Entries tagged with “DNA Testing”
Aug 10, 2026
Virginia Crime Commission to Review Eight Executions Linked to Potentially Mishandled DNA Evidence
The cases of eight men executed between 1986 and 1998 will be part of a Virginia State Crime Commission review into the practices of Mary Jane Burton, a forensic scientist who allegedly mishandled DNA evidence and gave inaccurate testimony in court. The cases are among more than 7,000 cases linked to Ms. Burton that are being assessed after journalist Tessa Kramer uncovered concerns about Ms. Burton’s methods. Ms. Kramer’s podcast, Admissible: Shreds of Evidence, brought those concerns to…
Oct 23, 2024
The Limitations of DNA Evidence in Innocence Cases
Death-sentenced prisoners with credible evidence of innocence have gained significant attention this month with the execution of Marcellus Williams in Missouri, the near-execution of Robert Roberson in Texas, and the U.S. Supreme Court arguments in Glossip v. Oklahoma. There is a common misconception that DNA evidence is widely available in all cases and central to exonerations, but the reality is that DNA exonerations in death penalty cases are relatively rare. DPI has identified 34 cases…
Oct 09, 2024
A “Meaningless Ritual”? U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Decide Whether Ruben Gutierrez Can Challenge Texas DNA Testing Procedures to Prove His Innocence
On Friday, October 4, the Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in Gutierrez v. Saenz, a case regarding death-sentenced Texas prisoner Ruben Gutierrez’s ability to sue the state for DNA testing in support of his innocence claim. The Court had issued a stay to Mr. Gutierrez on July 16, just twenty minutes before his scheduled execution. Mr. Gutierrez was convicted and sentenced to death in 1999 for the murder and robbery of an 85-year-old woman but has long maintained his innocence. Forensic…
Oct 18, 2023
Prosecutors Refusal to Test DNA Evidence Forces Oklahoma Death-Sentenced Prisoner Set for Execution to File Federal Lawsuit
On October 4, 2023, Phillip Hancock, an Oklahoma death-sentenced prisoner scheduled for execution on November 30, filed a Section 1983 lawsuit in federal court requesting the release of physical evidence for DNA testing to support his long-maintained claim of self-defense. The State has repeatedly opposed his efforts to test the evidence and Oklahoma state courts have also repeatedly denied his requests. “Biological evidence in the State’s custody would corroborate Hancock’s account while…
Issues
Jun 28, 2023
First Death Row Exoneration Involving DNA Evidence Happened 30 Years Ago
June 28, 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of the exoneration of Kirk Bloodsworth (pictured), the first person exonerated from death row with DNA evidence. In the three decades since he was exonerated from Maryland’s death row, Mr. Bloodsworth has been a vocal advocate for criminal justice reform. He played an essential role in ending the death penalty in Maryland in 2013 and served as director of Witness to Innocence, an organization of death row exonerees. Since Mr. Bloodsworth’s exoneration…
Issues
Apr 20, 2023
Supreme Court (6 – 3) Allows Death Row Prisoner’s Bid for DNA Testing to Proceed
On April 19, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (6 – 3) in Reed v. Goertz that a Texas death row prisoner could continue his pursuit of DNA testing that a lower court had blocked. The Court held that Rodney Reed’s (pictured) civil rights claim was filed in federal court in a timely way. The issue in Reed’s case involved when the clock began ticking on a two-year limit to file a federal claim once his state appeal was completed. Justice Kavanaugh, writing for the six-Justice majority, held that…
Issues
Jan 13, 2023
Supreme Court Reverses Texas Court Decision Based on Prosecutor’s Admission About Flawed Forensic Evidence
The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed the denial of relief to a Texas death-row prisoner whose request for new trial is supported by local prosecutors. In a two-sentence decision, the Court granted certiorari to Areli Escobar, vacated the judgment of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA), and sent the case back for reconsideration. The Court’s summary reversal relied on Travis County prosecutors’ admission that Escobar’s conviction is based on “flawed and misleading forensic evidence.”
