Entries tagged with “John Bel Edwards”
Methods of Execution
,Upcoming Executions
,Feb 18, 2025
After a 15-Year Pause, Louisiana Governor Intends to Restart Executions Using New Nitrogen Gas Protocol; Courts Set Execution Dates for Two Prisoners
On February 10, 2025, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced his decision to end a 15-year pause on executions, saying the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections is ready to carry out executions under a new nitrogen gas execution protocol. In a press release following his announcement, Gov. Landry said, “For too long, Louisiana has failed to uphold the promises made to victims of our State’s most violent crimes; but that failure of leadership by previous administrations is…
Issues
Methods of Execution
,Jan 30, 2024
Louisiana Supreme Court Grants New Trial Based on Prosecutorial Misconduct while New Governor Landry Moves to Expand Methods of Execution and Restart Executions
On January 26, 2024, the Louisiana Supreme Court granted a new trial to death-sentenced prisoner Darrell Robinson based on egregious prosecutorial misconduct. The Court held that Mr. Robinson “did not receive a fair trial, or a verdict worthy of confidence.” Mr. Robinson’s quest to prove his innocence advances at the same time that Governor Jeff Landry seeks to expand the state’s methods of execution and restart executions. During a tumultuous 2023 in which outgoing Governor John Bel Edwards…
Research
Religion
,Jan 10, 2024
Catholic Organizers See “Renewed Momentum” for Death Penalty Abolition from Pope Francis’ Teachings
In 2018, Pope Francis formally revised the Catechism of the Catholic Church — its core teachings — to oppose the death penalty. Characterizing capital punishment as “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person,” he wrote that the Catholic Church “works with determination for its abolition worldwide.” This revision updated a 1997 Catechism edit by Pope John Paul II that permitted the death penalty in rare cases where it was deemed “the only possible way of effectively defending human…
Research
Nov 21, 2023
Following Series of Denials, Louisiana Board to Hold Administrative Hearings on Clemency for at Least Two Additional Death Row Prisoners
The Louisiana Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole will consider at least two additional applications for clemency on November 27, following a tumultuous year in which nearly all Louisiana death row prisoners sought clemency in response to outgoing Governor John Bel Edwards voicing his personal opposition to the death penalty. Under the Louisiana Constitution, Governor Edwards cannot grant clemency without a recommendation from the Board; he asked the Board to set hearings so that he could…
Research
Oct 16, 2023
Louisiana Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole Denies Clemency Hearings for Five Death-Sentenced Prisoners
On October 13, 2023, after a brief administrative hearing, the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole denied clemency hearings for five of the 56 death-sentenced prisoners seeking clemency before Governor John Bel Edwards leaves office in January 2024. The four-member panel split its vote on four of the five applications, with a majority denying the fifth application on the grounds that Winthrop Eaton is unlikely to be executed because he is mentally incompetent. Clifford Deruise…
Research
Sep 14, 2023
Louisiana District Attorney Asks Court to Halt Death Row Clemency Hearings for Three Prisoners
On September 12, 2023, East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore filed a request for injunctive relief, asking the 19th Judicial District Court to vacate hearings scheduled for three East Baton Rouge Parish prisoners who have requested clemency. In June 2023, 51 death-sentenced individuals filed clemency applications with the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole, requesting a commutation of their death sentences to life without parole. Five additional applications from death…
Aug 23, 2023
Louisiana Exoneree, Family Members of Victims and Prisoners, and Criminal Defense Lawyers Support of Clemency for Death-Sentenced Prisoners
At an August 15, 2023 rally organized by The Promise for Justice Initiative, a group opposed to the death penalty and which advocates for greater change in the criminal legal system, family members of victims and prisoners and death row exoneree Shareef Cousin called on the Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole to grant the 56 clemency applications that have been submitted by prisoners on death row. “Part of clemency is really about giving the opportunity to the survivors of these crimes to…
Research
Aug 10, 2023
Governor John Bel Edwards Directs Louisiana Board to Consider Death Row Clemency Petitions and Set Hearings
On August 9th, with the use of his executive authority, Governor John Bel Edwards (pictured) asked the Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole to return the 56 clemency applications filed by death-sentenced prisoners in Louisiana to its docket for consideration and set them for hearings. The Board of Pardons will now have until January 2024, when Gov. Edwards officially leaves office, to decide whether to recommend clemency for nearly all of the state’s death row prisoners. Earlier this year…
Issues
Jul 28, 2023
Louisiana Pardon Board Declines to Consider 56 Death Row Clemency Petitions Without Merits Review
On July 24, 2023, the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Parole set aside all 56 clemency applications filed by nearly every death-sentenced prisoner in Louisiana last month without reviewing the merits of a single one of them. The prisoners asked for their sentences to be commuted to life without parole, but the Board made its decision to return the applications based on an advisory, nonbinding opinion from the Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry. Attorneys for death row prisoners have…
Issues
Jul 03, 2023
Louisiana Mass Clemency Efforts Highlight Similarities to Illinois Mass Clemency 20 Years Ago
As Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (pictured) considers the clemency petitions filed by 51 of the state’s 57 death row prisoners, advocates and journalists have noted the similarities between Louisiana’s death penalty system and that of Illinois, where Governor George Ryan commuted the sentences of all 167 people on death row in 2003. Both states have had high numbers of death row exonerations stemming from systemic misconduct, death sentences in both states are concentrated in a small…
Issues
Jun 14, 2023
Mass Filing for Clemency Highlights Longstanding Systemic Problems with Louisiana’s “Broken” Death Penalty
On June 13, 2023, 51 of the 57 people on Louisiana’s death row filed clemency applications with the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole, asking Governor John Bel Edwards to commute their sentences to life without parole. The clemency applications describe flaws in the individual cases – including mental illness and intellectual disability, innocence claims, and official misconduct – but cumulatively portray a death penalty system marked by significant systemic problems. The…
Research
New Voices
,Mar 29, 2023
NEW VOICES: Louisiana Governor Announces His Opposition to the Death Penalty
After years of silence regarding his views on the death penalty, Governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana expressed his opposition to capital punishment in a seminar at Loyola University in New Orleans. On March 22, 2023, Edwards said, “The death penalty is so final. When you make a mistake, you can’t get it back. And we know that mistakes have been made in sentencing people to death.” Edwards based his opposition to the death penalty on his religious faith and said it was “fortuitous” that a…