Entries tagged with “Sonia Sotomayor”
Upcoming Executions
,Sep 11, 2026
Set for Execution in Georgia September 16, Stacey Humphreys’ New Appeals Highlight Clemency Conflict of Interest, Juror Misconduct
For the second time in less than a year, Stacey Humphreys faces execution in Georgia. His initial execution date last December was postponed when a state court agreed that a member of the clemency board had a conflict of interest. Now the state has set his execution for September 16, arguing the problem has been resolved because the board member recused herself — even though no one has been appointed in her place. In new court filings, Mr. Humphreys argues that the U.S. Constitution requires his…
Jun 01, 2026
Supreme Court Roundup: Decisions Allow Jury Discrimination Claim to Proceed and Keep Protections for Intellectually Disabled in Place
In recent weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions regarding two key types of claims that often appear in capital cases: prosecutorial misconduct and intellectual disability. A bipartisan group of conservative and liberal justices carried each decision. The Court ruled in favor of Mississippi prisoner Terry Pitchford, allowing his jury discrimination claim to proceed, as well as Florida prisoner Gary Whitton, based on a lower court error in weighing his claim that prosecutors presented…
Mar 25, 2026
Three U.S. Supreme Court Justices Decry “Inexplicable” Texas Refusal to Test DNA in Rodney Reed Case
Texas prosecutors sent Rodney Reed to death row for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites, whom they argued was strangled with her own leather belt. Yet for over a decade, state officials have fought Mr. Reed’s requests to test that belt for the killer’s DNA. In 2023, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Reed’s lawsuit seeking the test was timely, and last year it struck down Texas’ attempts to block DNA testing in two other capital cases. However, on March 23, the Court refused to hear…
Mar 12, 2026
Texas Death Row Prisoner Andre Thomas Too Mentally Ill to Attend His Own Competency Hearing, Doctor Warns
A March 9, 2026, competency hearing for Andre Thomas, a death-sentenced prisoner in Texas, has been postponed to an unspecified date because of concerns that Mr. Thomas is too mentally ill to be transported to his competency hearing and he could not be re-examined by the State’s expert. Mr. Thomas was scheduled to be executed in April 2023; however, his execution date was withdrawn in March 2023, citing concerns with his severe mental illness (SMI) and competency to face execution. “In my…
Upcoming Executions
,Dec 16, 2025
Georgia Parole Board Postpones Stacey Humphreys’ Execution Amid Allegations of “Extreme Juror Misconduct” and Parole Board Conflicts of Interest
On December 15, 2025, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole put a hold on the execution of Stacey Humphreys and postponed his clemency hearing, originally scheduled for December 16, “indefinitely.” Mr. Humphreys was to be executed December 17 — despite claims that his trial was tainted by what three Supreme Court justices described as “extreme juror misconduct.” He was the first person scheduled for execution in Georgia in 2025. Last week, Mr. Humphreys’ attorneys petitioned Fulton County…
Methods of Execution
,Dec 12, 2025
Should Medical Research Regulations and Informed Consent Principles Apply to States’ Use of Experimental Execution Methods?
New drugs and medical treatments undergo rigorous testing to ensure they are safe and effective for public use. Under federal and state regulations, this testing typically involves clinical trials with human subjects, who face significant health and safety risks as the first people exposed to experimental treatments. That is why the law requires them to be fully informed of the potential effects and give their voluntary consent to participate in trials. Yet these regulations have not been…
Methods of Execution
,Oct 27, 2025
Alabama Execution Witnesses Report “Violent Thrashing” of Prisoner and More Than 225 “Agonized Breaths” in Nitrogen Gas Execution
On October 23, 2025, Alabama executed Anthony Boyd, despite his unwavering claim of innocence and a fiery dissent authored by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, renewing the serious concerns that have been consistently raised about the state’s use of nitrogen gas. Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, dissented from the Court’s October 23, 2025, denial of a stay of execution, writing that Alabama’s use of nitrogen gas “violates the Constitution by inflicting…
Upcoming Executions
,May 08, 2025
New Analysis: Capital Cases Overturned At Least Four Times Illustrate How Pervasive Prosecutorial Misconduct Contributes to High Cost of Death Penalty
The single most common outcome for a death sentence in the modern era is for it to be reversed on appeal due to a constitutional violation. Most people whose sentences are reversed get resentenced to life in prison or less, but some prosecutors persist in seeking new death sentences even after multiple reversals. A Death Penalty Information Center analysis of the 14 people sentenced to death four or more times for the same crime finds that prosecutorial misconduct, including racial bias…