Issues
Jan 10, 2023
47 Years After His Death Sentence, Florida Court Orders DNA Testing for Tommy Zeigler
Nearly 47 years after being convicted of a quadruple murder, Florida death-row prisoner Tommy Zeigler has finally been permitted to independently conduct new DNA testing on evidence he claims will prove his innocence. Circuit Court Judge Patricia L. Strowbridge approved Zeigler’s request for DNA testing in October 2022. As soon as her ruling was finalized in December, more than 100 pieces of previously untested evidence were shipped to a California lab to be tested at Zeigler’s own expense.
Issues
Oct 31, 2022
Florida Trial Court Conditionally Approves DNA Testing for Tommy Ziegler in 46-Year-Old Death Penalty Case
In what the Tampa Bay Times described as “an epic turnaround” in a 46-year-old capital case, a Florida trial judge is poised to order DNA testing of evidence death-row prisoner Tommy Zeigler has long asserted will prove him innocent of the quadruple murder for which he was convicted and sentenced to death in 1975. On October 27, 2022, Circuit Court Judge Patricia L. Strowbridge indicated she was likely to sign an order directing the production of physical evidence, including guns, fingernail…
Issues
Oct 12, 2022
Supreme Court Hears Argument on Deadline for Texas Death-Row Prisoner to Challenge State Court’s Denial of DNA Testing
The U.S. Supreme Court heard argument on October 11, 2022 on whether a Texas death-row prisoner was time-barred from obtaining federal review of the state’s refusal to grant him DNA testing that could prove his innocence because he waited for the state appeals process to finish before filing his federal lawsuit. The technical issue in Reed v. Goertz is when the two-year time clock began to run on Rodney Reed’s federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that Texas had unconstitutionally denied him…
Issues
Aug 31, 2022
Missouri Governor Silent on Marcellus Williams’ Case 5 Years After Execution Halted for Board of Inquiry Innocence Review
Five years after former Gov. Eric Greitens issued an execution-day reprieve for a Board of Inquiry to address questions of innocence, Marcellus Williams remains on Missouri’s death row. Though the board presented its recommendations more than a year ago, current Gov. Mike Parson has taken no action on the case. Williams was set to be executed on August 22, 2017. Mounting evidence of his innocence produced a groundswell in opposition to his execution and calls for an independent investigation…
Issues
Aug 03, 2022
Amicus Groups Ask Supreme Court to Overturn Texas Appeals Court Refusal to Grant New Trial to Death-Row Prisoner Convicted Based on DNA Testimony Prosecutor and Trial Court Agree Was False
Three groups of fair justice advocates have filed friend-of-the-court briefs asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review and overturn a Texas appeals court ruling that denied a new trial to a death-row prisoner who prosecutors and the trial court agree was convicted based on false DNA testimony by a disgraced police crime lab. On July 26, 2022, The Innocence Network and The Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences, Inc. filed a joint amicus brief on behalf of Areli Escobar asking the justices to…
Issues
Jul 15, 2022
Mississippi Supreme Court Denies Additional DNA Testing to Death-Row Prisoner
The Mississippi Supreme Court has denied additional DNA testing to death-row prisoner Willie Manning (pictured). Manning, who was sentenced to death in Oktibbeha County in 1994 and in 1996 for two separate crimes, has maintained his innocence of both crimes. He was exonerated of the 1996 conviction in 2015 after police and prosecutors unlawfully withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense. Manning sought DNA testing in the 1994 case to challenge discredited hair comparison testimony…
Issues
Jul 07, 2022
Florida Supreme Court Rejects State Attorney General’s Attempt to Block DNA Testing in 46-Year-Old Death Penalty Case
The Florida Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to prevent DNA testing and fingerprint analysis of evidence lawyers for Henry Sireci (pictured) say could prove him innocent of a murder that sent him to death row 46 years ago. State prosecutors had sought to vacate two orders entered by the trial court on May 10, 2021 giving court approval to separate agreements between county prosecutors and counsel for Sireci and a second death-row prisoner, Tommy…
