Entries tagged with “Jimmy Meders”
Facts & Research
Clemency
,Jan 17, 2020
Georgia Pardons Board Grants Day-of-Execution Clemency to Jimmy Meders
The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has granted clemency to death-row prisoner Jimmy Meders (pictured). One day after his January 15, 2020 clemency hearing, and just six hours before his scheduled execution, the Board announced it had commuted Meders’ death sentence to a sentence of life without possibility of…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,Sentencing Alternatives
,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…
Policy Issues
Prosecutorial Accountability
,Jul 31, 2020
Investigation Exposes History of Misconduct by Leading South Georgia Homicide Prosecutor in Death Penalty Cases
A prominent South Georgia prosecutor, lauded for his success in capital prosecutions, has a history of misconduct in those cases, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigative report has disclosed. Longtime Brunswick Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney John B. Johnson III, who joined the five-county prosecutor’s office in 1977, “has a dark legacy of problem cases,” the paper reports, including repeatedly withholding evidence from the defense…
Policy Issues
Innocence
,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…