Apr 15, 2025
United States Supreme Court Denies Review for Death-Sentenced Missouri Man Whose Jury Foreman Was Removed for Bias
On March 31, the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of Lance Shockley of Missouri, the 36th death-sentenced person to be denied certiorari by the Court this year. At trial, Mr. Shockley’s jury foreman was removed before the sentencing phase based on evidence of serious bias — but Mr. Shockley’s attorney declined the opportunity to question the foreman or other jurors about the misconduct, and his conviction, which the foreman participated in, was allowed to stand. Mr. Shockley’s claim on…
Mar 28, 2025
“He Looks a Little Like the Defendant”: A Closer Look at the History of Racial Bias in Jury Selection
As closing arguments of his trial began in Johnston County, North Carolina, Hasson Bacote watched as Assistant District Attorney Gregory Butler urged the jury to sentence him to death. Mr. Bacote, a Black man, had been convicted of fatally shooting 18-year-old Anthony Surles during a robbery when Mr. Bacote was just 21 years old. Mr. Bacote admitted he had fired a single shot out of a trailer, but said he did not know that he hit anyone. “Hasson Bacote is a thug: cold-blooded and without…
Oct 10, 2024
Hispanic Heritage Month: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15), DPI is posting a weekly feature on Hispanic or Latino/a people who have had a significant impact on the death penalty in the U.S. The final entry in this series is U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Sonia Sotomayor was born on June 25, 1954, in the Bronx borough of New York, to parents of Puerto Rican descent. A White House press release announcing her Supreme Court nomination in 2009 said, “She has been hailed as ‘one of the…
Issues
Jun 13, 2024
By Reversing Grants of Relief, Supreme Court Signals Lower Courts to Apply Stricter Approach to Review of Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Claims
In the past two weeks, the Supreme Court overturned grants of relief for two death-sentenced prisoners. In both cases, lower courts had found they received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. The Court’s rulings are in line with its other decisions in death penalty cases restricting appeals for death-sentenced prisoners and extolling the importance of “finality” over merits-based review. Under Strickland v. Washington (1984), an attorney is ineffective when 1) his performance is…
Research
Apr 24, 2024
Supreme Court Roundup: Justices Hear Oral Arguments on Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Cruel and Unusual Punishment; Defend Positions on Stays
On April 17, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Thornell v. Jones, a case implicating the test for ineffective assistance of counsel — and the first and only oral argument in a death penalty case scheduled this term. Arizona appealed the Ninth Circuit’s decision vacating the death sentence of Danny Lee Jones, which found that Mr. Jones was prejudiced by his attorney’s failure to present key mitigating evidence as to Mr. Jones’ brain damage, childhood physical and sexual abuse, and…
Research
Apr 17, 2024
Justices Sotomayor and Jackson Issue Dissents Over Supreme Court’s Refusal to Review Two Capital Misconduct Cases
On Monday, April 15, Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor issued dissents over the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the petitions of two death-sentenced prisoners who alleged official misconduct in their cases. In the first case, Dillion Compton alleged that Texas prosecutors illegally used thirteen of their fifteen peremptory strikes to remove female prospective jurors because of their gender. In the second case, Kurt Michaels argued that California police officers unlawfully…
Executions
Methods of Execution
,Jan 26, 2024
“The World is Watching”: Witnesses Report Kenneth Smith Appeared Conscious, “Shook and Writhed” During First-Ever Nitrogen Hypoxia Execution
On January 25, 2024, Alabama executed Kenneth Smith using nitrogen hypoxia, a first in American history. Though state attorneys had assured courts that the method would cause “unconsciousness in seconds,” witnesses reported that Mr. Smith appeared awake for several minutes after the nitrogen gas began. They observed that he “shook and writhed” for at least four minutes before breathing heavily for another few minutes. “This was the fifth execution that I’ve witnessed in Alabama, and I have…
Research
Federal Death Penalty
,Oct 03, 2023
Analysis Shows Supreme Court’s Changing View of Death Penalty Cases
A recent analysis by Bloomberg Law concluded that death-sentenced prisoners have fewer avenues to relief at the Supreme Court than ever before. Bloomberg identified 270 emergency requests to stay executions since 2013 and found that the Court agreed to block an execution just 11 times. Since 2020, when the Court shifted to a 6 – 3 conservative majority following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Court has granted just two stays of…