Issues
May 05, 2022
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case of Texas Death Row Prisoner Rodney Reed
In a case legal experts say could redress a miscarriage of justice or institutionalize it, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the Texas federal courts’ refusal to permit DNA testing of crime-scene evidence that could potentially exonerate death-row prisoner Rodney Reed. On April 25, 2022, the Court granted Reed’s petition for writ of certiorari, which raises the question of when the time clock begins to run on a state prisoner’s federal civil rights lawsuit seeking access to DNA…
Issues
Upcoming Executions
,Apr 13, 2022
Tennessee Trial Court Denies Motion to Halt Upcoming Execution Based on New DNA Evidence
A Nashville trial judge has denied a Tennessee death-row prisoner’s motion to reopen his case and halt his scheduled April 21, 2022 execution in light of new DNA evidence. In a motion filed April 4, 2022, lawyers for Oscar Smith had argued that evidence from “touch DNA” — a new DNA testing technology — on an awl used in the murder of Smith’s estranged wife and her two sons in 1989 “definitively excluded” Smith and suggested that another, unknown male had been involved in the murders. The three…
Issues
Nov 05, 2021
Florida Attorney General Appeals Ruling Allowing DNA Testing for Prisoners Who Have Been on Death Row More than 40 Years
The Florida Attorney General’s office has taken steps to block DNA testing agreed to by local prosecutors and approved by the trial court for two Florida death-row prisoners who have professed their innocence for more than four decades. Attorney General Ashley Moody has announced she will appeal an October 15, 2021 ruling by Florida Circuit Court Judge Wayne C. Wooten that her office lacked standing to contest Wooten’s prior order granting DNA testing to death-row prisoner Henry Sireci. Moody…
Issues
Oct 06, 2021
Death-Row Exoneree Kirk Bloodsworth Receives Supplemental Compensation Under New Maryland Wrongful Imprisonment Statute
Kirk Bloodsworth, the first former death-row prisoner to have been exonerated by DNA testing, has become the first person to receive supplemental compensation under a new Maryland wrongful imprisonment statute. Bloodsworth, who was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in 1984 on charges that he had raped and murdered 9‑year-old Dawn Hamilton, won a new trial as a result of prosecutorial misconduct but was wrongfully convicted a second time and sentenced to life imprisonment. DNA testing…
Issues
Sep 30, 2021
Sherwood Brown Exonerated in Mississippi, 186th Death-Row Exoneration Since 1973
Sherwood Brown has been exonerated of the charges that sent him to death row in Mississippi in 1995 for a triple murder he did not commit. On August 24, 2021, DeSoto County Circuit Court Judge Jimmy McClure granted a prosecution motion to dismiss charges against Brown (pictured after his release), who was released later that day after having spent 26 years on the state’s death row or facing the prospects of a capital retrial. “We are extremely thankful to see Sherwood walk out of prison a free…
Issues
Sep 28, 2021
Death-Row Exonerees in Ohio, Oklahoma Receive Million Dollar Payments for Their Wrongful Convictions
Two men exonerated from death row, one in Ohio and one in Oklahoma, have received million ‑dollar payouts for their wrongful convictions and death sentences. Both were tried and convicted in counties with long histories of prosecutorial misconduct and high rates of wrongful capital convictions. The compensation comes more than a decade after each was released from incarceration. In early September 2021, former death-row prisoner Robert Miller reached a $2 million settlement with Oklahoma City…
Issues
Jul 29, 2021
DNA Exonerates Georgia Man Who Had Waived His Appeals to Avoid Wrongful Execution
When Dennis Perry stood with his defense team on the steps of the Brunswick, Georgia courthouse (pictured) after a trial judge dismissed all charges against him, he was a free man, exonerated of the racially motivated murders of a deacon and his wife in a local Black church in 1985. His case was one of at least four death-penalty prosecutions involving misconduct by Brunswick Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney John B. Johnson III. And it was the latest of more than 30 exonerations…
