Entries tagged with “Barry Jones”

Policy Issues

Innocence

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United States Supreme Court

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Jun 16, 2023

Barry Jones Freed from Arizona’s Death Row after 29 Years

On June 15, 2023, Arizona death-sen­tenced pris­on­er Barry Jones was freed after serv­ing 29 years for a crime that the Arizona Attorney General agreed he did not com­mit. Mr. Jones was sen­tenced to death in 1995 after being con­vict­ed of mur­der­ing his girlfriend’s four-year-old daugh­ter in 1994. Medical evi­dence that was read­i­ly avail­able at the time of tri­al showed that the child did not sus­tain her fatal inter­nal injuries dur­ing the time while she was in Mr. Jones’s care. But this evi­dence was…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Representation

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United States Supreme Court

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May 25, 2022

Legal Analysts Blast Supreme Court Ruling Denying Prisoners Who Were Incompetently Represented in State Courts Access to Federal Courts to Prove Innocence, Constitutional Violations

In an opin­ion legal experts have blast­ed as ​“night­mar­ish” and ​“an abom­i­na­tion,” the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in two Arizona death penal­ty cas­es that 1990s amend­ments to the fed­er­al habeas cor­pus law per­mit state pris­on­ers who were pro­vid­ed inef­fec­tive rep­re­sen­ta­tion at tri­al and in post-con­vic­tion pro­ceed­ings to argue that their coun­sel were inef­fec­tive but bar them from pre­sent­ing evi­dence of their inef­fec­tive­ness that com­pe­tent lawyers had dis­cov­ered once the case had reached federal…

Facts & Research

United States Supreme Court

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Dec 09, 2021

Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in Case that Threatens Meaningful Federal Review for Prisoners Denied Competent Lawyers

The United States Supreme Court heard oral argu­ment on December 8, 2021 in a case that will have seri­ous impli­ca­tions for the right to fed­er­al court review of wrong­ful con­vic­tions and death sen­tences. Arizona has asked the Supreme Court to reverse fed­er­al appel­late court rul­ings in favor of Barry Jones and David Ramirez. The Court seemed skep­ti­cal of Arizona​’s argu­ment that even though the state pro­vid­ed inef­fec­tive coun­sel to represent…

Policy Issues

Representation

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Religion

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United States Supreme Court

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Oct 26, 2021

Supreme Court Moves Arguments in Death Penalty Cases to Hear Texas Abortion Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court has pushed back argu­ments in three death-penal­ty cas­es so it can expe­dite con­sid­er­a­tion of two cas­es involv­ing Texas’ restric­tive abor­tion statute. To hear argu­ment in United States v. Texas and Whole Women’s Health v. Jackson on November 1, 2021, the court resched­uled argu­ment in Ramirez (John) v. Collier and Shinn v. Ramirez (David) and Jones. The Court will now hear argu­ment in…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Intellectual Disability

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Representation

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United States Supreme Court

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Sep 24, 2021

Supreme Court Case Threatens to Deny Access to Federal Courts to Death-Row Prisoners Who Received Ineffective State Representation

Nine dif­fer­ent groups of advo­cates, includ­ing for­mer pros­e­cu­tors and judges, lead­ing legal schol­ars, inno­cence advo­cates, and defense attor­neys, have filed friend-of-the-court ami­cus briefs in the United States Supreme Court ask­ing the court to rule in favor of Arizona death-row pris­on­ers Barry Jones and David Ramirez in cas­es that could have broad impli­ca­tions for the avail­abil­i­ty of fed­er­al judi­cial review of state…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Innocence

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United States Supreme Court

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Aug 20, 2021

Commentary: How Federal Habeas Corpus Law Enables States to Commit Miscarriages of Justice

1990s amend­ments to fed­er­al law that severe­ly restrict­ed fed­er­al judi­cial review of state con­vic­tions are enabling states to com­mit mis­car­riages of jus­tice that risk the lives and free­dom of inno­cent peo­ple across the coun­try, writes Washington Post colum­nist Radley Balko…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Aug 03, 2018

Federal Judge Grants New Trial to Barry Jones Based on Evidence Suggesting His Innocence

A fed­er­al dis­trict court has vacat­ed the mur­der con­vic­tion of Arizona death-row pris­on­er Barry Jones (pic­tured) in the death of 4‑year-old Rachel Gray, and has ordered the state to imme­di­ate­ly retry or release Jones. On July 31, 2018, U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess grant­ed a new tri­al to Jones, who has spent 23 years on Arizona’s death row, find­ing that if Jones had been com­pe­tent­ly rep­re­sent­ed at tri­al, ​“there is a rea­son­able prob­a­bil­i­ty that his jury…