bias
In the midst of National Pride Month commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and the birth of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, South Dakota has issued a death warrant seeking to execute a gay man whose death sentence was tainted by anti-gay bias. Charles Rhines (pictured) was sentenced to death by a jury that, according to juror affidavits, was influenced by bigoted stereotypes in reaching its decision. On June 25, 2019, in response to a…
Facts & Research
United States Supreme Court
,Apr 16, 2019
Supreme Court Denies Review in Case of Death Sentence Tainted by Anti-Gay Bias
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review the case of a South Dakota death-row prisoner whose jurors made anti-gay statements and relied on homophobic beliefs in deciding to sentence him to death. On April 15, 2019, the Court without comment denied a petition filed by Charles Rhines (pictured) asking the Court to declare that the constitutional right to an impartial jury applies equally to bias against a defendant’s sexual orientation. In…
Policy Issues
International
,Crimes Punishable by Death
,United States Supreme Court
,Apr 03, 2019
Discriminatory Use of Death Penalty Against Gays Raises Concerns Globally and in the U.S.
As human rights activists raise alarms about a new law in Brunei that would punish homosexuality by death by stoning, the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to hear a case in which jurors who exhibited anti-gay bigotry sentenced a gay defendant to death. Charles Rhines (pictured), a South Dakota death-row prisoner, is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case, after a lower federal court denied him the opportunity to present juror…
Facts & Research
United States Supreme Court
,Jun 05, 2018
Supreme Court Asked to Review Constitutionality of Death Sentence Grounded in Anti-Gay Stereotypes
A gay man on death row in South Dakota has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case and to rule that it is unconstitutional for jurors to impose the death penalty based upon anti-gay animus and stereotypes. Charles Rhines (pictured) argues that South Dakota’s courts improperly refused to consider evidence — including an affidavit from one of his jurors that the jury “knew that he was a homosexual and thought that he shouldn’t be able to spend his life…