Issues
Jun 09, 2021
Florida Attorney General Fights to Block DNA Testing that Local Prosecutor Approved for Two Prisoners Who Have Been on Death Row More Than Four Decades
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (pictured) has filed motions in a Florida trial court seeking to block DNA testing that the local elected State Attorney had agreed to and a judge had granted in two 45-year-old Orange County death penalty cases. In pleadings filed June 1 and June 2, 2021 in the Florida Ninth Circuit Court, Moody objected to DNA testing for Tommy Zeigler and Henry Sireci, both of whom were sentenced to death in 1976 and have long asserted their innocence. Six of Ziegler’s…
Issues
Jun 01, 2021
California Gov. Gavin Newsom Orders Investigation into Kevin Cooper Capital Murder Conviction
California Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered an independent investigation into the case of Kevin Cooper, who has consistently maintained his innocence in the 1983 quadruple-murder for which he was sentenced to death. Newsom’s May 28, 2021 executive order appoints the law firm Morrison and Foerster, LLP as Special Counsel to the California Board of Parole Hearings and directs the firm to “conduct a full review of the trial and appellate records in [Cooper’s] case and of the facts underlying the…
May 17, 2021
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of May 10, 2021
NEWS (5/14/21) — North Carolina: A Rowan County trial judge has resentenced William Barnes to consecutive life sentences for the murders of an elderly North Carolina couple in 1992, after the county district attorney’s office declined to pursue a new capital sentencing hearing. The district attorney’s decision, made with the agreement of the victims’ family, followed a federal appeals court ruling that had overturned Barnes’ death sentences because of juror misconduct. In September 2019, the…
Issues
May 11, 2021
Forensic Testing Casts New Doubt on Guilt of Ledell Lee, Executed in Arkansas in 2017
Posthumous forensic testing of evidence in the case of Ledell Lee (pictured), who was executed in Arkansas in 2017, has found DNA from an unidentified male on a bloody club used to kill Debra Reese 29 years ago and on a blood-soaked shirt that was wrapped around the weapon. The DNA results, released by the Innocence Project and the ACLU on April 30, 2021, raise additional troubling questions about Lee’s conviction. Lee, who consistently maintained his innocence of the crime, was executed on…
Issues
Apr 26, 2021
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of April 19, 2021
NEWS (4/21 – 4/23/21) — Texas: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled against Texas death-row prisoners in three separate capital appeals. On April 23, a split panel of the court upheld a conviction and death sentence imposed by an all-White jury on Andre Thomas — a Black man — for killing his wife, who was White, and two children. Although three of the jurors who were empaneled expressed strong opposition to interracial marriage, Thomas’ defense counsel did not object to seating…
Issues
Apr 05, 2021
Federal Court Approves DNA Testing for Man Who Was Spared Execution by Texas’s Refusal to Allow Religious Adviser in Execution Chamber
A federal district court has ruled that Texas unconstitutionally denied DNA testing to a death-row prisoner who is alive today only because of a last-minute stay of execution granted because the state refused to allow his religious adviser to accompany him in the execution chamber. In a 26-page ruling issued on March 23, 2021, Judge Hilda Tagle of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas paved the way for Ruben Gutierrez (pictured) to obtain DNA testing that he argues will…
Issues
Apr 02, 2021
Clemency Efforts for Pervis Payne Gain Widespread Support as Execution Reprieve Set to Expire
