Entries tagged with “Henry Sireci”

Policy Issues

Innocence

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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…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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United States Supreme Court

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Dec 13, 2016

As Supreme Court Rejects Death Penalty Petitions, Justice Breyer Renews Call For Constitutional Review

In the span of one week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review peti­tions from six death row pris­on­ers, deny­ing them relief in their cas­es. The peti­tion­ers raised issues relat­ed to DNA pro­ce­dures, con­flict of coun­sel, a dis­put­ed guilty plea, juror bias, judi­cial over­ride, and a pre­vi­ous­ly botched exe­cu­tion attempt. In two of the cas­es, the Court allowed exe­cu­tions to pro­ceed in Georgia and Alabama. The case of Ronald Smith left the Court dead­locked 4 – 4, with enough votes…