Clemency efforts on behalf of Tennessee death-row prisoner Pervis Payne (pictured) are surging, as a petition on his behalf by The Innocence Project had collected more than 600,000 signatures by March 26, 2021 and social media campaigns supporting his cause continue to attract increasing attention worldwide. Payne’s claims of innocence, intellectual disability, and racial bias have resonated with supporters from numerous religious, legal, and civil rights organizations, including the Tennessee…
Issues
Mar 01, 2021
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of February 22, 2021
NEWS (2/25/21) — Alabama: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has denied habeas relief for Alabama death-row prisoner Charles Clark, who the trial court had sentenced to death based upon a non-unanimous jury sentencing vote. Clark had argued that the trial court improperly ordered that he be shackled during the trial, without an adequate justification and without placing the reasons for shackling him on the record. His trial counsel had waived the claim by failing to object and Clark…
Issues
Feb 18, 2021
DPIC Adds Eleven Cases to Innocence List, Bringing National Death-Row Exoneration Total to 185
New research by the Death Penalty Information Center has found 11 previously unrecorded death-row exonerations, bringing the total number of people exonerated after being wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death to 185. The data now show that for every 8.3 people who have been put to death in the U.S. since executions resumed in the 1970s, one person who had been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death has been exonerated. Wrongful capital convictions occurred in virtually every part of…
Issues
Feb 05, 2021
Tennessee Criminal Appeals Court Hears Appeal for Posthumous DNA Testing in Sedley Alley Case
Lawyers for the daughter of a man executed by Tennessee have asked a state appeals court to permit DNA testing that could prove his innocence. In a virtual hearing before the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals on February 3, 2021 (see picture), former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement urged the court to order DNA testing that, he argued, could exonerate Sedley Alley. Alley, who was executed in 2006, had been convicted of rape and murder in the death of 19-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Suzanne…
Issues
Jan 22, 2021
Defense Lawyers Say DNA Tests Point to ‘Unknown Male’ as Likely Killer in Tennessee Death-Row Prisoner Pervis Payne’s Case
Lawyers for Tennessee death-row prisoner Pervis Payne say DNA testing in his 30-year-old case points to an “unknown male” and excludes Payne as the person who stabbed to death Charisse Christopher and her 2‑year-old daughter, Lacie, and seriously wounded her 3‑year-old son, Nicholas. In a statement issued on January 19, 2021, Payne’s lawyers from the Innocence Project and the Middle District of Tennessee federal defender’s office said that “[m]ale DNA from an unknown third party was found on…
Issues
Upcoming Executions
,Nov 09, 2020
Citing COVID-19, Governor Grants Reprieve to Tennessee Death-Row Prisoner Pervis Payne
Citing the coronavirus pandemic, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has granted a temporary reprieve to death-row prisoner Pervis Payne, halting his scheduled December 3, 2020 execution. The execution was the last scheduled by any state in 2020, assuring that states will carry out fewer executions in 2020 than in any other year since 1983. Lee issued a temporary reprieve on November 6, 2020 that will remain in effect until April 9, 2021. A short statement released by the governor in connection with…
Issues
Sep 21, 2020
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of September 14, 2020
NEWS (9/17/20) — Florida: The Florida Supreme Court has denied post-conviction relief to Ken Lott, retroactively applying its new rule that a death sentence imposed under the state’s unconstitutional judicial fact-finding statute did not violate Lott’s right to a jury trial because the jury had unanimously found an aggravating circumstance. The court held that Lott’s Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial in his capital sentencing proceeding extended only to the determination of whether the…
Issues
Upcoming Executions
,Jul 24, 2020
Defense Seeks DNA Testing for Pervis Payne, Alleging Racism, Hidden Evidence, and Intellectual Disability Led to Wrongful Conviction
The Innocence Project and federal defenders have filed a motion in a Shelby County, Tennessee trial court seeking DNA testing of physical evidence hidden by prosecutors for 30 years that they believe will exonerate death-row prisoner Pervis Payne (pictured). Payne, who is scheduled to be executed on December 3, 2020, has steadfastly denied committing the crime. The lawyers argue that his conviction and death sentence are the combined product of racial bias by a prosecutor’s office with an…
Issues
Federal Death Penalty
,Jun 19, 2020
Capital Case Roundup — Death Penalty Court Decisions the Week of June 15, 2020
NEWS (6/19/20) — California: In one of the few capital trials to move forward during the COVID-19 pandemic, a San Jose jury acquitted Manuel Anthony Lopez of charges that he had raped and murdered his girlfriend’s two-year-old son. Lopez, who had been jailed four years awaiting trial, had consistently professed his innocence, and news reports said his lead defense counsel, Santa Clara County deputy public defender Michael Ogul, believed so strongly in Lopez’s innocence that he postponed his…
Issues
May 22, 2020
Former Georgia Death-Row Prisoner Reaches Deal Securing His Release After Serving 43 Years for a Murder He Says He Did Not Commit
Johnny Lee Gates (pictured) is free, 43 years after being sentenced to death in Georgia for a murder he has steadfastly maintained he did not commit. On May 15, 2020, Gates entered a so-called “Alford plea” on charges of manslaughter and armed robbery, meaning that he did not admit guilt, but conceded that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him. He was sentenced to 20 years on each charge, but was credited with time served and immediately released. “I’ve fought for 43 years for this…
Issues
Mar 30, 2020
After Unanimous House Passage, Florida Senate Fails to Enact DNA Reforms
After receiving unanimous support in the Florida House of Representatives, a bill that would have expanded access to postconviction DNA testing failed in the Florida Senate when the legislative body adjourned its 2020 legislative session without taking up the bill. Introduced by State Representative Jamie Grant (pictured, R – Tampa) on February 5, 2020, CS/HB 7077 sailed through the House of Representatives with ease, passing the House Appropriations Committee on February 18 by a vote of 27 – 0…
Issues
Mar 16, 2020
Georgia Supreme Court Votes 9 – 0 for New Trial for Former Death-Row Prisoner Johnny Gates
More than forty years after he was convicted and sentenced to death by an all-white Columbus, Georgia jury for the rape and murder of a 19-year-old white woman, Johnny Lee Gates (pictured) will be getting a new trial. On March 13, 2020, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously held that DNA contained on physical evidence that police and prosecutors had withheld for decades raised “significant doubt” as to Gates’ guilt. The court’s 9 – 0 decision rejected an appeal by state prosecutors of a January…
Issues
Mar 10, 2020
Paul Hildwin Released from Florida Prison 34 Years After Being Sentenced to Death
Paul Hildwin, whose death sentence was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1989 in a decision it overruled 26 years later, has been released from prison in Florida after spending nearly 34 years incarcerated for a murder DNA evidence now shows he did not commit. Hildwin (pictured, center, with investigator Kate O’Shea, left, and attorney Lyann Goudie, right) agreed to a no-contest plea deal to secure his immediate release on March 9, 2020, rather than risking a third attempt by Florida…
Issues
New Voices
,Feb 17, 2020
Exoneree Ryan Matthews Calls for Ending Louisiana’s Death Penalty: “I Know Capital Punishment Doesn’t Work”
DNA exonerated Ryan Matthews in 2004, after he had spent five years on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for a murder he did not commit. In December 2019, he received his college degree. “I’m so used to obstacles getting in my way,” Matthews, told Nola.com. “But that won’t stop me. When one door shuts, I work to get another one to open.” In a February 6, 2020 op-ed in The Advocate in which he describes his time on death row, Matthews lends his voice to opening doors for…
Issues
Feb 07, 2020
States Continue to Oppose DNA Testing in Death Penalty Appeals, Attorneys Ask Why Don’t They Want to Learn the Truth?
The last three men scheduled for execution in Georgia said they did not commit the killing and that DNA testing that was not available at the time of trial could prove it. In two of the cases, victim family members supported the request for testing. Prosecutors opposed the requests, and the courts refused to allow the testing. Two of the three men were executed, with doubts still swirling as to their guilt. Shawn Nolan, a federal defender who represented Georgia prisoner Ray “Jeff” Cromartie…
Issues
Victims' Families
,Jan 29, 2020
Georgia Executes Donnie Lance Over Protests of Victim’s Children After Denying DNA Testing
Georgia executed Donnie Lance on January 29, 2020 after his requests for DNA testing and a plea for clemency supported by the children he and murder victim Joy Lance shared were denied. Lance was convicted in 1999 of murdering his ex-wife, Joy Lance, and her boyfriend, Dwight Wood. He has maintained his innocence in the killings and sought DNA testing of evidence from the crime scene. His two adult children, Jessie Lance and Stephanie Cape, not only supported that request, but also asked the…
Issues
Jan 29, 2020
Lawsuit Seeks DNA and Fingerprint Testing that Could Show Arkansas Executed an Innocent Man
In its unprecedented rush to execute eight prisoners over an eleven-day period in April 2017, Arkansas may have executed an innocent man. Civil rights and legal reform organizations filed a state Freedom of Information Act lawsuit on January 23, 2020 on behalf of the brother of Ledell Lee (pictured), a man Arkansas executed on April 20, 2017. The lawsuit argues that DNA and fingerprint evidence that courts blocked the defense from testing in the days leading up to his execution can prove what…
Issues
Upcoming Executions
,Executions Overview
,Jan 13, 2020
Georgia Set to Execute Man Jurors Would Have Sentenced to Life Without Parole
On January 16, Georgia plans to execute Jimmy Meders (pictured in his National Guard uniform), a man whom jurors say they would have sentenced to life without parole if that option had been available and who, state sentencing practices suggest, would not face the death penalty today. For those reasons, Meders’ lawyers say in court pleadings and an application before the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, his execution would violate contemporary standards of decency and he should be granted…
Issues
Jun 25, 2018
Board Appointed By Resigned Missouri Governor to Review Death-Row Prisoner’s Case
A Board of Inquiry appointed by former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens will convene on August 22, 2018 to consider the fate of Marcellus Williams (pictured), one year to the day after Williams received a last-minute reprieve from execution based on evidence of his innocence. Citing “new information” from DNA testing made possible by a prior stay of execution, Greitens issued an executive order on August 22, 2017 just hours before Williams was to be put to death, staying his execution and creating…
Issues
Aug 22, 2017
Missouri Governor Stays Execution of Marcellus Williams to Consider Evidence of Innocence
Calling a sentence of death “the ultimate, permanent punishment,” Missouri Governor Eric Greitens (pictured) has stayed the execution of Marcellus Williams “in light of new information” that Williams’s lawyers say demonstrate he is innocent of the murder of former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Felisha Gayle. Hours before Williams’s scheduled August 22 execution, Greitens issued an executive order that granted Williams a stay and created a Board of Inquiry to review “newly discovered DNA…
Issues
Aug 16, 2017
Missouri Court Denies Condemned Prisoner Stay of Execution, Review of Case Despite Exonerating DNA Evidence
After having previously granted Marcellus Williams (pictured) a stay of execution in 2015 to permit DNA testing in his case, the Missouri Supreme Court on August 15 summarily denied him a new execution stay, despite recently obtained results of that testing that support his innocence claim. Williams — who was convicted and sentenced to death in 2001 by a nearly all-white St. Louis County jury in the highly publicized stabbing death of a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter — presented…
Issues
Oct 25, 2016
Supported by New DNA Evidence, Man Sentenced to Death in Virginia in 1970 Files Innocence Claim
Sherman Brown (pictured), a man who was sentenced to death in Virginia in 1970 for the murder of a 4‑year-old boy, has filed a writ of actual innocence with the Virginia Supreme Court saying that DNA testing on recently discovered evidence clears him of the crime. Brown’s petition states: “Recent DNA testing demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence what I have maintained for over 45 years: that I am innocent of this crime. The evidence against me at trial was deeply flawed.” Brown was…